“I think I'm fascinated by the power of religion in our culture. Like a lot of secular, liberal people, I ignored it for a long time. Lately, of course, just from a political perspective, it's impossible to ignore.” PeopleThinkingLongPoliticalCultureCoursesImpossiblePerspectiveLong TimeFascinatedSecularIgnored Author:Tom Perrotta
“I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel.” PeopleWritingActionPerfectNovelSurpriseNot SureLogicalConsistency Author:Tom Perrotta
“He'd never had to make the adjustments and compromises other people accepted early in their romantic careers; never had a chance to learn the lesson that Sarah taught him everyday--that beauty was only a part of it, and not even the most important part, that there were transactions between people that occurred on some mysterious level beneath the skin, or maybe even beyond the body.” PeopleImportantBodyChanceLevelsCareersTaughtLessonsSkinsEverydayAcceptedCompromiseMysteriousAdjustmentTransactions Book:Little Children: A Novel Source: Little Children: A Novel
“After all, what was adult life but one moment of weakness piled on top of another? Most people just fell in line like obedient little children, doing exactly what society expected of them at any given moment, all the while pretending that they’d actually made some sort of choice.” PeopleChildrenLittlesMadeMomentsChoicesGivenLinesWeaknessAdultsExpectedPretendingObedientMoments Of Weakness Book:Little Children: A Novel Source: Little Children: A Novel
“From a distance, it makes perfect sense that the people and the things you think will save you are the very ones that have the power to disappoint you most bitterly, but up close it can hit you as a bewildering surprise.” PeopleThinkingLifePerfectDistanceSurpriseDisappoint Book:Joe College: A Novel Source: Joe College: A Novel
“Maybe that's what we look for in the people we love, the spark of unhappiness we think we know how to extinguish.” PeopleThinkingKnowsLooksKnow HowUnhappinessSparks Author:Tom Perrotta
“Meg was going to have to learn for herself what Laurie had figured out over the summer - that it was better to leave well enough alone, to avoid unnecessary encounters with the people you'd left behind, to not keep poking at that sore tooth with the tip of your tongue. Not because you didn't love them anymore, but because you did, and because that love was useless now, just another dull ache in your phantom limb.” PeopleWellsEnoughLeftBehindsSummerTongueTeethUselessEncountersDullUnnecessaryAcheLimbsLeft BehindPhantomsMegPhantom Limbs Author:Tom Perrotta
“It just took some people a little longer than others to realize how few words they needed to get by, how much of life they could negotiate in silence.” PeopleLittlesRealizingSilenceNeededFew Words Author:Tom Perrotta
“Apparently even the most awful tragedies, and the people they'd ruined, got a little stale after a while.” PeopleLittlesTragedyAwfulRuinedStale Author:Tom Perrotta
