Home / Quotes / Quote by Mary Cantwell

Quote by Mary Cantwell

“In giving our daughter life, her father and I had also given her death, something I hadn't realized until that new creature flailed her arms in what was now infinite space. We had given her disease and speeding cars and flying cornices: once out of the fortress that had been myself, she would never be safe again ... We disappoint our kids and they disappoint us, and sometimes they grow up into people we don't like very much. We go on loving, though what we love may be more memory than actuality. And until the day we die we fear the phone that rings in the middle of the night.”

Quote by Mary Cantwell

Author

Mary Cantwell (1930-2000) was an accomplished American journalist known for her in-depth investigative reporting and keen insight into social issues. Throughout her career, she worked for several prominent media outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, covering a wide range of topics from politics to social issues and environmental protection. Cantwell's work has earned her numerous journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, and is considered to have had a profound impact on both the news industry and society. more

You May Also Like

“I think Hemingway's [book] titles should be awarded first prize in any contest. Each of them is a poem, and their mysterious power over readers contributes to Hemingway's success. His titles have a life of their own, and they have enriched the American vocabulary.”

Thinking Should Firsts Book Reader Mysterious Titles Prize Contests Vocabulary Book Titles

Book:Shakespeare and Company

Source: Shakespeare and Company

“[On working with James Joyce:] So, either you run your publishing business far away, where your writer can't get at it, or you publish right alongside of him - and have much more fun - and much more expense.”

Running Fun Expenses Far Away Publishing Publish Joyce

Author:Sylvia Beach

“I think [James] Joyce sometimes enjoyed misleading his readers. He said to me that history was like that parlor game where someone whispers something to the person next to him, who repeats it not very distinctly to the next person, and so on until, by the time the last person hears it, it comes out completely transformed. Of course, as he explained to me, the meaning in Finnegans Wake is obscure because it is a 'nightpiece.' I think, too, that, like the author's sight, the work is often blurred.”

Thinking Persons Said Sometimes Lasts Courses Next Games Reader Sight Enjoyed Repeats Transformed Obscure Mislead Joyce Parlor Finnegans Wake Parlor Games

Author:Sylvia Beach

“Dawn crept over the Downs like a sinister white animal, followed by the snarling cries of a wind eating its way between the black boughs of the thorns. The wind was the furious voice of this sluggish animal light that was baring the dormers and mullions and scullions of Cold Comfort Farm.”

Way Light Black Voice White Animal Cry Wind Cold Comfort Eating Dawn Farms Thorns Furious Sinister Sluggish Snarling Cold Comfort Farm

Book:Cold comfort farm

Source: Cold comfort farm

“And when April like an over-lustful lover leaped upon the lush flanks of the Downs there would be yet another child in the wretched hut down on Nettle Flitch Field, where Meriam housed the fruits of her shame.”

Children Would Be Fields Lovers Shame Fruit Wretched April Huts Lush Lustful Nettles

Book:Cold comfort farm

Source: Cold comfort farm

“For the true bookworm it is sometimes hard to distinguish between what one has experienced and what one has read. We know that this is odd and even a little demented. But there it is. We are uneasy in a void with no book.”

Knows Littles Book Sometimes Hard Odd Void Uneasy Demented Bookworms

Author:Laura Furman

“It is a sign of intimacy to be able to read in the same room with another person, as trusting as dreaming with someone right beside you.”

Persons Dream Able Reading Rooms Intimacy Beside You

Author:Laura Furman

“Reading is a socially acceptable form of hallucination.”

Form Reading Acceptable Hallucinations

Author:Laura Furman

“I fall into books the way I fall into lust - wholly, hungrily.”

Way Book Fall Reading Lust Book Reading

Author:Rebecca McClanahan

“Memory is an act of meaning-making. It collects the disparate pieces of our lives and distills them.”

Memories Pieces Our Lives

Book:Word Painting

Source: Word Painting