I'm a Sagittarius, born in the year of the rat, all of which is basically meaningless to me. Kevin Brockmeier More Quotes by Kevin Brockmeier More Quotes From Kevin Brockmeier Dreaming was easier than screaming, and screaming was easier than worrying, and worrying was easier than crying, which was what she knew she would be reduced to if she didn’t keep a hard eye on herself. Kevin Brockmeier eye dream life It's like you're born with all these blessings, only you don't realize they're blessings until you lose them. And if you're thick-headed enough, like me, you don't even realize you've lost them, not until they come back to you. Kevin Brockmeier realizing like-you blessing Who was it who said that every virtue contains its corresponding vice? C.S. Lewis? Virginia Woolf? You forget. But it has always worried you that what the virtue of wit contained was the vice of scorn. Kevin Brockmeier virginia vices forget How often, you wonder, has the direction of your life been shaped by such misunderstandings? How many opportunities have you been denied--or, for that matter, awarded--because someone failed to see you properly? How many friends have you lost, how many have you gained, because they glimpsed some element of your personality that shone through for only an instant, and in circumstances you could never reproduce? An illusion of water shimmering at the far bend of a highway. Kevin Brockmeier personality opportunity water You remember having friends who used to lampoon the world so effortlessly, crouching at the verge of every joke and waiting to pounce on it, and you remember how they changed as they grew older and the joy of questioning everything slowly became transformed into the pain of questioning everything, like a star consuming its own core. Kevin Brockmeier pain stars joy I'm uncommonly slow to show my work to other people, and by the time I do I've usually exhausted myself so completely that all I really want is for someone to tell me that my efforts have added up to something - not one of my better qualities, I admit. Kevin Brockmeier effort quality people In seventh grade I gradually became aware that that quickness of feeling was something I was supposed to have outgrown. I was rather guileless, I think, or at least I was when it came to the people I cared about. Kevin Brockmeier feelings people thinking If your reading life and your friendships overlap, that's just a nice coincidence - a case where the conversation you're having with books and the conversation you're having with actual human beings happen to dovetail. Kevin Brockmeier nice reading book I suppose that when you're growing up, you're bound to reach an age when you feel buffeted by all the changes in your life, when either your mind begins outpacing your body or your body begins outpacing your mind and you're not quite in conversation with yourself anymore. Kevin Brockmeier growing-up age mind I might not remember how the sky looked on any given day. I do remember, though, what it was like to be a boy beneath a sky. Kevin Brockmeier sky might boys What I wanted was to write a memoir that was immersive rather than reflective, to resurrect a long-gone version of my own consciousness. I kept expecting that sooner or later the effort would come to seem like second nature to me, but it never did. Kevin Brockmeier effort writing long I was wholly invested in my friendships. I might have tested them sometimes, but only to reassure myself that they were permanent. A mistake, of course. Kevin Brockmeier mistake might sometimes I keep an ongoing list of my fifty favorite books, which I recalibrate whenever I discover a new one that seems to demand a spot there. Kevin Brockmeier discover keep books new I can tell you that I never begin working on a story until I have a title centered at the top of the first page. Kevin Brockmeier story never you i-can
