The Web, the great time-killer that had replaced conspicuously passive television with its seductive illusion of productivity. Lionel Shriver More Quotes by Lionel Shriver More Quotes From Lionel Shriver For women, marriages foreclosed often resulted in an accumulation of booty; for men, these failed projects of implausible optimism were more likely to manifest themselves in material lack. It was hard to resist the metaphorical impression that women got to keep the past itself, whereas men were simply robbed of it. Lionel Shriver optimismmenpast Teachers were both blamed for everything that went wrong with kids and turned to for their every salvation. This dual role of scapegoat and savior was downright messianic but even Jesus was probably paid better. Lionel Shriver teacherkidsjesus So many stories are determined before they start. Lionel Shriver determinedstories I first foreswore motherhood when I was about eight years old. ... [Children] were annoying. We were loud and sneaky and broke things. As an eight-year-old, maybe I was simply mortified by the prospect of being saddled with myself. Lionel Shriver motherhoodchildrenyears Though surely to avoid attachments for fear of loss is to avoid life. Lionel Shriver attachmentloss Though it may be more romantic to picture the bereaved as gaunt, I imagine you can grieve as efficiently with chocolates as with tap water. Lionel Shriver chocolategrievingwater It's an apathy so absolute that it's like a hole you might fall in. Lionel Shriver apathymightfall I didn't care about anything. And there's a freedom in apathy, a wild, dizzying liberation on which you can almost get drunk. You can do anything. Ask Kevin. Lionel Shriver drunkapathycare A boy is a dangerous animal. Lionel Shriver dangerous-animalsanimalboys People seem to get used to anything, and it is a short step from adaptation to attachment. Lionel Shriver attachmentstepspeople We'd been assured it wouldn't be painful, though she might experience 'discomfort,' a term beloved of the medical profession that seems to be a synonym for agony that isn't yours. Lionel Shriver medical-professionagonymight I never, ever took you for granted. We met too late for that; I was nearly thirty-three by then, and my past without you was too stark and insistent for me to find the miracle of companionship ordinary. Lionel Shriver miracleordinarypast Half an ear cocked, something in me, all night, every night, is waiting for you to come home. Lionel Shriver waitinghomenight Size is relative. If everyone is fat, no-one is fat Lionel Shriver relativefatssize Perhaps I overemphasized the value of keeping busy.... I liked to imagine that I was incapable of doing nothing for afternoons myself, but maybe what disturbed me was that I was capable of it. I feared this was a knack one could get the hang of rather readily, and it was therefore now lurking in my house waiting for me to pick it up like a winter flu. Lionel Shriver waitinghousewinter Besides, I'd heard too many Karen Carpenter tales at Gladstone PTA meetings, and they often took the form of boasts. The prestigious diagnosis of anorexia seemed much coveted not only by the students but by their mothers, who would compete over whose daughter ate less. No wonder the poor girls were a mess. Lionel Shriver daughtergirlmother For that matter, thinking of one's self as exceptional is probably more the rule than not. Lionel Shriver selfmatterthinking For the living, death is thievery. Lionel Shriver thievery However gnawing a deficiency, satiety is worse... We are meant to be hungry. Lionel Shriver deficiencysatietyhungry The pediatrician must have thought me one of those neurotic mothers who craved distinction for her child but who in our civilization's latter-day degeneracy could only conceive of the exceptional in terms of deficiency or affliction. Lionel Shriver mothercivilizationchildren
