The Lay of the Land
Richard Ford
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Our ex-wifes always harbour secrets about us that make them irresistable. Until, of course, we remember who we are and what we did and why we are not married anymore.”
“Humans generally get out the gist of what they need to say right at the beginning, then spend forever qualifying, contradicting, burnishing or taking important things back. Yor rareley miss anything by cutting most people off after two sentences.”
“At the exact moment any decision seems to be being made, it's usually long after the real decision was actually made--like light we see emitted from stars.”
“The things you'll never do don't get decided at the end of life, but somewhere in the long gray middle, where you can't see the dim light at either end.”
“The kind of happy I was that day at the Vet when "Hawk" Dawson actually doffed his red "C" cap to me, and everyone cheered and practically convulsed into tears - you can't patent that. It was one shining moment of glory that was instantly gone. Whereas life, real life, is different and can't even be appraised as simply "happy", but only in terms of "Yes, I'll take it all, thanks" or "No, I believe I won't." Happy, as my poor father used to say, is a lot of hooey. Happy is a circus clown, a sitcom, a greeting card. Life, though, life's about something sterner. But also something better. A lot better. Believe me.”
“... that life can't be escaped and must be faced entirely.”
“It's shocking to note how close we play to unwelcome realizations, and yet how our ongoing ignorance makes so much of life possible.”
“In the three boats story, a man is floating alone in an ocean without a life jacket when a boat passes by. "Get in. I'll save you," the boatman says. "Oh, no, it's fine," the floating man answers, "I'm putting my faith in the Lord." In time, two more boats come along, and to each rescuer the man - usually me, in Wade's telling - says, "No, no, I'm putting my faith in the Lord." Eventually, and it isn't very long in coming, the man drowns. Yet when he stands up to meet his Maker at the fated spot where some rejoice but many more cower, his Maker looks sternly down and says, "You're a fool. You're assigned to hell forever. Go there now." To which the drowned man says, "But your honor, I put my faith in you. You promised to save me." "Save you!?" fearsome God shouts from misty marmoreal heights. "Save you? Save you?" God thunders. "I sent you three boats!”
“A lot of things seem one way but are another. And how a thing seems is often just the game we play to save ourselves from great, panicking pain.”
“It's odd how our fears, the ones we didn't know we had, alter our sight line and make us see things that never were.”
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Book Keywords:
life, happiness, humanity, divorce, talking
