I exaggerated even before I began to exaggerate, because it's true โ nothing is ever quite as bad as it could be.
Amy HempelThe worst of it is over now, and I can't say that I am glad. Lose that sense of loss--you have gone and lost something else.
Amy HempelA five-hour flight works out to three days and nights on land, by rail, from sea to shining sea. You can chalk off the hours on the back of the seat ahead. But seventy-some hours will not seem so long to you if you tell yourself first: This is where I am going to be for the rest of my natural life.
Amy HempelI could claim any number of high-flown reasons for writing, just as you can explain certain dogs behavior... But maybe, itโs that theyโre dog, and thatโs what dogs do.
Amy HempelIt was like that class at school where the teacher talks about Realization, about how you could realize something big in a commonplace thing. The example he gave--and the liar said it really happened--was that once while drinking orange juice, he'd realized he would be dead someday. He wondered if we, his students, had had similar 'realizations.' Is he kidding? I thought. Once I cashed a paycheck and I realized it wasn't enough. Once I had food poisoning, and realized I was trapped inside my body.
Amy Hempel