On of the reasons that I wanted to study literature was because it exposed everything. Writers looked for secrets that had never been mined. Every writer has to invent their own magical language, in order to describe the indescribable. They might seem to be writing in French, English, or Spanish, but really they were writing in the language of butterflies, crows, and hanged men.
Heather O'NeillIn Lullabies, I wanted to capture what I remembered of the drunken babbling of unfortunate twelve-year-olds: their illusions, their ludicrously bad choices, their lack of morality and utter disbelief in cause and effect
Heather O'NeillBecoming a child again is what is impossible. That's what you have a legitimate reason to be upset over. Childhood is the most valuable thing that's taken away from you in life, if you think about it.
Heather O'NeillAdolescents are attracted to tragic heroes. That's why rock stars dress like homeless people. Adolescence is a fall. It's when every child becomes an orphan.
Heather O'NeillSometimes when you are standing still and itโs snowing, you think that you hear music. You canโt tell where itโs coming from either. I wondered if we all really did have a soundtrack, but we just get so used to it that we canโt hear it anymore, the same way that we block out the sound of our own heartbeat.
Heather O'Neill