Thatโs how people live, by telling stories. Whatโs the first thing a kid says when he learns how to talk? โTell me a story.โ Thatโs how we understand who we are, where we come from. Stories are everything.
Jeffrey EugenidesAdded to their loveliness was a new mysterious suffering, perfectly silent, visible in the blue puffiness beneath their eyes or the way they would sometimes stop in mid-stride, look down, and shake their heads as though disagreeing with life.
Jeffrey EugenidesI went into the desert to forget about you. But the sand was the color of your hair. The desert sku was the color of your eyes. There was nowhere I could go that wouldn't be you.
Jeffrey EugenidesI tell my students that when you write, you should pretend youโre writing the best letter you ever wrote to the smartest friend you have. That way, youโll never dumb things down. You wonโt have to explain things that donโt need explaining. Youโll assume an intimacy and a natural shorthand, which is good because readers are smart and donโt wish to be condescended to.
Jeffrey EugenidesThere comes a moment, when you get lost in the woods, when the woods begin to feel like home.
Jeffrey EugenidesThough at this moment she felt abused, abandoned, and ashamed of herself, Madeleine knew that she was still young, that she had her whole life ahead of her--a life in which, if she persevered, she might do something special--and that part of persevering meant getting past moments just like this one, when people made you feel small, unlovable, and took away your confidence.
Jeffrey Eugenides