My house fly theory is related to my theory about why time seems to go faster as you get older." "Why's that?" the girl asked. "It's proportional," Leonard explained. "When you're five, you've only been alive a couple thousand days. But by the time you're fifty, you've lived around twenty thousand days. So a day when you're five seems longer because it's a greater percentage of the whole.
Jeffrey EugenidesWe knew that Cecilia had killed herself because she was a misfit, because the beyond called to her, and we knew that her sisters, once abandoned, felt her calling from that place, too.
Jeffrey EugenidesIt was something every child knew how to do, maintain a direct and full connection with the world. Somehow you forgot about it as you grew up, and had to learn it again.
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 Eugenides