Dinah, the Christmas Whore

"Patently, joyfully normal, Lisa was the embodiment of everything I found depressing. Nothing set her apart from the thousands of other girls I saw each day, but this fact did not disturb her in the least. In her desire to be typical, my sister had succeeded with flying colors."

Dinah, the Christmas Whore from Naked, p. 110
By David Sedaris
Published 1997

American Wife

"But what I did care about, what I wanted most fervently, was for her to understand that hard work paid off, that decency begat decency, that humility was not a raincoat you occasionally pulled on when you thought conditions called for it, but rather a constant way of existing in the world, knowing that good and bad luck touched everyone and none of us were fully responsible for our fortunes and tragedies."

American Wife, p. 401
By Curtis Sittenfeld
Published 2009

Blue Like Jazz

"When I was in love I hardly thought of myself; I thought of her and how beautiful she looked and whether or not she was cold and how I could make her laugh. It was wonderful because I forgot my own problems. I owned her problems instead, and her problems seemed romantic and beautiful."

Blue Like Jazz, p. 151
By Donald Miller
Published 2003

Prep

"Ault had taught me everything I needed to know about attracting and alienating people, what the exact measurements ought to be of confidence and self deprecation, humor, disclosure, inquisitiveness; even, finally, of enthusiasm. Also, Ault had been the toughest audience I'd ever encounter, to the extent that sometimes afterward, I found winning people over disappointingly easily."

Prep, p. 283
By Curtis Sittenfeld
Published 2005

Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?

 

"Cultures and races will eventually vanish... And I, naturally, am rather opposed to all this. History, which is my field... history, of which I am one of the most famous bogs... will lose its glorious variety of unpredictability. I, and with me the surprise, the multiplexity, the sea-changing rhythm of... history, will be eliminated. There will be order and constanty... and I am unalterably opposed to it. I will not give up Berlin!" - George

Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, pp. 66 - 67
By Edward Albee
Published 1962

Running with Scissors

"More than anything I wanted to break free. But free from what? That was the problem. Because I didn't know what I wanted to break free from, I was stuck."

Running with Scissors, p. 258
By Augusten Burroughs
Published 2002