Lorrie Moore Quotes

The wheels and springs of man are all set to the hypothesis of the permanence of nature. We are not built like a ship to be tossed, but like a house to stand.

The maxim of the British people is "Business as usual.

The earth didn’t stop spinning. The moon didn’t fall into the pond. The people who live across the street are the same people, except that they’re married.

Part broken - part whole, you begin again. ( from 'Why books seem shockproof against change.' THE TIMES: BOOKS)

People ask me how come you've been around so long. Well, it's through playing the part of Mr Average Joe American.

Ordinary life goes on--that has saved many a man's reason.

Life goes on with fragile normalcy.

Tho' much is taken, much abides.

People always think their world is coming to an end if they're exposed, and of course it isn't coming to an end; it goes right on exactly the way it always was.

That's what History teaches us, I think, that life goes on, even though individuals die and whole civilizations crumble away: The simple things last; they are repeated over and over by each generation.

True religion is the foundation of society. When that is once shaken by contempt, the whole fabric cannot be stable nor lasting.

The Way It Is There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old. Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread. ~ William Stafford ~

It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.

Rain was coming down in sheets. I could hear it, on the concrete outside and on the old building above me. It creaked and swayed in the spring thunderstorm and the wind, timbers gently flexing, wise enough with age to give a little, rather than put up stubborn resistance until they broke. I could probably stand to learn something from that.

I think of the trees and how simply they let go, let fall the riches of a season, how without grief (it seems) they can let go and go deep into their roots for renewal and sleep.... Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.

It's an ongoing problem, an ongoing situation, life is. It's just life, and it never stops and it never will. You just be thankful for what you've got, and move on.

The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.

Everybody's going through changes. No one knows what's going on. Everybody changes places, but the world still carries on.

I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don't go running to the psychiatrist every two minutes. That's something of an accomplishment these days.

Great wrongs have been done you, but the past is dust. The future may yet be won.

It's amazing how the world does actually go on in the middle of things that should stop it for us.

You don't realize - the great thing about change is how quickly we get used to it. So I'm not complaining. the more things change,the more they don't stay the same. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They might not change everywhere all at once - but there are moments when the impossible becomes the inevitable, and the rest is just a matter of time.

I couldn't walk for almost three years. That was the greatest thing that happened. Instead of dancing, I sang.

Education is inoculation against disruption.