112 Quotes by Amy Hempel

I remember thinking: There will never come a time when I will not be thinking of this. And I was right. And I was wrong.

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don’t get all writerly: ‘He opened the door.’ There, it’s open.

We keep wanting people to be different.

When my mother died, my father’s early widowhood gave him social cachet he would not have had if they had divorced. He was a bigger catch for the sorrow attached.

Since his mother died I have seen him steam a cucumber thinking it was zucchini. That’s the kind of thing that turns my heart right over.

I am so suggestible. When Chatty asks if I am hungry, I say, “I could be.” I would try to become the woman you wanted without even knowing I was trying. As it is, I am barely the woman I am.

I leave a lot out when I tell the truth. The same when I write a story.

Just once in my life – oh, when have I ever wanted anything just once in my life?

I’m not good at small talk; I’m not good at big talk; and medium talk just doesn’t come up.