96 Quotes by Darin Strauss

Love wasn't a thing you fell in, but rose to. It was what stopped you from falling.

I've come to see our central nervous system as a kind of vintage switchboard, all thick foam wires and old-fashioned plugs. The circuitry isn't properly equipped; after a surplus of emotional information the system overloads, the circuit breaks, the board runs dark. That's what shock is.

Sin in the Second City is a masterful history lesson, a harrowing biography, and - best of all - a superfun read. The Everleigh story closely follows the turns of American history like a little sister. I can't recommend this book loudly enough.

Diminish the influence of fate

Everybody wants life to speak to them with special kindness. Every personal story begs to be steered toward reverie, toward some relief from unpleasant truths: That you are a self, that beyond anything else you want the best for that self. That, if it is to be you or someone else, you need it to be you, no matter what.

A tragedy's first act is crowded with supporting players: witnesses crimping their faces, policemen scribbling in pads and making radio calls, EMS guys unfolding equipment, tubes and wheels.

Passion and platonic friendliness, often contrary siblings, frequently wear similar faces to hide the great distance between them.

When you know you are dying, self-deceptions fly from your bedside like embers off a bonfire.

Sometimes one learns too early, as I did, what the world is capable of.