77 Quotes by Lucia Berlin

Anytime you think you hate somebody, what you do is pray for them. Try it, you’ll see.

Angel is responsible for all the AA prayers and mottoes. DON’T THINK AND DON’T DRINK. Angel put a cold wet one-sock on Tony’s head and knelt beside him. “Brother, believe me … I’ve been there … right down there in the gutter where you are. I know just how you feel.” Tony didn’t open his eyes. Anybody says he knows just how someone else feels is a fool.

My tears were for my own loneliness, my own blindness.

I told her funny stories about our mother. How once she tried and tried to open a bag of Granny Goose potato chips, then gave up. "Life is just too damn hard," she said and tossed the bag over her shoulder.

Oh, Mel, what am I going to do? Quit teaching? Travel? Get a doctorate? Commit suicide? Where did that thought come from?

...well, I guess it is natural when one is dying to sort of sum up what has mattered, what has been beautiful.

Una cosa sé de la muerte. Cuanto "mejor" es la persona, cuanto más cariñosa, feliz y comprensiva, menor es el vacío que deja su muerte.

Hay cosas de las que la gente nunca habla. No me refiero a las cosas difíciles, como el amor, sino a las más bochornosas, como por ejemplo que los funerales a veces son divertidos o que es emocionante ver arder un edificio. El funeral de Michael fue maravilloso.

My legs! Lord Jesus stop the pain in my legs!” “Hush John,” Florida said. “That’s only phantom pain.” “Is it real?” I asked her. She shrugged. “All pain is real.