Quotes From "Like Life" By Lorrie Moore

Bucks, doe – thank God everything boils down to money, I always say."" During mating season the doe constructs a bed for herself, and then she urinates all around the outside of it. That's how she gets her mate."" So that's it, " murmured Odette. "I was always peeing in the bed. Lorrie Moore

Oh, " she said. "I wasn't going to ask, but then you never said anything about it, so I thought I'd ask."" How about you?"" Not me, " said Odette. She had a poem about marriage. It began, Marriage is the death you want to die, and in front of audiences she never read it with much conviction. Usually she swung her foot back and forth through the whole thing. Lorrie Moore

How quickly bodies came to love each other, promise themselves to each other always, without asking permission. From the mind! If only she could give up her mind, let her heart swell, inflamed, her brain stepping out for whole days, whole seasons, her work shrinking to limericks. Lorrie Moore

Tell me something wonderful, " he said to Dane. "Tell me that we are going to die dreamfully and loved in our sleep."" You're always writing one of your plays on the phone, " said Dane."I said, something wonderful. Say something about springtime."" It is sloppy and wet. It is a beast from the sea."" Ah, " said Harry. Lorrie Moore

But it would be like going to Heaven and not finding any of your friends there. Her life would go all beatific and empty in the eyes. Lorrie Moore

Mave believed that not being able to see your life clearly, to scrutinize it intelligently, meant that probably you were at the dead center of it, and that couldn't possibly be a bad thing. Lorrie Moore

Usually she ordered a cup of coffee and a cup of tea, as well as a brownie, propping up her sadness with chocolate and caffeine so that it became an anxiety. Lorrie Moore

And all love that had overtaken her would have to be a memory, a truck on the interstate roaring up from the left, a thing she must let pass. Lorrie Moore

I mean …” Dennis was saying, looking pointedly at Mave, but Mave was watching the waitress approach. Oh, life, oh, sweet, forgiven for the ice …  He grabbed Mave’s wrist. There was always an emergency. And then there was love. And then there was another emergency. That was the sandwiching of it. Emergency. Love. Emergency. “I mean, it’s not as if you’ve been dozing off, ” Dennis was saying, his voice reaching her now, high and watery. “I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, ” he said, “but I don’t think I’ve been having this conversation alone.” He tightened his grip. “I mean, have I? . Lorrie Moore

I don't have a love life. I have a like life.' Mamie smiled. She thought how nice that might be, to be peacefully free from love... Lorrie Moore

It was strange, this toxic little vein, strange to stand above it, looking down at night, in a dangerous neighborhood, as if they were in love and entitled to such adventures. Lorrie Moore

She was afraid, and the afraid, she realized, sought opportunities for bravery in love. Lorrie Moore

Then, when it didn't crash, when you succeeded in keeping it aloft with your own worthlessness, all you had to do was stagger off, locate your luggage, and, by the time a cab arrived, come up with a persuasive reason to go on living. Lorrie Moore

Guns, she was reminded then, were not for girls. They were for boys. They were invented by boys. They were invented by boys who had never gotten over their disappointment that accompanying their own orgasm there wasn't a big boom sound. Lorrie Moore

He began to prefer talking on the phone to actually getting together with someone, preferred the bodilessness of it, and started to turn down social engagements. He didn't want to actually sit across from someone in a restaurant, look at their face, and eat food. He wanted to turn away, not deal with the face, have the waitress bring them two tin cans and some string so they could just converse, in a faceless dialogue. Lorrie Moore