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This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt. — Arundhati Roy · 1997When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That's what careless words do. They make people love you a little less. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Ammu said that human beings were creatures of habit, and it was amazing the kind of things they could get used to. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Change1 quote
Change is one thing. Acceptance is another. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Dreams1 quote
If you're happy in a dream... does that count? — Arundhati Roy · 1997
And the Air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. Big Things lurk unsaid inside. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Family1 quote
This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Fear1 quote
He folded his fear into a perfect rose. He held it out in the palm of his hand. She took it from him and put it in her hair. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
But what was there to say? Only that there were tears. Only that Quietness and Emptiness fitted together like stacked spoons. Only that there was a snuffling in the hollows at the base of a lovely throat. Only that a hard honey-colored shoulder had a semicircle of teethmarks on it. Only that they held each other close, long after it was over. Only that what they shared that night was not happiness, but hideous grief. Only that once again they broke the Love Laws. That lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Grief1 quote
But what was there to say? Only that there were tears. Only that Quietness and Emptiness fitted together like stacked spoons. Only that there was a snuffling in the hollows at the base of a lovely throat. Only that a hard honey-colored shoulder had a semicircle of teethmarks on it. Only that they held each other close, long after it was over. Only that what they shared that night was not happiness, but hideous grief. Only that once again they broke the Love Laws. That lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Happiness1 quote
If you're happy in a dream... does that count? — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Ammu said that human beings were creatures of habit, and it was amazing the kind of things they could get used to. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Change is one thing. Acceptance is another. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
Stories1 quote
The secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover’s skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won’t. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn’t. And yet you want to know again. That is their mystery and their magic. — Arundhati Roy · 1997
He folded his fear into a perfect rose. He held it out in the palm of his hand. She took it from him and put it in her hair. — Arundhati Roy · 1997