Sleeping Beauties

“Another part of getting older: you forgot what you wanted to remember, and remembered what you wanted to forget.”

“sometimes you get what you want, but mostly you get what you get.”

“In a terrified world, false news was king.”

“Mothers were naturals for law enforcement, because toddlers, like criminals, were often belligerent and destructive.”

“Is so-and-so a bigger asshole than Truman?” Few could compare—in fact, so far, officially, there was only Donald Trump and cannibals.”

“The snake said nothing in return. Snakes do not need to justify their behavior.”

“Although love is a dangerous word when it comes from men.”

“Loss changes you. Sometimes that’s bad. Sometimes it’s good. Either way, you eat your goddam pork chop and go on.”

“That was one way in which the sexes had never been equal; they were not equally dangerous.”

“All Frank knew was that the ones you really had to watch out for in this world were the ones that couldn’t love even a cat or a dog.”

“The Internet is a bright house standing above a dark cellar with a dirt floor. Falsehoods sprout like mushrooms in that cellar.”

“He began to limp home, because home was where you went when you were hurt and beaten.”

“The Black Angel came up from the roots and down from the branches. Her fingers are death and her hair is full of cobwebs and dream is her kingdom.”

“When had men not been mystified by women? They were the magic that men dreamed of, and sometimes their dreams were nightmares.”

“The devil was unpredictable. He had been an angel once.”

“That was the hurtful part of motherhood, not being able to fix what you couldn’t understand.”

“people loved their pets, often with a degree of openness they couldn’t allow themselves to express toward other people.”

“As the twig is bent, so the bough is shaped.”

“It makes no difference if you’re rich or poor Or if you’re smart or dumb. A woman’s place in this old world Is under some man’s thumb, And if you’re born a woman You’re born to be hurt. You’re born to be stepped on, Lied to, Cheated on, And treated like dirt. —Sandy Posey, “Born a Woman” Lyrics by Martha Sharp”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,”

“It makes no difference if you're rich or poor Or if you're smart or dumb. A woman's place in this old world Is under some man's thumb, And if you're born a woman You're born to be hurt. You're born to be stepped on, Lied to, Cheated on, And treated like dirt. -Sandy Posey, 'Born a Woman' Lyrics by Martha Sharp”

“Boys grow up to be men. And it’s men who cause all the trouble. They’re the ones who shed the blood and poison the earth.”

“Hicks was examining the paperbacks Maura had culled from the shelves: Peter Straub, Clive Barker, Joe Hill.”

“Time healed all wounds. Of course, as some wag had pointed out, it also wounds all heels.”

“It was a cliché, but for all-weather company, you couldn’t do better than a dog. Couldn’t do better than a dog, period. Dogs didn’t know any better; they just made the best of it.”

“Lila harboured an unspoken belief that motherhood was the best possible rehearsal for a prospective police officer.. Mothers were naturals for law enforcement, because toddlers, like criminals, were often belligerent and destructive. If you could get through those early years without losing your cool or blowing your top, you might be able to deal with grown-up crime. The key was to not react, to stay adult..”

“Sons figured out they were bigger and never forgot it. Sons didn't care about the world they left for their sons or for their daughters, although they said they did when the time came to run for office.”

“THERE IS NO GRAVITY, THE EARTH JUST SUCKS.”

“Can a dead buck with good insurance make a little dough?”

“you wondered why in the hell the world had been created in the first place. Good things were in short supply, and so much of the rest was downright rancid.”