He took each fact as it came and let it slip painlessly into the back of his mind, thinking, Okay, okay, I'll think about that one later; and that one; and that one; so that the alert, front part of his mind could remain free enough to keep him in command of the situation.
("Revolutionary Road")
More Quotes from Richard Yates:
They could lie drowsing now under the sound of kindly voices in the living room, a sound whose intricately rhythmic rise and fall would slowly turn into the shape of their dreams. And if they came awake later to turn over and reach with their toes for new cool places in the sheets, they knew the sound would still be there-one voice very deep and the other soft and pretty, talking and talking, as substantial and soothing as a blue range of mountains seen from far away.Richard Yates
Being alone has nothing to do with how many people are around.
Richard Yates
Our ability to measure and apportion time affords an almost endless source of comfort.
Richard Yates
He couldn't even tell whether he was angry or contrite, whether it was forgiveness he wanted or the power to forgive.
Richard Yates
She cried because she'd had such high, high hopes about the Wheelers tonight and now she was terribly, terribly, terribly disappointed. She cried because she was fifty six years old and her feet were ugly and swollen and horrible; she cried because none of the girls had liked her at school and none of the boys had liked her later; she cried because Howard Givings was the only man who'd ever asked her to marry him, and because she'd done it, and because her only child was insane.
Richard Yates
A man could rant and smash and grapple with the State Police, and still the sprinklers whirled at dusk on every lawn and the television droned in every living room.
Richard Yates
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Based on Topics: Mind Quotes, Thought & Thinking QuotesBased on Keywords: painlessly
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