Benjamin Alire Saenz Quotes
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God, it would never go away, this anger, this rage that was like the ceaseless movement of the spring winds through the desert, this knot in his guts, this splinter in his heart that shot a pain through him that eventually found its way into his lungs, then out of his mouth and into the open air, the sound making the whole world turn away from him. It would never go away, never, never, and there would never be any peace. Maybe he had it all wrong, maybe he wasn't a victim at all, not at all, because he had decided that this was the only thing that would ever be truly his, and so he clung to it, would cling to it forever.
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And he raised his arm like he was going to slap her. But he stopped himself. Yolie looked at him, and Andrés swore her eyes were knives and she was cutting him up like he was a piece of paper. And right then, at that moment, he loved Yolie, loved her with all his heart.
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I'll always hate shoes.
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You know, it was beautiful to be in that kitchen just then. I guess there are times of quiet beauty in life.
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When I was a boy, I used to wake up thinking that the world was ending. I'd get up and look in the mirror and my eyes were sad.
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Adam says I isolate. He is addicted to telling me that I spend too much time in my head. It’s an unhealthy behavior. Look, I don’t see how not bothering other people with your screwed-up vision of the world constitutes unhealthy behavior.
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Were you afraid Dad wouldn’t come back? I didn’t think about it. I made myself not think about it. I’m good at that.
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That’s what his mother had told him, that Mexico tasted of maíz and the hands of the women who’d made tortillas for a thousand years.
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It's always been interesting to me how we mistake good genes for virtue.
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The world could be as small as it was cruel. She wondered at God sometimes, his schemes, his plans, his plots, his sense of order. Maybe he was just like the Bible—beautiful and overwritten and redundant and badly in need of editing.
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Life can be hard. I know how hard it can be.” And then she said, “Déjate querer.” Let yourself be loved.
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Maybe that’s why I felt sad and empty—because I’d missed him all my life.
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Patience is a gift you have to work for.
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Sometimes you put things off. And you get addicted to putting things off.
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The thing about artists is that they tell stories. I mean, some paintings are like novels.
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It was a small idea. But at least the idea was mine.
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The storm was fierce. But I wasn’t afraid. I knew my father’s love was fiercer than any storm.
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And why were the voices there, but he knew why and he knew they would always be there, the voices, knocking at his door, taking over his house.
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I wanted to tell her happy was hard for me. But I think she already knew that.
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Maybe the heart did change shape. And not just when it loved. When it was hurt. When it was angry. When it hated. When it remembered. When it yearned. When it mourned.
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When I see him today, I will show him my ugly heart. I’m not fucking sorry.
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Maybe we just lived between hurting and healing.
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Everyone was becoming someone else. Sometimes, when you were older, you became someone younger. And me, I felt old.
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I sat in the truck and had to force myself to rejoin the party. I hated parties—even the ones thrown in my honor.