Quotes from Jill Ciment

It was as close as I had ever come to having power over someone, and I equated it with love.

If you look closely you'll find all my lovers inscribed on my skin.

The greatness of the tattoo artist lies in her ability to gauge the degree to which she can push her art before the art kills the canvas.

Grief doesn't feel as if a rug has been pulled out from under her. There is no rug. There is no floor on which to lay a rug. There is no ground on which to build a floor to lay a rug.

Old age robs you of every last illusion, even the belief in your own goodness.

She could stand to think that life's experiences, good and bad, died with the body, but she couldn't bear to believe that the dreams vanished too, those exquisite flights of reverie that never actually happened. All those experiences you can have for free. How could they burn and turn to ash? She would disappear one day, too, both her flesh and the woman she dreamed herself to be.

What good was beauty with no one to share it? Alone, beauty was almost cruel.

The stars are beautiful—diamonds, twinkles, something you can wish upon. The space in between the stars is the sublime—cold, black, and infinite, something that inspires awe and fear.

Darkness isn't a hole you hide in; it's the cosmos.

wanted to live in the dark as a teenager until I realized that ugliness already makes you invisible

You either photograph what you know, or you photograph what you want to know. But the giants photograph what they don't want to know.

Seeing how a hand carves out meaning with a pencil point lets us remember that the human touch is essential.

Darkness isn't a hole you hide in; it's the cosmos.

During her lectures, she explains the difference between the beautiful and the sublime this way: The stars are beautiful—diamonds, twinkles, something you can wish upon. The space in between the stars is the sublime—cold, black, and infinite, something that inspires awe and fear.

she explains the difference between the beautiful and the sublime this way: The stars are beautiful—diamonds, twinkles, something you can wish upon. The space in between the stars is the sublime—cold, black, and infinite, something that inspires awe and fear.

One of them is going to tell the judge for the same reason children always tattle to the teacher. For attention and a gold star.

It was as close as I had ever come to having power over someone, and I equated it with love.

The stupid girl thinks Muslim is a language.

Dawn was her favorite time of day. Sunrise made no promises. A bright young beginning didn't necessarily foretell a glorious evening, nor did a dark and livid start mean a stormy afternoon.