Quotes from Laird Koenig

The night, a living presence, was in constant motion, shifting itself, sighing, breathing. She wondered if perhaps it, too, was trying to get warm.

Giving and taking comfort in everything they could give and take, every part of them sought to make themselves one till it was impossible for either to know the comforter from the one being comforted.

The game is pretending. It's going through the motions of life. But it's not living. The game is for people who want rules because they're afraid to believe anything everyone else doesn't already believe. They're all scared to leave the street where they live and do something with their lives. the game is for people who want to be told what to do. Okay. Good for them, if that's what they want.

What a wonderful day it was to get into the outdoors. The sky above the tree branches was blue, dappled by fast-running clouds shifting the autumn sunlight between sharp spangles of yellow light and an amber haze.

My father says most people who say they like poetry only pretend to like it.' 'I guess you like it?' 'I love it very much.' Her long hair swirled as she shook her head to correct herself. That's redundant. The word 'love' stands alone. 'Very much' only weakens it. I love words. Most people aren't very careful with them.

How often she was amazed at the lies adults told. Silly, easy-to-expose lies. Did they not remember how difficult it is to deceive a child? Had they forgotten that when it comes to lying children know all there is to know?

How old do you have to be before people treat you as a person? Cooking's not like a piece a clever child stands up and recites or a parlor trick one performs for the adults. Of course I can cook.

My father says that intelligence is the ability to see reality quickly.

Emily Dickinson, one could be certain, didn't have silly friends. She didn't need them.