Quotes from Armistead Maupin

It's time to get mad, Michael. Niceness doesn't count for shit!

A stately row of Monterey pines lined the highway on either side of the security gates.

Still, I gave her a call, wondering if she might have lost someone herself, but our talk was limited to the surreal events we'd just watched on television. A crisis does draw people together, but rarely for the right reason. The old wounds flare up again soon enough; the bond lasts no longer than the terror.

Beyond the dark trees, Seal Rock gleamed eerily against the ocean, white as an iceberg under the moon. "Magic," she said, squeezing his arm.

And this was what bothered him about owning a VCR. If that cowboy was yours for the taking—yours at the flip of a switch—what was to stop you from abandoning human contact altogether? He

transcendental volleyball

Then they would both dissolve in giggles, bowing in their mirth to the awful hopelessness of it all.

the parrots were annoyingly arrogant. You could buy the most beautiful one in town, she observed, but that wouldn't make it love you. You could feed it, care for it and exclaim over its loveliness, but there was nothing to guarantee that it would stay home with you. There had to be a lesson there somewhere.

spotted the playwright in a crowd of shiny-faced people, all scrambling to be photographed with him. He had plastered a smile on his face, but he looked bereft and empty. Trapped. It was the most chilling image of fame I had ever seen thus far.

Look, said Mary Ann evenly, if I think you're really attractive, there must be plenty of men in this town who feel the same way. Yeah, said Michael ruefully. Size queens. Oh, don't be silly! Sometimes Michael was sensitive about the dumbest things. He's at least five nine, thought Mary Ann. That's tall enough for anybody.

The hostess extended her swanlike neck and opened her mouth to the fullest. Aaaahhhaaaahhhhheeeeaaaahhhh! Somewhere in the depths of the pine forest an identical sound reverberated. An echo! exclaimed Frannie. No, smiled Helena. Sybil Manigault. She's into nature.

C'était le grand point fort de l'amour : quelqu'un qui vous attend et vous déclare que le chemin sera moins pénible, à partir de maintenant. Même si ce n'est peut-être pas vrai.

It makes more sense if you've lived it." A

The world changes in direct proportion to the number of people willing to be honest about their lives.

C'mon, let's go join those tedious people.

Innocence is very erotic.

I'm Michael," said Michael, just as his nose started to bleed again.

Would she ever stop feeling like a colonist on the moon?

Ohhh, that feels lovely. The earth knows exactly how to hold us if we just let it.

All of life is maintenance, for heaven's sake. That's the pleasant part. Taking care of things.

There was something supremely sexy about a man who planned ahead like this, who wore his options like a tool belt, ready for any emergency.

men and women, both straight and gay, who don't consider sexuality in measuring the worth of another human being. These aren't radicals or weirdos, Mama. They are shop clerks and bankers and little old ladies and people who nod and smile to you when you meet them on the bus. Their attitude is neither patronizing nor pitying. And their message is so simple: Yes, you are a person. Yes, I like you. Yes, it's all right for you to like me too.

I hate this. It seems like a Sunday afternoon." "It is Sunday afternoon," said Thack. "I know, but … I mean, like when you were a kid, when you knew that Monday was coming, and the clock was ticking away. Saturdays were perfect, because there was Sunday, which was sort of a buffer. But Sundays just got worse and worse." Thack

I busted my butt trying to be everything to one person. Finally, I had to settle for being one thing to every person.