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Quotes About Observation

Yes, I was good at reading people. I studied them so I could put them in my novels.
~ Jennifer Echols
Uh, no. But between cars, he keeps looking over here at you." I turned my head toward her, to fake John out. Then I cut my eyes at him. He was staring at me, all right. And when he saw I"d noticed, he didn"t try to hide it. He grinned at me.
~ Jennifer Echols
They'd moved behind the tree where I wouldn't have seen them unless I'd been looking for them (which I was). I almost pointed them out to Tammy, then decided against it. I didn't want to sound like a fifth grader: Wow, kissing!
~ Jennifer Echols
Seeing him jogging at the park had cracked the window so I could peek into his soul. Seeing him with his friends threw the window wide open. He was so nineteen.
~ Jennifer Echols
I'd known Nick was built. His family had a membership at my parents' health club, and sometimes he came in to lift weights. His favorites were the arm curl machine and the abdominal machine, where he would lift hard for long minutes and then fight for a few last painful crunches. Not that I made a habit of standing there and staring at him as he worked out. That would be creepy. I watched him on the surveillance camera behind the reception desk.
~ Jennifer Echols
People rarely look the way you expect them to, even when you've seen pictures. The first thirty seconds in a person's presence are the most important. If you're having trouble perceiving and projecting, focus on projecting.
~ Jennifer Egan
People are bored. They're dead! Go to a shopping mall and check out the faces. I did this for years—I'd drive out to the malls on weekends and just sit there watching people, trying to figure it out. What's missing? What do they need? What's the next step? And then I got it: imagination . We've lost the ability to make things up. We've farmed out that job to the entertainment industry, and we sit around and drool on ourselves while they do it for us.
~ Jennifer Egan
I sensed immediately that he'd once been overweight. He moved with a fat person's tiptoey apology.
~ Jennifer Egan
until it seemed like everything in Danny's life was the witness he needed to prove he was still himself, still Danny King exactly like before: See, I scored a goal! See, I'm hanging with my friends! But he wasn't one hundred percent there, he was watching, too, hoping everyone would be convinced.
~ Jennifer Egan
Cooper would never tell Arthur Berringer anything he didn't know, whereas Dexter saw and knew things the old man couldn't afford to, without personal compromise. He was nearer the earth, its salts and minerals, than any Berringer had been in several generations.
~ Jennifer Egan
Here," he said, thrusting the binoculars at Tabby to break the spell of her self-absorption. "Make sure no Germans are coming ashore like they did on Amagansett Beach." "Why would they, Daddy? There's nothing important here." "To help with your fingernails? Those seem to be very important." She yanked her fragment of a robe around her and stalked back indoors. Dexter seethed at her vanity and his own impulsiveness. It was a weakness.
~ Jennifer Egan
NICOLE CULLEN Long Tom Lookout
~ Jennifer Egan
The fish are gaudy, easy targets, nibbling at coral. Lou has speared seven by the time he realizes Rolph hasn't killed a single one.
~ Jennifer Egan
Sasha was adjusting her yellow eye shadow in the mirror when she noticed a bag on the floor beside the sink that must have belonged to the woman whose peeing she could faintly hear through the vaultlike door of a toilet stall.
~ Jennifer Egan
Sie sehnte sich stattdessen nach dem Elan und der Zielstrebigkeit, die alle anderen Menschen in der Forty-second Street zu beflügeln schienen: Gruppen lachender Matrosen; Mädchen mit angelegten, eingesprühten Haaren; ältere Paare, die Damen im Pelz - alle eilten im Dämmerlicht dahin. Anna betrachtete sie forschend. Woher wussten sie, wohin es ging?
~ Jennifer Egan
Being observed felt like an action, the only one worth taking.
~ Jennifer Egan
Your throat tightens up and your eyes get wet as you watch their faces go from stony to sad, and it's all kind of moving and sweet except that you're not completely there—a part of you is a few feet away, or above, thinking, Good, they'll forgive you, they won't desert you, and the question is, which one is really "you," the one saying and doing whatever it is, or the one watching?
~ Jennifer Egan
See," Sasha muttered, eyeing the sun. "It's mine.
~ Jennifer Egan
Damin, if you don't want people getting killed, you really should rethink this whole worshipping the God of War philosophy, you know. It's been my observation that people quite often come to harm when you throw them all on a field together, arm them with sharp implements, and tell them to hit each other until there's nobody left standing.
~ Jennifer Fallon
He has never joined the coffee-drinking masses at his neighborhood Starbucks, who assemble daily in order to ignore each other completely—humans of every age and description deafened by headphones, staring dumbly at their glowing screens. Each morning Darren studies them as he waits in line for his double espresso. Then he orders his coffee, sweetens generously, and leaves. The
~ Jennifer Haigh
Children can't learn antiracism if they don't have the practice of observing, naming, and discussing race in their tool kit.
~ Jennifer Harvey
You look like you got more of a bath than the car. I never thought washing a car would be so hard, but after watching you for the last fifteen minutes, I'm convinced it should be an Olympic sport.
~ Jennifer L. Armentrout
You look like you're twelve. No. Maybe thirteen, but my sister has this doll that kinda reminds me of you. All big-eyed and vacant.
~ Jennifer L. Armentrout
Mr.Clayton? Didn't you see her ears? You mean ears turning bright red means you're in love? I don't know, he mumbles, and looks down, his ears are bright red.
~ Jennifer L. Holm