House Of Sand And Fog Quotes
"I have fifty-six years and no hair. I must buy a hat."
"In my country, I was not only a desk officer; I bought F-16 jets from Israel and the United States."
"We cook it with very much butter so when the pot is turned upside down all the rice comes out onto the plate."
"We must act as if we can live as we are accustomed."
"I think of these things as I look over at Mendez, sleeping in the shade, his brown stomach visible beneath his peerhan."
"But I will not let myself think of that now. I cannot."
"My son of fourteen years looked at me then with Nadi’s beautiful face that becomes so ugly so easily with bad feeling."
"If you want real information, you must take their children."
"Enjoyment has nothing to do with it. I serve Shahanshah, sir."
"I felt the heat of my heart drop to my hands."
"I did not want to accept that we were colleagues."
"Nadi has always had more pride than a queen."
"It is I who should apologize; it is I who have helped to fly us so far off course."
"They’re fucking reminders to obey the rules, Kath."
"We were powerful and rational—powerful because we were rational."
"It’s where Nick went though, so I went too."
"I always left these meetings feeling like a fake."
"I’d rent two or three movies and watch them back to back."
"I wasn’t putting anything into my body, not even cigarettes then."
"I was already wet and there was still daylight outside."
"This all left me cold, like a foreign language I’d never be able to learn."
"I would’ve told my brother months ago about Nick if I’d known he wouldn’t tell his wife."
"I felt a sudden lightness in my chest and a heaviness in my legs."
"I am certain he has driven here to inform me it is all a mistake."
"I am forever expecting disaster around the corner from God’s smile."
"I feel a sadness that I did not stay in bed with Nadereh."
"I do not know if last evening will come again anytime soon."
"I felt proud and frightened all at the same moment."
"I am not sure what’s happening here either, Kathy."
"I just had to see you before it was another day."
"I have honored all the legalities in the buying of this bungalow."
"My lack of concern will worry her further."
"I must not even think of such an event, for I will not accept the return of anything!"
"I will proceed as planned; I will sell this bungalow for the profit to which I am entitled."
"I thought perhaps she was disappointed in me."
"I am certain there is nothing they can do against me."
"We will all toast the health of the bride and groom, to our own health, salomahti."
"What manner of society is it when one cannot expect a business transaction to be completed?"
"I felt as connected to the ground as an old newspaper blowing down the street."
"I haven’t stopped thinking of you since the eviction, Kathy."
You mean can you trust me?" "I already trust you, Kathy. Do you want it in your lap?
"There was this guy out near the reservoir, this little runt who used to beat up his wife like it was a pastime."
"I excused myself to go to the john, where I stuffed two eight balls in their closet behind a stack of towels."
"We couldn’t bring the batterer in unless the victim filed a complaint."
"Sometimes I think husbands and wives, maybe they’re just meant to get each other farther down the road."
It’s pretty big." "How big?" "Big enough not another soul knows about it.
"Your love was lightning on the mountain—Your love was a river in the trees—Your love was sun upon the desert."
"We are an educated family; we do not need to live as the peasant class, resolving our troubles with spilled blood."
"I guess my wife never saw this coming. I feel pretty bad about that."
"We dissolve marriages here; it's supposed to be a lot nicer for everyone, just slide into the hot tub and disappear."
"Do you know how many times I see people violate the spirit of the law without actually breaking it?"
"You’re right, you know. This guy’s received stolen property and now he’s trying to pawn it off."
"I do not understand the correctness of what has just occurred. How is it possible for the county tax office to send a policeman to threaten me?"
"I am filled with that old love for my wife, a love of nearly thirty years, and I cannot possibly allow a 'no' to escape my lips."
"It means you have to disclose, Colonel. You, the owner, have the obligation to tell any prospective buyers anything about the property they have a right to know."
"I don’t know, Colonel. You tell me. I understand your friend the Shah used to make a real habit of it."
"Everything would be all right. The store clerk came out yelling something, but I wasn’t listening; my hands felt oily."
"I wanted to break her, I wanted to push her against her automobile."
"You think you can frighten me with that stupid deputy? Coming here and telling lies?"
"As I drove into downtown Corona, slowly passing the one-or two-story shops, the glare of the sun off their windows making my eyes ache even with the sunglasses on, I thought about renting a motel room for the day just to recoup."
"It eats everyone. I thought I was going to cry. I refused to. With my third margarita, she brought the check, a sign, I knew, for me not to bother ordering another one."
"Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. I saw my house burning to the ground, the flames eating everything inside."
"I was having a hard time sliding the key in."
"The trunk lock clicked, I stooped for the can, and there in my trunk next to Nick’s hibachi was Lester’s coiled black leather belt, the fine checks in the grip of his gun, the worn black of its holster."
"In one fluid motion I put the gas can in and pulled the coiled leather snake out, kept it tucked under my arm as I unlocked my door, rested it on the seat beside me."
"I drove north on the Camino Real, the King’s Highway."
"I smoked two cigarettes before I noticed the music had stopped."
"The music so loud the cigarette butts vibrated in the ashtray and all I could smell was gas."
"I wanted to tell her it’s all right; it’s all right."
"I kept counting but did it from 1957 this time, ’58, ’59."
"I felt so dirty, so deserving of everything bad that had ever come my way or ever would again."
"I felt as if I was gearing myself to make love with a close relative, someone from my own family."
"I looked into my reflection, saw the tear trails over the accountant’s daughter’s blush still smeared so pink into my cheeks."
"The waves roll me and now they’re hot too, and I begin to cry."
"And as he hung up he considered denying everything, just lying about it all."
"I watched the young woman sleep, watch her mouth open slightly as she does."
"I simply purchased a property that can give my son a future. Is it I who has locked us in this toilet? Is it I who forced us from our old life, Nadi? Tell to me. What is it I have done except provide for my family? I think of nothing else. Ever. Ever, Nadereh. Only this. Only you."
"She was free of the pooldar acting of the Berkeley Hills; we were upon our own small hill with a widow’s walk to view the sea, our daughter was newly married, and Esmail left the home early each morning to ride his skateboard joyously down the long hill of the street."
"But again, he felt ashamed of himself. Right now everything was floating completely out of proportion. Nothing felt grounded or real. There was no proportion at all."
"And when he’d just kissed her in the bedroom he had smelled the booze too, the gutrot scent it carries after being broken down in the stomach."
"I could live in the street. I do this for you, Esmail, because I am your father and you will take what I give you."
"I still wanted to disappear, but not completely."
"That man in our home is not even sergeant. Your father will easily take care of this business."
"A hunger pain turned over behind my ribs. My body felt light, almost pure, but not my head."
"A cigarette and some tea, that’s all I needed."
"It was like I had cotton not in my ears, but in my thoughts."
"I could see his mother’s hands buttering a piece of toast as carefully as if it were something living."
"I sometimes believed I was being punished for the comfortable life I led as a high officer among beggars."
"Most days, however, I believed I was being tested by my God."
"If I possessed a true desire to escape that life I must have patience and continue to endure until my opportunity revealed itself."
"I drink my bitter tea, the whispering voices of our captors at my back."
"This armed couple in our home is nothing more than a test within a test."
"My son has finished eating, and he sits and waits for what is to happen next."
"Your shit’s my shit. Think of someplace sunny we can go."
"I didn’t want you to fall into my shit, Les. I really didn’t."
"I could see her thin arm adjusting the volume, though her other arm was still across her eyes, and I knew this was something she’d done too many times."
"How can I give to this woman whose actions have led to my son’s injury?"
"I will give to her all the money I have."
"The air here smells of the ocean, of rotted weed in the sand, of sea salt and garbage."
"The boy’s feet were splayed out, the soles of his basketball shoes dirty and worn almost smooth, bouncing slightly as the stretcher was pushed into the paramedic van."