Quotes from Amy Hempel

I bought packets of wildflower and zinnia seeds, and sprinkled them around the falling-down house. Maybe the rain we can expect tonight will do something about it.

It is just possible I will say I stayed the night. And who is there that can say that I did not?

You want to be choosy about what you let into your soul when you are likely not long for this world.

Aren't we all, I thought, somebody's harvest?

Ho esagerato ancora prima di cominciare, perché è vero: niente è mai grave quanto potrebbe essere.

E penso a quel detto che ripetono sempre tutti: la vita è dura... e poi muori. A dire il vero, non è affatto così. Questo lo dicono loro. La vita è dura: su questo hanno ragione. Ma quei giorni che dovrebbero essere la parte peggiore? Su questo si sbagliano. E' la tua vita, il resto della tua vita, la parte peggiore.

Mi immaginavo noi due che cuocevamo le mele per Natale, quegli stupidi quadretti romantici alla Currier e Ives... pensavo per tutto il tempo: A volte quello che abbiamo passa per amore, quando invece avrei dovuto pensare: L'amore passa.

Alcuni di noi soffrono in silenzio di un male rumoroso. E questo è quanto ho da dire sulla paura.

I do feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a good story.

The only time the word baby doesn't scare me is the time that it should, when it is what a man calls me.

The worst of it is over now, and I can't say that I am glad. Lose that sense of loss--you have gone and lost something else.

For peace of mind, I will lie about any thing at any time.

I started writing by doing small related things but not the thing itself, circling it and getting closer. I had no idea how to write fiction. So I did journalism because there were rules I could learn. You can teach someone to write a news story. They might not write a great one, but you can teach that pretty easily.

I thought, my love is so good, why isn't it calling the same thing back.

A love affair begins with a fantasy. For instance, that the beloved will always be there.

if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.

I had a mother I could only seem to please with verbal accomplishments of some sort or another. She read constantly, so I read constantly. If I used words that might have seemed surprising at a young age, she would recognize that and it would please her.

My job ... I do nothing, it pays nothing, but - you guessed it - it's better than nothing.

I wanted to be a veterinarian, but slipped up when I hit organic chemistry.

We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.