1.
It was like that. Sometimes I'd go for a period—days or weeks—without feeling the full sweep of my loss, and then as unexpected as a thunderclap, the realization would rip the protective coating from my senses. Maybe that's the way it is with trick knees and aging griefs. Totally pain free one moment and absorbingly painful the next.
Bette Greene
2.
I wondered if a blessing is still a blessing if it lasts for only a little while.
Bette Greene
3.
Keep in mind that life produces no maestros, only students of varying shades of ineptitude.
Bette Greene
4.
I believe that love is better than hate. And that there is more nobility in building a chicken coop than in destroying a cathedral.
Bette Greene
5.
What is genius, anyway, if it isn't the ability to give an adequate response to a great challenge?
Bette Greene
6.
The world is not a rational place.
Bette Greene
7.
Even if you forget everything else I want you to always remember that you are a person of value, and you have a friend who loved you enough to give you his most valued possession.
Bette Greene
8.
Look inside yourself and you'll find a world of things (a world of your own experiences)worth writing about.
Bette Greene
9.
When people's emotions are involved they don't want to listen.
Bette Greene
10.
It seems to me that a man who is incapable of humor is capable of cruelty.
Bette Greene
11.
Fun, like champagne bubbles, can't completely fill you up.
Bette Greene
12.
Longevity can't be the only test of love.
Bette Greene
13.
Experiencing life through a book can help you learn without all the pain of going through the experiences first hand.
Bette Greene
14.
I love Arkansas but I think Arkansas has its share of unlit minds.
Bette Greene
15.
Like the Bible tells us, when a man will lay down his life for a friend, well, then there ain't no greater love in this here world than that.
Bette Greene
16.
And marking off time struck me as something like counting empty spaces—spaces you know can't ever be filled.
Bette Greene
17.
I was hooked on writing. I mean, where else can you get paid for sticking your nose into somebody else's business?
Bette Greene
18.
What do you know about sooner or later? Is a moment only a moment when you're in pain?
Bette Greene
19.
Maybe...in a way, this coffee reminds me of something. Maybe...maybe only a philosopher or a mad man would make this connection, but it's a little like life. I mean it's powerful going down and that doesn't even take into account the aftertaste, which really takes getting used to.
Bette Greene
20.
Why is it I'm always so quick to believe that people are thinking...believing the worst about me?
Bette Greene
21.
And taking care of somebody else made me feel good. Like discovering you're more than you thought you were. More even than you hoped to be.
Bette Greene
22.
A person's got to think, otherwise that person's no better than a trained seal balancing a ball on his nose. If only that seal could think, he'd know he was making a thousand children laugh.
Bette Greene