strained relationships Quotes

″‘He is our father’s father, and he didn’t like our mother,’ said Henry. ‘So we don’t think he would like us. We are afraid he would be mean to us.‘”

″‘It is Aunt Caroline, Aunt Caroline,’ said the lady, her voice whining and creaking irritably. ‘I have been told by my lawyer that I am your aunt. I did not expect it, I did not seek it, but I shall not shrink from it.‘”

“She didn’t turn up for the same reason she never does; because she’s not interested in anything I do.”

“I realized how many things the Pigman and his wife must have shared—even the fun of preparing good food. Good food is supposed to produce good conversation, I’ve heard. I guess it’s no wonder my mother and I never had an interesting conversation when all we eat is canned soup, chop suey, and instant coffee”

“Mark was sure he’d never know such warm companionship with his father. Jamie had got it all. He wondered what would have happened if Jamie had asked for Ben.”

“It may be the case that 1. Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to 2. God becoming more marginalized in Christians’ lives, which leads to 3. a deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to 4. Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to 5. more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload.”

“You’ve let this room and this house replace you and your wife in your children’s affections. This room is their mother and father, far more important in their lives than their real parents.”

“Peter looked at his shoes. He never looked at his father any more, nor at his mother.”

“My love was a privilege that you abused. I have withdrawn that privilege. You are out of my heart.”

“When she was a baby, I tried to talk to Laleh in Farsi too. But I never really got the hang of it, and Mom’s friends kept correcting me, so after a while I kind of gave up. After that, me and Dad talked to Laleh exclusively in English. That left the two of us in the dark whenever we were at gatherings with Mom’s friends. That was the only time Dad and I were on the same team.”

“Your father is still ruling you from the grave.”

“Even in those days she’d held herself poised for immediate flight; she had always been ready to take off the minute she happened to feel like it (“Don’t talk to me that way, Frank, or I’m leaving. I mean it”) or the minute anything went wrong.”