Shirley Karr Quotes

“Having realized that her affection for Sinclair went far beyond friendship, there was only one thing for her to do. She took off her hat and banged her head against the nearest lamppost.Also realizing she was drawing attention from passerby, she put her hat back on and resumed walking.”

“The more things change, the more they are the same.”

“Poetry is for me Eucharistic. You take someone else's suffering into your body, their passion comes into your body, and in doing that you commune, you take communion, you make a community with others.”

“Prose cannot compete with the economy of poetry, the ability to have a full artistic experience in a short period of time.”

“Poetry privileges music and is aesthetically more challenging. Prose privileges information and is emotionally more challenging.”

“Love in marriage should be the accomplishment of a beautiful dream, and not, as it too often is, the end.”

“If dysfunction means that a family doesn't work, then every family ambles into some arena in which that happens, where relationships get strained or even break down entirely. We fail each other or disappoint each other. That goes for parents, siblings, kids, marriage partners - the whole enchilada.”

“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns I am thankful that thorns have roses.”

“If men knew all that women think, they would be twenty times more audacious.”

“Happiness is composed of misfortunes avoided.”