“She understands, too, the loneliness of parenting, which is the loneliness of memory—to know that she connects a future unknowable to her parents with a past unknowable to her child.”
―
Chloe Benjamin,
The Immortalists
“Most adults claim not to believe in magic, but Klara knows better. Why else would anyone play at permanence--fall in love, have children, buy a house--in the face of all evidence there's no such thing?” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“The cost of loneliness is high, she knows, but the cost of loss is higher.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“The power of words. They weaseled under door crevices and through keyholes. They hooked into invididuals and wormed through generations.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“I suppose I think we need God for the same reason we need art.” “Because it’s nice to look at?” “No.” Mira smiled. “Because it shows us what’s possible.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“She knows that stories have the power to change things: the past and the future, even the present.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“In a way, I see religion as a pinnacle of human achievement. In inventing God, we’ve developed the ability to consider our own straits—and we’ve equipped Him with the kind of handy loopholes that enable us to believe we only have so much control. The truth is that most people enjoy a certain level of impotence. But I think we do have control—so much that it scares us to death. As a species, God might be the greatest gift we’ve ever given ourselves. The gift of sanity.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Magic is only one tool among many for keeping one another alive.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“When Klara plucks a coin from inside someone's ear or turns a ball into a lemon, she hopes not to deceive but to impart a different kind of knowledge, an expanded sense of possibility. The point is not to negate reality, but to peel back its scrim, revealing reality's peculiarities and contradictions. The very best magic tricks, the kind Klara wants to perform, do not subtract from reality. They add.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Perhaps home, like the moon, will follow wherever she goes.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“She'll tell herself that what she really wanted was not to live forever, but to stop worrying.'What if I change?' she asked the fortune teller, all those years ago, sure that knowledge could save her from bad luck and tragedy. 'Most people don't,' the woman said.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Character is fate—that’s what he said. They’re bound up, those two, like brothers and sisters. You wanna know the future?” She points at Varya with her free hand. “Look in the mirror.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“She’d tell herself that what she really wanted was not to live forever, but to stop worrying.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“It sounds like you're saying we can choose to live. Or we can choose to survive.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Most adults claim not to believe in magic, but Klara knows better. Why else would anyone play at permanence - fall in love, have children, buy a house - in the face of all evidence there's no such thing? The trick is not to convert them. The trick is to get them to admit it.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“In New York, he would live for them, but in San Francisco, he could live for himself. And though he does not like to think about it, though he in fact avoids the subject pathologically, he allows himself to think it now: What if the woman on Hester Street is right, and the next few years are his last? The mere thought turns his life a different color; it makes everything feel urgent, glittering, precious.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Klara won't be a woman who is sawed in half or tied in chains - nor will she be rescued or liberated. She'll save herself. She'll be the saw.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Varya has had enough therapy to know that she's telling herself stories. She knows her faith--that rituals have power, that thoughts can change outcomes or ward off misfortune--is a magic trick: fiction, perhaps, but necessary for survival. And yet, and yet: Is it a story if you believe it?” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Most adults claim not to believe in magic, but Klara knows better. Why else would anyone play at permanence--fall in love, have children, buy a house--in the face of all evidence there's no such thing?” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“The cost of loneliness is high, she knows, but the cost of loss is higher.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“The power of words. They weaseled under door crevices and through keyholes. They hooked into invididuals and wormed through generations.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“I suppose I think we need God for the same reason we need art.” “Because it’s nice to look at?” “No.” Mira smiled. “Because it shows us what’s possible.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“She knows that stories have the power to change things: the past and the future, even the present.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“In a way, I see religion as a pinnacle of human achievement. In inventing God, we’ve developed the ability to consider our own straits—and we’ve equipped Him with the kind of handy loopholes that enable us to believe we only have so much control. The truth is that most people enjoy a certain level of impotence. But I think we do have control—so much that it scares us to death. As a species, God might be the greatest gift we’ve ever given ourselves. The gift of sanity.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Magic is only one tool among many for keeping one another alive.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“When Klara plucks a coin from inside someone's ear or turns a ball into a lemon, she hopes not to deceive but to impart a different kind of knowledge, an expanded sense of possibility. The point is not to negate reality, but to peel back its scrim, revealing reality's peculiarities and contradictions. The very best magic tricks, the kind Klara wants to perform, do not subtract from reality. They add.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Perhaps home, like the moon, will follow wherever she goes.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“She'll tell herself that what she really wanted was not to live forever, but to stop worrying.'What if I change?' she asked the fortune teller, all those years ago, sure that knowledge could save her from bad luck and tragedy. 'Most people don't,' the woman said.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Character is fate—that’s what he said. They’re bound up, those two, like brothers and sisters. You wanna know the future?” She points at Varya with her free hand. “Look in the mirror.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“She’d tell herself that what she really wanted was not to live forever, but to stop worrying.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“It sounds like you're saying we can choose to live. Or we can choose to survive.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Most adults claim not to believe in magic, but Klara knows better. Why else would anyone play at permanence - fall in love, have children, buy a house - in the face of all evidence there's no such thing? The trick is not to convert them. The trick is to get them to admit it.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“In New York, he would live for them, but in San Francisco, he could live for himself. And though he does not like to think about it, though he in fact avoids the subject pathologically, he allows himself to think it now: What if the woman on Hester Street is right, and the next few years are his last? The mere thought turns his life a different color; it makes everything feel urgent, glittering, precious.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Klara won't be a woman who is sawed in half or tied in chains - nor will she be rescued or liberated. She'll save herself. She'll be the saw.” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
“Varya has had enough therapy to know that she's telling herself stories. She knows her faith--that rituals have power, that thoughts can change outcomes or ward off misfortune--is a magic trick: fiction, perhaps, but necessary for survival. And yet, and yet: Is it a story if you believe it?” ― Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists
