"His death is like the soft down on the back of your hand, passing unnoticed in the firmest of handshakes, though the slightest breeze makes every damn one of the tiny hairs stand on end."

Zadie Smith Literature See all quotes by Zadie Smith →

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“But why do they always have to be laughing and making a song-and-dance about everything? I cannot believe homosexuality is that much fun. Heterosexuality certainly is not.”

“It was in the shady groves of dictionaries that Jack fell in love.”

“He talked and talked, the kind of talking you do to stave off the inevitable physical desire. The kind of talk that only increases it.”

“So we have to be a bit more, I mean, military about it, like plan.”

“Is there anything more likely to take the shine off an affair that when the lover strikes up a convivial relationship with the lovee's mother.”

“This is what divorce is: Taking things you no longer want from people you no longer love.”

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