“What is a quote? A quote (cognate with quota) is a cut, a section, a slice of someone's orange. You suck the slice, toss the rind, skate away.”

― Anne Carson, Decreation: Poetry, Essays, Opera

“Come here, let me share a bit of wisdom with you.

Have you given much thought to our mortal condition?

Probably not. Why would you? Well, listen.

All mortals owe a debt to death.

There's no one alive

who can say if he will be tomorrow.

Our fate moves invisibly! A mystery.

No one can teach it, no one can grasp it.

Accept this! Cheer up! Have a drink!

But... See more

“It is easier to tell a story of how people wound one another than of what binds them together.”

― Anne Carson, Plainwater: Essays and Poetry

“What is an adjective? Nouns name the world. Verbs activate the names. Adjectives come from somewhere else. The word adjective (epitheton in Greek) is itself an adjective meaning 'placed on top', 'added', 'appended', 'foreign'. Adjectives seem fairly innocent additions, but look again. These small imported mechanisms are in charge of attaching... See more

“Words bounce. Words, if you let them, will do what they want to do and what they have to do.”

― Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red

“You remember too much,

my mother said to me recently.

Why hold onto all that? And I said,

Where can I put it down?”

― Anne Carson, Glass, Irony and God