Edward Lewis Wallant Quotes

“He had gone to several universities... and had found only curves and credits. He had become drunk on the idea of God and found only theology. He had risen several times on the subtle and powerful wings of lust, expectant of magnificence, achieving only discharge. A few times he had extended friendship with palpitating hope, only to find that no one quite knew what he had in mind. His solitude now was the result of his metabolism, that constant breathing in of joy and exhalation of sadness.”

Edward Lewis Wallant book The Tenants of Moonbloom

The Tenants of Moonbloom (1962)

“All my parents gave me was their fumbly hands: I got their hands inside me to this day.”

Edward Lewis Wallant

Sammy.
Children at the Gate (1962)

“And then she saw, and was instantly destroyed in a way that would insist upon her living.”

Edward Lewis Wallant

Children at the Gate (1962)

“I love you all, you hear? Nothing turns MY stomach. I'll kiss your gallstones, your ulcers, your cancers, your bleeding piles - and they'll all disappear! I'm the miracle man.”

Edward Lewis Wallant

Sammy.
Children at the Gate (1962)

“And a blade twitched into his heart, beginning the slow, massive bleeding he would never be able to stop, no matter what else he might accomplish. He was surprised and puzzled as he walked with that mortal wound in him, for it occurred to him that, although the wound would be the death of him, it would be the life of him too.”

Edward Lewis Wallant

Children at the Gate (1962)

“You gotta take your skin off, you gotta love so much that you go insane.”

Edward Lewis Wallant

Sammy.
Children at the Gate (1962)