"If it’s just paper, why did you wrap it?"
The Bronze Horseman (2001)
“Hate came in a maelstrom, and we called it several things—racism, pedophilia, justice, righteousness—but all those words were just ribbons and wrapping paper on a soiled gift that no one wanted to open.”
Prologue.
A Drink Before the War (1994)
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Dennis Lehane 26
Novelist 1965Related quotes

“Shame hates to have words wrapped around it. If we talk about it, it loses its grip on us.”
University of Houston, Pride Stories http://www.uh.edu/pride-stories/Brene-Brown/Brene-Brown-Story%20/index.php

“Gifts have ribbons, not strings.”
Holiday advice from Bonta essay "Ribbons vs. Strings" adapted to Christmas audio Tale "It's the Gift That Counts" (Holiday Magic 2005 CD). Vanna Bonta Has Holiday Gift Advice http://www.waleg.com/celebrities/archives/006180.html WAlEG Celebrities; December 16, 2006

Giles Whittell, " The world according to Richard Dawkins http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/article4191347.ece" (), The Times, quoted in Trevor Grundy, " Richard Dawkins Pedophilia Remarks Provoke Outrage http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/09/richard-dawkins-pedophilia_n_3895514.html" (), The Huffington Post.

Quoted in: Bernie Sanders kicks off 2020 campaign in Brooklyn, The New York Post, Khristina Narizhnaya and Eileen AJ Connelly, https://nypost.com/2019/03/02/bernie-sanders-kicks-off-2020-campaign-in-brooklyn/ (2 March 2019)
2010s, 2019, March 2019

Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are