Michael Nava Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 18 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Michael Nava.
Famous Quotes By Michael Nava
La petite mort - that's what the French called orgasm. They believed that semen is sort of concentrated blood so that each time a man came he shortened his life a little by spilling blood that couldn't be replenished."
"And women?"
"Then, as now, men didn't much concern themselves with how women felt. — Michael Nava
Only very young people believe that change is always for the better. — Michael Nava
People are basically screwed-up and often the best you can do for them is listen, hear the worst and then tell it's not so bad. — Michael Nava
I was a good lawyer , and most days that was enough. I was aware, however, that I took refuge in my profession, as unlikely as that seemed considering the amount of human suffering I dealt with. It offered me a role to escape into, from what I no longer knew; perhaps nothing more significant than my own little ration of suffering. — Michael Nava
And what right do you have to judge me? He was nothing to you but a drink."
"No," I said. "I loved him."
She looked away from me. A moment later she said, "I have never understood homosexuality. I can't picture what you men do with each other."
"I could tell you but it would completely miss the point. — Michael Nava
Grief is half of justice," she said, and added, a moment later, "the other half is a hope. — Michael Nava
When I got to San Francisco that afternoon, it was one of those days that arrives at the end of summer just as the last tourists are leaving complaining about the cold and fog. — Michael Nava
You know, Henry, we're the only people who get born into the enemy camp. I mean, black babies get born into black families, Jewish babies get born into Jewish families, but gay babies, we get born into straight families. How we survive it all is a miracle. — Michael Nava
Paris looked back at me without expression. The silence went on for a second too long. "You're gay," he said.
Still looking into his eyes, I said, "Yes, I am."
"I didn't think so at first."
"What gave me away?"
"You didn't react at all when I mentioned my boyfriend. You didn't even blink. Straight men always give themselves away. — Michael Nava
Her work was indeed elliptical, she left out everything that was essential, including logic and meaning. Her words neither described nor observed things. They were just words scattered across the page. This was braininess of the highest order, the verbal equivalent of the white canvas passed off as a painting; so abstract that to have expected some sense from it would have insulted the artist. — Michael Nava
Bad feelings have a life of their own. — Michael Nava
We stood facing each other, but it seemed absurd to shake hands, so we just smiled, like two strangers who had collided by accident. — Michael Nava
I'm sorry about today."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I was bored and lonely."
"Some would call that the human condition. — Michael Nava
We had not liked each other much at first. He mistook my shyness for arrogance and I failed to see that his arrogance masked his shyness. — Michael Nava
The sidewalks were jammed and the crowds drifted slowly past bars from which disco music blared and where men sat on barstools looking out the windows. The air smelled of beer and sweat and amyl nitrate. At bus benches and on strips of grass in front of buildings, men sat, stripped of their shirts, sunbathing and watching the flow of pedestrians through mirrored sunglasses. Approaching the bar where I was meeting Hugh, I smelled marijuana, turned my head and saw a couple of kids sharing a joint as they manned a voter registration table for one of the gay political clubs. I stepped into the bar expecting to find more of the carnival but it was nearly empty. The solitary bartender wiped the counter pensively. — Michael Nava
Is that why you do good deeds, Richie? To shorten your time in Purgatory?' 'Oh, honey,' he said, brushing lint from an orange sleeve. 'I'm going to hell. That's where the action is. — Michael Nava
I'd observed that repeat offenders were the easiest to deal with, treating their lawyers with something akin to professional courtesy. All they wanted was a deal. It was only the first timers who bothered to tell you they were innocent. — Michael Nava
Every choice closes doors ," I said, "and at some point you are left in the little room of yourself. I think most people who get to that room go crazy because they're surrounded with missed possibilities and no principle to explain or justify why they made the choices they did. I don't invite unhappiness, Aaron. Avoiding conflict may not be the noblest principle, but it works for me. — Michael Nava