Lawn Boy Quotes

“Friends,” Andrew says, the candlelight hitting his braces just so. “It’s true, we all rage. We all hate. We all fail. But . . .” And here, he raises a finger, pausing for dramatic effect, something he learned at his Toastmasters group. “That rage and contempt, that disappointment, that’s what makes us yearn so hard. Those deficits, they make us reach, they stretch us. They make us fight back when it matters.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“And furthermore, it's my opinion that those who claim their accomplishments al to themselves, those who are the heroes of their own stories, are liars".”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I don't like it,' said Pigott. 'This is a well-established neighborhood. These families go back generations.'

'Don't all families go back generations?”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Maybe the biggest lesson I've learned, in art and in life, is that when the questions become too numerous and the considerations begin to feel a little overwhelming, you just have to look away for a minute and regather your vision for the thing, try to see it the way it originally came to you. Ask yourself, how did I arrive here? What was I trying to accomplish?”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Freddy, what if I told you I was gay?” He pursed his lips thoughtfully, considering the information for a few seconds as his fried egg shimmied in the pan. “Are you tellin’ me you are?” “Yeah.” “Hmph,” he said. “Didn’t see that one comin’.” Removing the skillet from the burner, he clapped me on the shoulder. “Look at the bright side: at least you ain’t black.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“And most of us feel powerless. Motivated but powerless. Entertained but powerless. Informed but powerless. Fleetingly content, most of the time broke, sometimes hopeful, but ultimately powerless. And angry. Don't forget angry.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I’m just trying to figure out how to be happy without being the best at anything, you know?”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I feel like I have these qualities, and this energy and this desire, but I can't find the wall to throw any of it at.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“More often than not, I know when, and why, I'm making a bad decision. Most of us do - and by us, I mean broke people.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Familiarity trumps just about anything in the end. Why else would we keep making the same mistakes over and over?”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Why should you feel stupid? If we’re lucky, Michael, we grow into ourselves.” Without looking, she threw the wad of paper towel toward the wastebasket and banked it in. “That makes you lucky,” she said.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“He wasn’t all terrible; almost nobody is, deep down, once you strip away all the terror and trauma and neurosis and bad conditioning.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Really, I’m just building my network, Mike. Like the man said, a man’s net worth is only as good as his network.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Now that’s more like it, Mike. You sound like a gamer.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I’d like to think that I am somewhat self-aware. I’ve got some blind spots, that’s obvious, but all in all, I feel like I’ve got a pretty clear view of reality. More often than not, I know when, and why, I’m making a bad decision. Most of us do—and by us, I mean broke people. Take smoking, for example. If Mom didn’t smoke away ten bucks a day, we never would’ve had to rent out the guest cottage to Freddy in the first place, right? Mom knows that, she’s done the math a million times. But there’s more to consider. For starters, she’s perpetually tired. She’s been working fifty-hour weeks for as long as I can remember. And there’s a good chance she’s clinically depressed. Smoking gets her through that second shift. It relaxes her when the pressure is mounting. It gives her something to look forward to during her break and after work, and before work, and when she wakes up in the morning. It makes her heart beat faster. At ten bucks a day, that’s a bargain.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I looked around at everybody’s face in the glow of the firelight, and I wondered why we didn’t do this every night. Here we lived in this beautiful place, and I’d never even thought of it as beautiful before. It’d always been ugly by association, I guess. Now I felt like I was seeing it for the first time.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Look here, boy: I feel your pain. They ain’t never enough blueberries in them waffles. Damn near drive a man crazy. But you a grown man, dog, remember that. Fact is, you a well-grown man. And sometimes a man gotta bear up in the face of adversity. They’s a truckload of waffles not fifty feet from here, and they’re all you can eat. You’ll get your fill of blueberries. You just relax now, boy.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“You were flattered, weren’t you? Admit it.” “Fuck off.” “Just admit it. It didn’t really make a difference, did it, if it was a dude or a woman? Either way, you felt good about yourself. You felt wanted.” “You’re sick, you know that? There’s no way in hell you’re gonna make a fag out of me. Is that what you’re trying to do?” “Is that what you think this is about? Believe me, Nick, even if I were gay, I’d have zero interest in you.” “Good.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I miss the fresh air. I miss the satisfaction of pruning hedges and raking out flower beds. Hell, even deadheading rhodies.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Most of us feel like the world is giving us a big fat middle finger when it’s not kicking us in the face with a steel-toed boot. And most of us feel powerless. Motivated but powerless. Entertained but powerless. Informed but powerless. Fleetingly content, most of the time broke, sometimes hopeful, but ultimately powerless. And angry. Don’t forget angry.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I’d way rather mow your lawn or deadhead your rhodies or even mulch your flower beds than do your taxes or make your sandwich. At least with grass, you get the last word. Not like a sandwich, where somebody eats it.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“In the enclosed space of the car, I could smell Andrew. He smelled like a library, like books and dust and photocopies and hand sanitizer. I was so grateful for him just then. It was so obvious that his excitement for me was genuine. He actually believed in me, apparently more than I believed in myself.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“It's not that I had anything against Jesus or God, I was just underwhelmed by the evidence.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“You're a librarian. A librarian is a public treasure. A respected community resource. A goddamn saint in my book.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Thanks for caring,” he said. “You bet,” I said. “Thanks for, you know, standing on a corner with a clipboard.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy