Quotes by Katie Coyle

But Viv, if Ive learned anything at all in the last eight years of my life? Its that people just like to tell themselves stories about where they came from. They cant help themselves. They dont trust the world around them--its too good for them, or not good enough--so they tell themselves stories about it. They tell themselves an old magician who lives up in the sky made them out of clay and put them here until whenever he makes up his mind to take them out again. Your parents didnt like their creation myth, thats all--it had pain in it, and chaos, and their own parents were ashamed. So they told themselves a story that was at least partially true: about two good people who deserved happy lives. And probably at some point they started to believe that story. But the thing is, really, that it doesnt matter. For your parents or anyone else. It doesnt actually matter where we came from, or where were going, or when. The only thing that matters is what we have to do while were here and how well we do it.

Life is long and dumb and devastating. People should believe whatever they need to believe to get by.

The way we live our lives is not sustainable. I don’t just mean recycling and turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth. I mean the way we treat each other. The way we pick and choose whose lives are important – who we actually treat as human. There is nobody on this earth whose life is not of value. And that includes those of us who have been left behind. Maybe they did go to some Christian heaven. But what I’m saying is, we’re good people too. We’re worthwhile people. I’d vouch for every last one of you.