Michael Nava Quotes

#1. Grief is half of justice," she said, and added, a moment later, "the other half is a hope.

Michael Nava

#2. 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

#3. 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

#4. 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

#5. 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

#6. 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

#7. 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

#8. Only very young people believe that change is always for the better.

Michael Nava

#9. 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

#10. Bad feelings have a life of their own.

Michael Nava

#11. 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