Explore Quotes by Amy Hempel

Since his mother died I have seen him steam a cucumber thinking it was zucchini. That's the kind of thing that turns my heart right over.

I meet a person, and in my mind I'm saying three minutes; I give you three minutes to show me the spark.

The other day I was playing Scrabble. I saw that I could close the space in D-E- -Y. I had an N and an F. Which do you think I chose? What was the word I made?

Look at me. My concerns-are they spiritual, do you think, or carnal? Come on. We've read our Shakespeare.

I exaggerated even before I began to exaggerate, because it's true — nothing is ever quite as bad as it could be.