When Roger had first come to Bernie for legal advice, it had been about investments made in South Africa; he needed a loophole, which he had already figured out, and Bernie had advised him. Bernie had said to him that day, "But I don't like this, Roger," and Roger had just smiled at him and said, "You're my legal adviser, Bernie, not my priest."

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

The Slave Ship (1840)

J. M. W. Turner

Turner thus exhibited his painting during the anti-slavery conference, and placed next to the picture his untitled poem, written in 1812:

“Aloft all hands, strike the top-masts and belay;
Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds
Declare the Typhon’s coming.
Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard
The dead and dying – ne’er heed their chains
Hope, Hope, fallacious Hope!
Where is thy market now?”
– J. M. W. Turner

in https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/united-states-of-america/boston-museums/museum-of-fine-arts-boston/the-slave-ship-by-j-m-w-turner/ 

"I didn't forget it. I'm just saying I haven't thought about it."

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

Painting Reproduction is prohibited (1937)

Rene Magritte 

Amy loved her mother, but she was not close to her. The things that happen in childhood do not go away.

"I love my grandson," Isabelle was saying. "Oh, I do, but he's not really a part of my life."

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

So when I got back and saw that he was so sorry, I told him that, the business about this being a class thing, very calmly, and do you know? We must have talked for two hours straight, we just talked and talked, and he said he was kind of a peasant too, and that's why he was so sensitive about people being provincial, because all his life he had deep down felt provincial, and he didn't want to be. He said, I'm a snob Olive, and I'm not proud of that. 

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

Clero, Nobreza e Povo, Vila Velha do Cu de Judas
Cartoon de João Abel Manta, Lisboa, 1970 (c.), Portugal.

in https://www.arquipelagos.pt/imagem/clero-nobreza-e-povo-vila-velha-do-cu-de-judas-cartoon-de-joao-abel-manta-1970-c-portugal/

Olive was furious. "I don't fly first-class," she said.

Jack had laughed. "You don't fly anywhere," he said, and that made her angrier.

"I'm not flying first-class. It's obscene."

"Obscene?" Jack sat down at the kitchen table and watched her, still with amusement in his face. "I like obscene." When she didn't answer him he said, "You know what, Olive? You're a snob."

"I'm the opposite of a snob."

Jack laughed a long time. "You think being a reverse snob is not being a snob? Olive, you're a snob." Then he leaned forward and said, "Oh come on, Olive. For Christ's sake. I'm seventy-eight years old, I have money, you have money - though, yes 

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

"But I haven't had it for a few years, and so I wonder: Did I make it up? But I know I didn't, Bernie [...] But whenever someone says they're an atheist, I always privately have this bad reaction, and they give all the obvious reasons, you know, kids get cancer, earthquakes kill people, all that kind of stuff. But when I hear them, I think: But you are barking up the wrong tree."

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

Oak Trees
R. Ellison

"People live with things," Bernie said. "They do. I am always amazed at what people live with."

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

" [...] Have a cry like you've never had in your life. And when you're done, get yourself something to eat. I bet you haven't eaten a thing all day."

"You're right, I haven't. And I will eat something, I promise. But I don't feel like crying anymore, Bernie. I feel... I feel like I could practically sing."

"Then do that," he said.

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

"When I was a kid, and alone [...] I would take these walks and I would get this feeling, this very deep sensation, and I understood - only the way a kid could understand these things - that it had something to do with God. But I don't mean God like some father figure, I don't even know what I mean - "

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)

"Anita," Fergus said, turning to her. "This is a hell of a world we live in."

"Oh, I know," Anita said casually. She nodded. "Yuh, I know." She added, "Always has been, I suspect."

"Do you think so?" Fergus asked. He looked at her through his sunglasses. "Do you think it has always been this bad, really? It seems to me like things are getting crazier."

Anita shrugged. "I think they've always been crazy. That's my view." [...]

After another few moments he said, "Things all right with you, Anita?"

She gave a sigh that made her cheeks expand for a moment. "Nah." She looked both ways on the road and said, "Gary's been a mess since he got laid off, and that was a few years ago, and my kids are crazy." She looked at Fergus and made a circle around her ear with her forefinger. She said, "I mean, they are really crazy." She shook her head. "You know what my oldest son is into? He watches some Japonese reality shows on his computer where the contestants sniff each other's butts."

Fergus looked over at her. "God," he said. Then he said, "Come on, Anita, the world has certainly gotten crazier."

Elizabeth Strout – Olive, Again (2019)
Penguin Random House UK (2019)