Mary Shannon quotes from In Plain Sight

Mary

[Voiceover] People generally think of forgiveness as the flip side of contrition, the obligatory response to an apology. It is not. To forgive is to answer the call of our better angels and bear our wounds as the cost of doing business. It is that rarest of things, simple and pure...transcendent... without strings.

Mary

[Voiceover] Okay, so Don's a little anal, and maybe Ruth's a bit of a ball buster. Who isn't ? Still, you gotta wonder, if such good people with so much in common can't find happiness together, what hope is there for the rest of us ?

Mary

[Voiceover] According to the gospel of Don, God told Don to free himself and Ruth from the surly bonds of their loveless marriage. He said that their union had fulfilled his purpose. And now Don was to leave Ruth with the belief he had perished so that they might both go out and find happiness on earth. Don, being the lord's faithful servant, was loathe to disobey. Before Don limped off into the desert night, he asked God, "Lord, you have commanded me to be happy, but you haven't told me how. "Please, Lord, what does it take for two people to be happy?" But the Lord had said all that he would say.

Mary

[Voiceover] Every day we make hundreds of choices. Most of them innocuous either or kind of decisions, like, "should I turn right or left?" others require a bit more thought, like, "should I order the bacon-cheeseburger," which I love or some low fat flavorless salad "which I know is better for me but will ultimately leave me unsatisfied?" and then there are those really tough choices...

Mary

[Voiceover] Perhaps the most difficult choices to make are the ones that deny us those things our heart wants most because as it's been said, "Without reason nor prudence, the heart wants what the heart wants and more often than not, it will not be denied.

Mary

[voiceover] I stare agape at Sunday couples. Sidewalk strollers, fingers laced, heads on shoulders, hearts laid bare. Audacious highwire artists, soaring netless. Oblivious or brave? Ignorant idiots, I observe from my spectator view. Hoping no one hears this screaming inside my head.

Mary

There is no magic. We're not the architects of our own lives. We're monkeys strapped to a rocket and the only way to exert any influence over its trajectory is to work really, really hard.

Mary

After dropping Brandi off at the airport to fly home to her schemy boyfriend, Chuck, with a ticket I paid for no less, only to discover her hours later at Raf's with her head in his lap, no less, an idea has formed, a realization if you will. I don't know. Anyway, here it is: My family will be the death of me and I don't mean in that "you kids will rue the day kind of way." No. I'm talking about knocking on Heaven's door, charge the beach at Normandy, shuffle off that mortal coil deceased but the real epiphany is I have absolutely no say in the matter. I wonder why I'm not more upset?

Mary

[Voiceover] My addled brain tries to connect the dots, wondering how it is we've come to this place. Cold, stark blue-light lodging, indifferent to hope, desire, love, lacking all but the most basic amenities. ... Perhaps this stainless steel and formaldehyde rest stop stands as a post-mortem reminder ... a kind of finger-wagging, refrigerated warning hung for all to see. ... For those inclined to feed the bears, beat the light, traverse thin ice, run with scissors, get rich quick: Here but for the grace of God goes you.

Mary

It’s been said neurotics build castles in the sky, psychotics live in them and psychiatrists collect the rent. I wonder who they call for home repair?

Mary

[Speaking to witness Jerry Royal] I know you want to be brave. I know you do. Everybody does.

Mary

[Voiceover] I wonder how it could be, all of us quaking cowards, hiding under covers one day, storming beaches the next, shrinking violets impossibly frail. Our best days spent unquestioning, hurtling into hailstorms, the rest just spent. Opposite extremes, half definitions of the same thing, an inexplicable paradox perhaps best left in a bowl full of kibble to be lapped up by Schrödinger's cat.

Mary

[Voiceover] I've gazed into the eyes of contract killers… listening to them explain they were only trying to feed their kids. Con artists who insist that it's the mark's fault for being so stupid. And Dylan fans in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, defend their love of "Down in the groove". Yes, it's a rare person who admits they're a heartless, greedy bastard possessing absolutely no musical taste.

Mary

[voiceover] One of the most difficult moments in anyone's life is when the fog of childhood lifts and we see for the first time our parents as people.

Mary

[Voiceover] I yearn for blind devotion; unthinking, unwavering. A cause, a thing, a principle worthy of absolute loyalty. The truth self medicating, a love unabating, something, anything to which relinquish all personal responsibility. Semper fi. Till death do us part. In nomine patris. Let's go Mets. To the true believers, the lucky few, of thee I sing.