# Quote — Richard Yates, Liars in Love

> "Because you see there are millions and millions of people in New York - more people than you can possibly imagine, ever - and most of them are doing something that makes sound. Maybe talking, or playing the radio, maybe closing doors, maybe putting their forks down on their plates if they're having dinner, or dropping their shoes if they're going to bed - and because there are so many of them, all those little sounds add up and come together in a kind of hum. But it's so faint - so very, very faint - that you can't hear it unless you listen very carefully for a long time."

- Author: [Richard Yates](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates.md)
- Book: [Liars in Love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/liars-in-love.md)
- Page: 188
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Yates#Liars_in_Love_(1981)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/liars-in-love/because-you-see

## More from this book

> Then he turned his chair away from his drawing board - he didn't often do that - and sat looking grave and thoughtful, examining the wet end of his cigar. "Well, hell, I'd like to get married too," he said. "I mean, I'm not really immune to it or anything, but there are a few obstacles. Number one, I haven't met the right girl. Number two, I've got too many other responsibilities. Number three - or wait, come to think of it, who the hell needs a number three?"

p. 314 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/liars-in-love/then-he-turned.md)

> And she was halfway up the stairs before he decided that his best reply was to make no reply at all.

p. 342 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/liars-in-love/and-she-was.md)

> "Well, I think Phil's got a fairly good chance of getting in there, maybe even on a scholarship. It sounds fine; still, all I know about Harvard is the reputation, you know - the outside view. And that's sort of like the Empire State Building, right? You see it from a distance, maybe at sunset, and it's this majestic, beautiful thing. Then you get inside, you walk around a couple of the lower floors, and it turns out to be one of the sleaziest office buildings in New York: there's nothing in there but small-time insurance agencies and costume-jewellery wholesalers. There isn't any reason for the tallest building in the world. So you ride all the way up to the top and your eardrums hurt and you're out there at the parapet looking out, looking down, and even that's a disappointment because you've seen it all in photographs so many times. Right? So I don't know; I think Phil and I'd better go up to Harvard for a couple of days and kind of snoop around."

p. 315 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/liars-in-love/well-i-think.md)