She flicked an ash into the basket of dirty towels

“The fantasies of dying could be no stranger than the fantasies of living. Survival is perhaps the strangest fantasy of them all.”
― Eudora Welty, The Optimist's Daughter

“A little girl lay flung back in her mother’s lap as though sleep had struck her with a blow.”
― Eudora Welty, The Collected Stories

“She flicked an ash into the basket of dirty towels. 'Mrs. Pike is a very decided blonde. She bought me the peanuts.'

'She must be cute,' said Mrs. Fletcher.

'Honey, "cute" ain’t the word for what she is. I’m tellin’ you, Mrs. Pike is attractive. She has her a good time. She’s got a sharp eye out, Mrs. Pike has.

("Petrified Man”)
― Eudora Welty

“By the essence of their nature, which was frail, all human beings were probably doomed to be seasick.”
― Eudora Welty, The Collected Stories

“Only the writing of fiction keeps fiction alive.”
― Eudora Welty, On Writing