Quote collection
106 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Honestly, I believe that the mother-daughter relationship is magical, complex, potentially dangerous, profoundly powerful, and deeply transformative. To put it simply, all of us have this relationship, and in a very real way, "none of us comes out alive." We are all formed first as daughters and then tested as mothers. There's nothing like motherhood to make us reassess how we were as daughters."
"It's not intentions that matter. It's actions. We are what we do and say, not what we intend to."
"It occurred to her suddenly, sharply, that she wanted to be in love... She wanted not to feel so damned alone in the world."
"We women make choices for others, not for ourselves, and when we are mothers, we...bear what we must for our children. You will protect them. It will hurt you; it will hurt them. Your job is to hide that your heart is breaking and do what they need you to do."
"Girls like you can't understand," Julia said, and it was true. Ellie had been popular. She didn't know that some hurts were like a once-broken bone. In the right weather, they could ache for a lifetime."
"Lately he'd been seen going out less and less, becoming that strangest of animals in a small town: a loner."
"Nobody's strong enough to be a parent. We just do it, blindly, going forward on faith and love and hope. That's all it is...Being afraid...and going on."
"When you get . . . to the end, you see that love and family are all there is. Nothing else matters."
"I always thought it was what I wanted: to be loved and admired. Now I think perhaps I'd like to be known."
"Nina knew the power of black and white images. Sometimes a thing was its truest self when the colors were stripped away."
"Before this trip and all that she'd learned about the three of them, she would have gotten angry or changed the subject. Anything to obscure the pain she felt. Now she knew better. You carried your pain with you in life. There was no outrunning it."
"To lose love is a terrible thing. But to turn away from it is unbearable. Will you spend the rest of your life replaying it in your head? Wondering if you walked away too soon or too easily? Or if you'll ever love anyone that deeply again?"
"I have often wished in the past few years that my mom were here to help me as I raised my own teenage son. As a girl, with my own mom, I thought I knew it all; now I know better. Somewhere, I know my mom is smiling."
"It’s a promise ring,” he said solemnly. “The lady at the store said it’s what you give the girl you love. It means I want to marry you someday."
"Marriages go through hard times. Sometimes you have to get in there and fight for your love. That's the only way for it to get better."
"Their friendship was more important than any relationship. Guys would come and go; girlfriends were forever."
"...This fear was unbearable. It unwrapped who she was, as neatly as he'd unwound her bandage, leaving too much pain and ugliness exposed. Nerve endings; he'd said they were the problem [causing phantom pain in the amputated limb]." Things that cut off, that ended abruptly or died--like parents and marriages--kept hurting forever."
"....both had learned that everything could change in an instant, and that the heartfelt vows of people in love were fragile words that, once shattered, could cut so deeply you'd bleed forever."
"Sometimes you simply made the wrong choice and you had to live with it. You could only change the future."
"We can't live other people's lives for them. Even if we love them."