Christina Baker Kline, A Piece of the World
22 quotes
"People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find..."
"Before we leave the gravesite, Mary sings Mother's favorite gospel hymn ...Mary's lovely voice rises and lingers in the air, and by the end of the song most of us are crying. I am too, though I still don't know what those stars are meant to represent. My mistake, I suppose, is in thinking they should mean something."
"Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel."
"It's painful to hold out hope for the things that once brought you joy. You have to find ways to make yourself forget."
"My heart is shattered, an all that's left are jagged shards."
"I remember her words to me when I left school: Your mind will be your comfort. It is, sometimes. And sometimes it isn't."
"I couldn't have imagined how much more there was to lose."
"I ... am left with the lingering feeling that the places we go in our minds to find comfort have little to do with where our bodies go."
"The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance."
"To get it all done I have to dim my brain, turn it down by notches like the flat-turn knob on a gas lantern, leaving only a nub of flame."
"Do our natures dictate the choices we make, I wonder, or do we choose to live a certain way because of circumstances beyond our control?"
"You can live for a long time inside the shell you were born in. But one day it'll become too small.""Then what?" I ask."Well, then you'll have to find a larger shell to live in."I consider this for a moment. "What if it's too small but you still want to live there?"She sighs. "Gracious, child, what a question. I suppose you'll either have to be brave and find a new home or you'll have to live inside a broken shell."
"I want to say, Christina, that you are ... unusual. And somehow..." her voice trails off. "Your mind-- your curiosity-- will be your comfort."
"How did I go from being the maiden in a fairy tale to a wretched old maids so quickly? It happened almost without my realizing it..."
"This life of ours can feel an awful lot like waiting."
"It's a peculiar kind of dissatisfaction, a bittersweet nostalgia for a moment not yet past."
"I want each day to last forever . . . It's a peculiar kind of dissatisfaction, a bittersweet nostalgia for a moment not yet past. Even in the midst of a pleasurable outing I'm aware of how ephemeral it is."
"If you really want to know me, I said, we'll have to start with the witches."
"This is like telling a person who has leapt off a cliff to be careful. I am already in midair."
"I am acutely aware that like a slip of paper in the wind, something in his nature eludes my grasp."
"That man would have chipped away at your heart bit by bit until there was nothing left. It may have been bruised, but at least it's whole."
"It's hard to say what's in my head. It's been a long time since anyone cared to ask."