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Jodi Picoult

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Famous Jodi Picoult Quotes

“That the sum of a man's life was not where he wound up but in the details that brought him there. That we made mistakes. I closed my eyes, sick of the riddles, and to my surprise all I could see were dandelions-as if they had been painted on the fields of my imagination, a hundred thousand suns. And I remembered something else that makes us human: faith, the only weapon in our arsenal to battle doubt.”

IfsMenHumansMadeEyeImaginationMistakeSunDoubtFieldsBattleThousandWeaponsHundredSickSurpriseDetailsWoundsRememberedMy ImaginationMade A MistakeRiddleArsenalDandelions
Book:The Jodi Picoult Collection #4: Change of Heart, Handle with Care, and House Rules
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“There are all sorts of experiences we can't really put a name to...The birth of a child, for one. Or the death of a parent. Falling in love. Words are like nets--we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, grief, or wonder. Finding God is like that, too. If it's happened to you, you know what it feels like. But try to describe it to someone else--and language only takes you so far.”

IfsKnowsFeelsTryingMeanChildrenJoyFallNamesLanguageParentGriefWonderHappenedBirthFindingsFalling In LoveFinding GodBirth Of A Child
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“Her hands quieted. "Yeah. Because even if the law says that no one is responsible for anyone else, helping someone who needs it is the right thing to do." I sat down beside her, close enough that the skin of her arm hummed right next to mine. "You really believe that?" She looked down at her lap "Yeah." Then how," I asked, "can you walk away from me?”

IfsNeedsBelieveEnoughHelpingHandsLawNextWalksMinesArmsSkinsResponsibleYeahThings To DoRight ThingSatLapHelping Someone
Book:My Sister's Keeper - Movie Tie-In: A Novel
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“But I think half the battle is figuring out what works for you, and I am much better at being a mother than I ever would have been as a lawyer. I sometimes wonder if it is just me, or if there are other women who figure out where they are supposed to be by going nowhere." - My Sister's Keeper”

IfsThinkingHas BeensSometimesMotherHalfWonderFiguresBattleLawyerSupposed To BeMy SisterKeepersBeing A MotherMy Sister's Keeper
Book:My Sister's Keeper - Movie Tie-In: A Novel
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“When you have been with your partner for so many years, they become the glove compartment map that you've worn dog-eared and white-creased, the trail you recogonize so well you could draw it by heart and for this very reason keep it with you on journeys at all times. And yet, when you least expect it, one day you open your eyes and there is an unfamiliar turnoff, a vantage point taht wasn't there before, and you have to stop and wonder if maybe this landmark isn't new at all, but rather something you have missed all along.”

IfsYearsWellsHeartHas BeensReasonEyeWhiteWonderJourneyDogOne DayDrawsPartnersAll TimeMapsWornTrailsGlovesUnfamiliarLandmarksVantage Point
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“Choices are funny things-ask a native tribe that's eaten grubs and roots forever if they're unhappy, and they'll shrug. But give them filet mignon and truffle sauce and then ask them to go back to living off the land, and they will always be thinking of that gourmet meal. If you don't know there's an alternative, you can't miss it.”

IfsThinkingKnowsGivingChoicesAsksForeverLandMissingRootsUnhappyAlternativesMealsNativeTribesFunny ThingsSauceGourmetTrufflesFilet Mignon
Book:Handle with Care: A Novel
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“If you're afraid of everyone leaving you, what do you do?" Make them stay." And if you can't do that, or don't know how to?" Ellie shrugged. "I don't know." Yes, you do. In fact, you've done it. You leave first," Coop said, "so you don't have to watch them walk away.”

IfsKnowsFirstsSaidDoneFactsWalksWatchesKnow HowLeaving
Book:The Jodi Picoult Collection #1: Songs of the Humpback Whale, Plain Truth, and Salem Falls
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“Most people who offer their help do it to make themselves feel better, not us. To be honest, I don't blame them. It's superstition: If you give assistance to the family in need... if you throw salt over your shoulder... if you don't step on the cracks, then maybe you'll be immune. Maybe you'll be able to convince yourself that this could never happen to you.”

PeopleIfsNeedsGivingFeelsHelpingHappensAbleStepsHonestOffersBlameShouldersBeing HonestConvinceCracksSaltSuperstitionsFeel BetterAssistanceImmune
Book:Handle with Care: A Novel
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“Yes, she is." He looks at me, his face carved in pain. "She is dying, Sara. She will die, either tonight or tomorrow or maybe a year from now if we're really lucky. You heard what Dr. Chance said. Arsenic's not a cure. It just postpones what's coming." My eyes fill up with tears. "But I love her," I say, because that is reason enough.”

IfsYearsLooksSaidReasonEnoughEyePainFacesDiesChanceHeardDyingTearsTomorrowLuckyCuresTonightDrsLook At MeLucky YouMy Sister's KeeperSisters KeeperArsenic
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“Was it the act of giving birth that made you a mother? Did you lose that label when you relinquished your child? If people were measured by their deeds, on the one hand, I had a woman who had chosen to give me up; on the other, I had a woman who'd sat up with me at night when I was sick as a child, who'd cried with me over boyfriends, who'd clapped fiercely at my law school graduation. Which acts made you more of a mother? Both, I realized. Being a parent wasn't just about bearing a child. It was about bearing witness to its life.”

PeopleIfsGivingChildrenMadeHandsSchoolLawMotherNightParentLosesBirthSickGive MeParentingDeedsI RealizedChosenWitnessLabelsYour ChildrenSatCriedAdoptionBeing A ParentLaw SchoolGiving BirthSchool GraduationBearing Witness
Book:Handle with Care: A Novel
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“It was one thing to make a mistake; it was another thing to keep making it. I knew what happened when you let yourself get close to someone, when you started to believe they loved you: you'd be disappointed. Depend on someone, and you might as well admit you're going to be crushed, because when you really needed them, they wouldn't be there. Either that, or you'd confide in them and you added to their problems. All you ever really had was yourself, and that sort of sucked if you were less than reliable.”

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Author:Jodi Picoult
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“It was a strange thing, to still be in love with your wife and to not know if you liked her. What would happen when this was all over? Could you forgive someone if she hurt you and the people you love, if she truly believed she was only trying to help? I had filed for divorce, but that wasn't what I really wanted. What I really wanted was for all of us to go back two years, and start over. Had I ever really told her that?”

PeopleIfsKnowsTryingYearsStillsTwoHelpingHappensWantedHurtWifeStrangeForgivingDivorceTwo YearsStarting OverStrange Things
Book:The Jodi Picoult Collection #4: Change of Heart, Handle with Care, and House Rules
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“Words got in the way. The things we felt the hardest--like what it was like to have a boy touch you as if you were made of light, or what it meant to be the only person in the room who wasn't noticed--weren't sentences; they were knots in the wood of our bodies, places where our blood flowed backward. If you asked me, not that anyone ever did, the only words worth saying were I'm sorry.”

IfsWayPersonsMadeBodyLightFeltRoomsBoysBloodSorryWoodsSentencesHardestMeant To BeI'm SorryKnots
Book:Handle with Care: A Novel
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“I'm telling you, if aliens landed on earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get born, they'd conclude that most people had children by accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night, or because birth control isn't one hundred percent, or for a thousand other reasons that really aren't very flattering.”

PeopleIfsLooksChildrenHardReasonTodayEarthNightCertainBornToo MuchBabyBirthDrinkThousandPercentHundredAccidentsAliensFlatteringBirth Control
Author:Jodi Picoult
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