“I can't stand lies. Probably no one can. Probably everyone is, to varying degrees, allergic to them, both spiritually and physically. Lies make me feel low and ignoble, and also itchy, like there's sand under my skin. The only thing that feels worse than hearing a lie is telling one.” Lies Book:Belong to Me Source: Belong to Me
“... I laughed simply because being this particular person in this particular world at this particular moment was cause for joy...” HappinessJoyMindfulnessPresent Moment Living Book:I'll Be Your Blue Sky Source: I'll Be Your Blue Sky
“But some things, no matter how unlikely, are just supposed to happen. You know what I mean. Some things just smack of the future and feel part of an overarching rightness.” Fate Book:Belong to Me Source: Belong to Me
“Number six: Zach never tailgates, ever, no matter how slowly the car in front of him is going. Because the driver in front of you could be anyone--an organ donor, a war hero, a man who's just lost his best friend, a kid with a new license doing her best, said Cornelia. Not tailgating acknowledges the mystery and humanity of strangers. It's one of those small habits that speaks volumes.” HumanityKindnessDrivingMannersPoliteness Book:I'll Be Your Blue Sky Source: I'll Be Your Blue Sky
“She's the main character in her story, just like I'm the main character in mine.” LifeCharacterStory Book:Love Walked In Source: Love Walked In
“You must promise to give yourself entirely to someone or something because that's who you are. You are a genius at devoting yourself; it's what makes you happiest.” Self AwarenessDevotionPassionate Living Book:I'll Be Your Blue Sky Source: I'll Be Your Blue Sky
“Chicken Soup for the Soul". You've heard of these books, am I right? We've all heard of them. But I wonder if you're aware of just how many "Chicken Soup" books exist on the planet. No offense, but I doubt it. I doubt it because in the time it would take you to come up with a number, the number would have become obsolete. Even as you read this, in some quiet, fecund place, another "Chicken Soup" book is being born.” HumorReadingBooks Book:Belong to Me Source: Belong to Me
“I was there to get a Ph.D. in English literature. That's not true. I was there to read a lot of books and to discuss them with bright, insightful, book-loving people, an expectation that I pretty quickly learned was about as silly as it could be. Certainly there were other people who loved books, I'm sure there were, but whoever had notified them ahead of time that loving books was not the point, was, in fact, a hopelessly counterproductive and naive approach to the study of literature, neglected to notify me. It turned out that the point was to dissect a book like a fetal pig in biology class or to break its back with a single sentence or to bust it open like a milkweek pod and say, "See? All along it was only fluff," and then scatter it into oblivion with one tiny breath.” ReadingCritiquing Books Book:Belong to Me Source: Belong to Me
“I know how syrupy this sounds, how dull, provincial, and possibly whitewashed, but what can I do? Happy childhoods happen” HappinessChildhoodHappyCorneliaTeoChildhoods Book:Belong to Me Source: Belong to Me
“The woman who picked us up when we fell down or wiped our faces or fed us lunch or yelled us down from treetops or out of mud (all of it so casually, with barely a break in the conversation or an extra breath) may have been our mother but could just as easily have been someone else's. We hardly noticed. The women merged into a kind of laughing, chatting, benevolent blur, a network of distracted love and safekeeping.” ChildhoodParenthood Book:Belong to Me Source: Belong to Me
“No one is ever quite ready; everyone is always caught off guard. Parenthood chooses you. And you open your eyes, look at what you've got, say "Oh, my gosh," and recognize that of all the balls there ever were, this is the one you should not drop. It's not a question of choice.” MotherFatherMomDadParentingParenthood Book:Love Walked In Source: Love Walked In
“The sight made her ache. How can I not touch you? she thought hopelessly, and then she was doing it, her fingers on his wrist. He didn't jump or even look at her, just stopped writing. Neither one of them moved, nothing moved, and the whole thing lasted three or four seconds at most, but when Pen took her hand away and started to breathe again, her chest hurt, as though she had been holding her breath for a very long time.” LoveDesireFriendship Book:Falling Together Source: Falling Together