Caroline Leavitt Quotes

Which is worse, she thinks, waiting for the sting, or the sting itself?

Why doesn’t he get over it already? But that was the secret, wasn’t it? You never got over what you lost. You always carried it with you, stitched to you like Peter Pan’s shadow. And you never wanted to get over it, because who wanted to forget a time that had been so important? No, the truth was, you wanted to remember it always.

know,

You could love many people in your life. Maybe love didn't die even when a person did, but that didn't mean there might not be room for someone else in your heart.

Gary'nin hatırlayabildiği kadarıyla Gerta,ilk defa bu kadar hassas görünüyordu.Kirpikleri titriyor,ağzı bir köşeye doğru seyiriyordu.'Mükemmel bir iş çıkarıyorsun.Otis seni çok seviyor.

All you had of a person was what they showed you.

The way to get free of pain is to dive down into it. To acknowledge it.

I remember thinking we were going to grow old together, one of those couples who hold hands, not just to keep from falling, but because they love each other so much that they can't be without contact.

Always remember,” she had told him. “When you’re grown up, I want you to take your girlfriend, or your wife, or boyfriend—whoever it is you love—and you make sure they know you so well they can read your mind. You don’t even have to tell them what you need, because they already know it. If they don’t—well, it isn’t love.

He tried to be a good man, to do the right things, to make the world a little better than it had been before he had put his stamp upon it. You could be generous with the love you gave, with the care you took with others. You could follow all the command- ments that made sense to you and still the world could sideswipe you. There was no cause and effect. There was no karma. The truth was that he wasn't so sure he understood how the world worked anymore.

Now she didn’t feel like dancing, didn’t feel anything but guilt.

smells and noise and color filled Ella with wonder—

SIX YEARS AGO, she had lost everything. Jude. Her freedom. Her future. And her baby.

China were being abandoned because of the one-child rule.

couldn’t, just for self-preservation. They had to keep still so they wouldn’t break.

confusing guilt and innocence really were.

then, amid the lingering fear, a new feeling began to take hold: pride.

she had to somehow be close to the one beautiful thing she had created in her life.

used to noise. Plus, to her surprise, it made her feel less alone.

she could help others, then maybe she could help herself.

Ella couldn’t trust love, no matter how inviting it might seem.

let go of the wondering,

neighborhood again, felt right to her—as if an empty space inside her were slowly being filled.

For a moment, she wasn’t in this prison at all. She was flying, and the feeling of wonder made her laugh out loud.

She was nauseous with hope.

You’ll never love anyone as much as you will your child.

And Ella, in a blaze of gratitude, using what she had learned, helped them.

they’ll look at me and they’ll always wonder?

still look back with wonder at that summer.

Plotting his death was a fantasy. Until it wasn’t.

Why didn’t people belong to the ones who tried to love them?

Sometimes, to live your life, you had to protect yourself against what other people might take from you.

Never. Ever. Give. Up. No doesn't always mean no. Sometimes it's just takes a little work to find the yes.

It is up to angels to show you signs and it is your job to decode the meaning. Above all, be humble and full of gratitude.

cry. He knew that the light from stars was light that was dead already, that what you were seeing was the past, not your present, and certainly not your future.

You could be generous with the love you gave, with the care you took with others. You could follow all the commandments that made sense to you and still the world could sideswipe you. There was no cause and effect. There was no karma.

Death made you look differently at the people you loved. Their real selves weren’t there to contradict your beliefs about them. The dead became a whole other person.

Maybe love didn’t die even when a person did, but that didn’t mean there might not be room for someone else in your heart.

Nothing stayed the same. That was scientific fact. He wouldn’t do anything to push things in a new direction, but he knew that one way or another, life eventually would.

Having a child is, well, it’s just profound. Even as they grow, you just stop and look at them and you keep thinking in absolute wonderment, Where did you come from? How is it possible you’re here?

She touched his arm, making his heart skitter. It was never a good sign when they touched you. He had seen far too many television hospital dramas to imagine what was going to come next: the lowered voice, the steady gaze, the bad news.

being recognized, women

always kick a** (or she’d come for them); Jane Green, whose early novels inspired me to want to write women’s fiction; Adriana Trigiani, the literary tornado of positivity; Nancy Thayer, the queen of the summer read and first to blurb my first novel; Debbie Macomber, who supported me from the start; the gracious Laura Lane McNeal; the generous, sweet Caroline Leavitt, whose writing advice is always top of mind; and, oh, yes, two men! The wonderfully kind and talented Richard Paul Evans and Garth Stein.

street. All a car had to do was move closer, a door swing