Holly Goldberg Sloan Quotes

The ability to keep your mouth shut is usually a sign of intelligence

When you care about other people, it takes the spotlight off your own drama.

For someone grieving, moving forward is the challenge. Because after extreme loss, you want to go back.

It's possible that all labels are curses. Unless they are on cleaning products.

books=comfort

And endings are always the beginnings of something else.

A second can feel like forever if what follows is heartbreak.

And just being there is ninety-nine percent of what matters when your world falls apart

I don't want to know how you did it. I want to believe you are magic.

Every person has lots of ingredients to make them into what is always a one-of-a-kind creation.

[T]he deepest form of pain comes out as silence.

maybe that happens when you've been through a lot. all of your edges are worn off, like sea glass. either that, or you shatter.

She is like me. Silent. I admire that in a person. The ability to keep your mouth shut is usually a sign of intelligence. Introspection requires you to think and analyze. It's hard to do that when you are blabbing away.

All reality is a blender where hopes and dreams are mixed with fear and despair.

I'll be ready. I'm not sure for what exactly. But maybe that's what being ready really means.

I'm putting my place in the universe into perspective. I'm stardust. I'm golden brown. I'm just one small bit in a vast expanse.

if you're lost you might need to swim against the tide

It has been my experience that rewarding and heartbreaking often go hand in hand.

I'm not brave; it's just that all other choices have been thrown out the window.

Every person has lots of ingredients to make them what is always a one-in-a-kind creation. We are all imperfect genetic stews.

What we expect rarely occurs; what we don't expect is what happens.

From my observation, the older you get, the more you like the word cozy. That's why most of the elderly wear pants with elastic waistbands. If they wear pants at all. This may explain why grandparents are in love with buying grand kids pajamas and bathrobes.

A genius shoots at something no one else can see, and hits it.

She said that I was highly gifted. Are people lowly gifted? Or medium gifted? Or just gifted? It's possible that all labels are curses. Unless they're on cleaning products. In my opinion, it's not really a great idea to see people as just one thing.

The way to make the pain go away was to put your mind somewhere else. you let your mind leave and float above you, where it could watch you.

For him and his brother, he now knew, that music was real. Becuase all you had to do, really, was be willing to use your imagination. And listen.

Only in cartoons and fairy tales and greeting cards do endings have glitter

I force myself to think of anything but the one thing that I'm actually always thinking about. And that is so exhausting that I sleep more than I ever have.

I think it's important to get pictures of things on your head. Even if they are wrong. And they pretty much always are.

The sky is filled with stars.

I somehow make it through the first month. I dress and brush my teeth when they tell me to. And I experience the hollow feeling of complete loss, which is emptiness.

Dysphagia is the medical term for not being able to swallow, and I know that there are two kinds of dysphagia: oropharyngeal and esophageal. But maybe there is also a third kind of dysphagia that comes when your heart breaks into pieces. I can't swallow because I have that kind.

Or is life so filled with random action that the very notion of caution is futile?

And just being there is ninety-nine percent of what matters when your world falls apart.

Connectedness. One thing leads to another. Often in unexpected ways.

But being a brother or a sister (if you are lucky enough) is the role of a lifetime.

It was ironic that the kids who didn't go to school would be punished with the threat of being kicked out.

The idea of something for nothing is appealing in some visceral way. Even free things are never free. The burden of ownership means everything has a price.

Plants (like people) thrive when there is balance.

I cut all my words out. My heart was too full of them.

At least it's working out because Cheddar is sort of obsessed with me, or at least very interested, which in the world of felines counts as obsessive behavior.

Physical stamina is a component in leadership, even in the modern world, where it isn't necessary to be able to harness an ox. Because it is still impressive if you can.

sometimes when you're lost,you might need to swim against the tide

All reality, I decide, is a blender where hopes and dreams are mixed with fear and despair.

I usually found so-called "small talk" boring. I like "large talk", which is more about theories and concepts, mixed with facts and known quantities.

I have seen trees that survive fire. Their bark is burned and their limbs are dead branches. But hidden under that skeleton is a force that sends a single shoot of green out into the world.

You don’t have to watch many wildlife documentaries to know that the herd doesn’t accept the lone straggler.

Pattie saw grief. Her eyes focused on a version of her own young self, and so many other children in Vietnam who grew up without parents, some abandoned because of their ethnicity, others because of tragedy. And her arms reached out wide.

It would look pretty messed up to be a social worker and have dried kid blood as a permanent stain in your vehicle.

the deepest form of pain comes out as silence.

A leader organizes people whether they know it or not.

They speak to me, not in words, but in action. They tell me that life goes on.

The girl next to me starts to cry when she sees the sprinkles. I'm wondering if she's worried about the long-term side effects of consuming artificial food coloring. It's a valid concern.

Emily just knew that the grocery store clerk’s cousin had slipped on a bath mat and fallen out a second-story open window only to be saved because the woman landed on a discarded mattress. But what interested Emily most about the incident was how the cousin had subsequently met a man in physical therapy who introduced her to his half brother who she ended up marrying and then running over with her car a year later after a heated argument. And that man, it was discovered, had been the one to dump the mattress in her yard. He’d saved her so that she could later cripple him. Emily found that not ironic but intriguing. Because everything, she believed, was connected.

Life, I now realize, is just one big trek across a minefield and you never know which step is going to blow you up.

I will see only what I want to see. It's possible that's how people get through crisis. The world where we live is so much in our head.

Maybe the key is that Big Ideas are Little Ideas but told in Big Ways?

Hadn't someone once said love was attention? No more, no less. There was attention, and there was obsession, and there was possession.

I admire that in a person. The ability to keep your mouth shut is usually a sign of intelligence.

That’s the thing about time. A second can feel like forever if what follows is heartbreak.

Even if free things are never free. The burden of ownership means everything has a price.

But I'm thinking real problems are the ones you can't see coming. Maybe that's why they're real problems" -Avery (Night Owl)

I really like reading stories with an unreliable narrator, because the person telling you what happened can't be trusted with the facts and you have to figure it out. Maybe when it's your own story, you're always going to be an unreliable narrator" -Avery (Night Owl)

Thanks, Mom. Thanks for making me try out for this play.' I think I might have just made being a mother totally worthwhile for her. I will try to never forget her face...Mom's got tears in her eyes and she's smiling. It's an amazing look. I have to remember how powerful it can be to say thank you. Especially to the people you live with.

He couldn’t throw things away because he had trouble figuring out what had value and what didn’t. Plus he liked the comfort of possessions. If he couldn’t belong to something, at least something belonged to him.

Gay people having families doesn't seem like something anyone should have to shout about anymore. Some people are a lot more interested in raising kids than other people. From what I can see, the person most interested usually does the best job" -Bett

But I think it's not bad to have a blowup with someone you really care about. Once that happens, you can be even closer. Maybe because sharing bad things as well as good things means you're in it for real. That's what being honest with someone does." -Avery (Night Owl)

I don’t want to know how you did it. I want to believe that you’re magic.

I am a shadow. I no longer dream in color. I don't count by 7s. Because in this new world I don't count.

Teenage boys are so easily amused.

Because after extreme loss, you want to go back.

When you care about other people, it takes the spotlight of your own drama.

I’m asking you to pay attention in a new way and view it all as being Alive. With a capital A.

Because in my opinion it’s not really a great idea to see people as one thing. Every person has lots of ingredients to make them into what is always a one-of-a-kind creation.

I feel moved because they aren’t treating me like I’ll break into a million pieces.

It would be sad to be hired as a caregiver and then die before the person you were looking after. You wouldn't be able to let people know you did a good job.

I'm thinking now that maybe all stories are there to explain something" -Avery (Night Owl)

Each blossom held it's own unique possibility.

Making a connection to a person can be the scariest thing that ever happens to you.

(Fishing) is as boring as boring gets. And then when it's finally not boring and you have a fish on the line it turns into a crime scene with a wooden club and a crazy amount of hitting.

People usually find a good place for stray dogs, or for the elderly when they can no longer go up stairs or use a can opener. Finding a good place for a kid seems like a much bigger challenge.

I want to see this lady out the front gate and into her car and off the street and out of town and then removed from the county and then the whole state and finally relocated to the place they call Tornado Alley in Kansas.

Appleblossom can't believe the taste of the dark square. Is tehre a way to describe this morsel of goodness? It is so sweet adn smooth. It makes a green snail seem like an old pinecone seed, and every possum knows that a green snail is fantastic eating.

I don't eat the sandwich that Mom made for me, but luckily Randy finishes his and is happy to take mine, too, so I won't get yelled at for wasting food. There is nothing worse in my mom's eyes. I guess murder would be worse, but I think she believes the first step toward a violent life is being a food-waster.

They are living, growing, reproducing, pushing and pulling in the ground all around us at all times. We accept that without even noticing. Open your eyes, people. This is amazing. If plants made sounds, it would all be different. But they communicate with color and shape and size and texture. They don’t meow or bark or tweet. We think they don’t have eyes, but they see the angle of the sun and the rise of the moon. They don’t just feel the wind; they change directions because of it.

(...) al no ser consiente de todo lo que ignoraba, no sufría por ello.

She said they needed to put down a real root system to achieve their potential

I’m not brave; it’s just that all other choices have been thrown out the window.

The two people I need to get in touch with, the two people who most need to hear this most horrible news, are not here

named

Endings are always the beginnings of something else

Their failure to care wasn't just appealing, but seductive. Because cats made you try.

No one’s supposed to tell anyone, “You two shouldn’t love each other.” But maybe, also, no one’s supposed to tell anyone, “You two should love each other.

I can be engaged by the arc of the water in a sprinkler system. I can look through a microscope for a shockingly long period of time.

Dell no longer ate meat loaf. He

My goals for this summer, if I had goals, would be to not worry about my height and also to find new ways to be happy now that Ramon is gone.

She's there for me. And just being there is ninety-nine percent of what matters when your world falls apart.

have seen trees that survive fire. Their bark is burned and their limbs are dead branches. But hidden under that skeleton is a force that sends a single shoot of green out into the world. Maybe

My dad takes most of the pictures in our family, and he makes scrapbooks. This means he gets to figure out what's important for us to remember... I guess my mom could make a scrapbook, but she doesn't. And I could do it and so could my brothers, but then we would need extra pictures. Plus we're just kids and we don't have time for that. I know the scrapbooks we'd make would be different from Dad's. But the person who does the work gets to write the history.

It’s all SUPER old-school. That’s why you’re getting a LETTER. Pen + paper (writing is required). It’s like the Stone Age. Or the Paper Age. So I’m spending the summer in this really primitive place, except with a LOT of rules. Only they don’t call them rules. They call them “traditions.