294 Quotes by Ann Patchett

Happiness compresses time, makes it dense and bright, pocketsized.

The light was cut to lace by the trees that had grown so thick with leaves in the last few months.

I don't believe in fate, as in, which I - as a Catholic, I think, sort of predestination. But I certainly believe in chance.

If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else. Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain.

The idea I pursue is the one that keeps coming back to me. The characters I think about as I'm falling asleep at night or when I'm driving to the grocery store are the one's I wind up writing about.

shame should be reserved for the things we choose to do, not the circumstances that life puts on us

If you're trying to find out what's coming next, turn off everything you own that has an OFF switch and listen.

Carmen prayed hard. She prayed while standing near the priest in hopes it would give her request extra credibility. What she prayed for was nothing. She prayed that God would look on them and see the beauty of their existence and leave them alone.

I tend to keep my ideas in my head. When I write something down in a notebook it's never centralized. There are too many notebooks floating around, but maybe that's a good thing.