294 Quotes by Ann Patchett

Maybe that was the definition of life everlasting: the belief that the next generation would carry your work forward.

She's growing up," Sister Evangeline said.And I wanted to tell her no, I'm not. Everything is exactly the same.

They watched the snow fall and fall and fall until they thought that they were the ones falling.

Running, the music flew into him, became the wind that pushed back his hair and the slap of his own feet on the pavement.

I missed my mother's father. Is that even possible? Maybe I had fallen asleep for a while. Maybe I was like her, just waking up and looking for him to be there. I wondered how it would have changed things for all of us if he had stayed home the day he was supposed to die in his car. How his decision to go out for something small, something like coffee or orange juice which everyone could have done without, had changed things for all of us.

When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.

That's the tricky part about being a saint. If you ever think of yourself as one it throws you out of the running. I've known people who thought they were saints, plenty of them, and believe you me, they were anything but.

The madder Maeve got, the more thoughtful she became. In this way she reminded me of our father -- every word she spoke came individually wrapped.

Is it possible that anxiety ends at the moment when we no longer have time for it?