299 Quotes by Anne Tyler

"Walking a small child was like herding water, Michael used to think when his own children were small. Heaven only knew what they'd take into their heads to do next - dart in front of a speeding car or throw a tantrum in mid-traffic or stop to pick a soaked cigar butt out of the gutter."

"But if you never did anything you couldn't undo you'd end up doing nothing at all."

"She loved them so much that she felt a kind of hollowness on the inner surface of her arms whenever she looked at them- an ache of longing to pull them close and hold them tight against her."

"He honestly believed, for an instant, that what he'd heard was music-a tune piped, a burble of notes, a little scrap of melody floating by on wind and breaking his heart."

"For once, the tears wouldn't come. She saw that Michael might have been right. It really could be too cold to snow."

"She started to speak, but then stopped. Anything she could think of to say seemed a mistake. In fact, speech in general seemed a mistake. It struck her all at once that dealing with other human beings was an awful lot of work. from Back When We Were Grownups."

"Past is past... no it's not! People are always fond of saying that, but what's past is never past; not entirely."

"People always call it luck when you’ve acted more sensibly than they have."

"I am the bicycle you lost in the park the summer you turned twelve… You didn’t think I was so great anymore… You started finding fault with all I said...pg162"

"It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him."