256 Quotes by Elizabeth Strout

What puzzled Abel about life was how much one forgot but then lived with anyway - like phantom limbs, he supposed.

I think our job--maybe even our 'duty'--is to--To bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can.

She understood that Simon was a disappointed man if he needed, at ths age, to tell her he had pitied her for years.

I think I know so well the pain we children clutch to our chests, how it lasts our whole lifetime, with longings so large you can’t even weep. We hold it tight, we do, with each seizure of the beating heart: This is mine, this is mine, this is mine.

Annie wondered at this, that her brother and sister, good, responsible, decent, fair-minded, had never known the passion that caused a person to risk everything they had, everything they held dear heedlessly put in danger -- simply to be near the white dazzle of the sun that somehow for those moments seemed to leave the earth behind.

She actually moved her neck back and forth as though to shake off the cumbersome weight of the sound, and realized that she had never liked music. It seemed to bring back all the shadows and aches of a lifetime.

Pain, like a pinecone unfolding, seemed to blossom beneath her breastbone.

He hated dishonesty-- or lack of courage-- more than anything.

You just stood up to your mother.... I should think now you could take on the world.