513 Quotes by Janet Fitch

Someday I would have lovers and write a poem after.

Crows squawked raucously in the trees. It sounded like they were tearing something apart, something they didn’t even want, just for the fun of destroying it.

I felt on the verge of something, a mystery that surrounded me like gauze, something I was beginning to unwind.

I felt just the way Billie Holiday sounded, like I’d cried all I could and it wasn’t enough.

I felt beautiful but also interrupted. I wasn’t used to being so complicated.

Father turned on me as if blackbirds had flown out of my mouth.

I know what you are learning to endure. There is nothing to be done. Make sure nothing is wasted. Take notes. Remember it all, every insult, every tear. Tattoo it on the inside of your mind. In life, knowledge of poisons is essential. I’ve told you, nobody becomes an artist unless they have to.

The expression in her eyes was bitter as nightshade. ‘You ask me about regret? Let me tell you a few things about regret, my darling. There is no end to it. You cannot find the beginning of the chain that brought us from there to here. Should you regret the whole chain, and the air between, or each link separately, as if you could uncouple them? Do you regret the beginning which ended so badly, or just the ending itself? I’ve given more thought to this question than you can begin to imagine.

Her voice made me drunk, deep and sun-warmed, a hint of a foreign accent, Swedish singsong a generation removed.