181 Quotes by Paula McLain

"And sometimes I think there isn’t anything to us but our mistakes."

"On December 8, 1921, when the Leopoldina set sail for Europe, we were on board. Our life together had finally begun. We held on to each other and looked out at the sea. It was impossibly large and full of beauty and danger in equal parts-and we wanted it all."

"Books could be an incredible adventure. I stayed under my blanket and barely moved, and no one would have guessed how my mind raced and my heart soared with stories."

"I'd never met anyone so vibrant or alive. He moved like light."

"I miss good old-fashioned honorable people just trying to make something of life. Simply, without hurting anyone else. I know that makes me a sap."

"To marry was to say you believed in the future and in the past, too-that history and tradition and hope could stay knit together to hold you up."

"It was our favorite part of the day, this in-between time, and it always seemed to last longer than it should--a magic and lavender space unpinned from the hours around it, between worlds."

"And that's when he finally tells me his name is Ernest. I'm thinking of giving it away, though. Ernest is so dull, and Hemingway? Who wants a Hemingway?"

"The very rich only admire themselves"

"... and yet he could also be very charming, in a bookish, infinitely apologetic way."