166 Quotes by Tayari Jones

Up until now, I thought I knew what was and wasn't possible. Maybe that's what innocence is, having no way to predict the pain of the future. When something happens that eclipses the imaginable, it changes a person. It's like the difference between a raw egg and a scrambled egg. It's the same thing, but it's not the same at all. That's the best way I can put it. I look in the mirror and I know it's me, but I can't quite recognize myself.

Daddy said, "At some point you will come to accept your limitations.""Do you accept yours?" I asked, with challenge in my voice."But of course, Ladybug. That's what marriage teaches you.

Memory is a queer creature, an eccentric curator.

But neither of us closed our eyes against the immeasurable dark of that silent night.

Marriage is complicated.

Some things were inevitable. You'd have to be a fool to think otherwise.

What right did my father have to the details of my life? He squandered his chance to be the protective father. You can't come rushing to the rescue six months later. I wasn't a person to be saved only when it was a convenient time to swoop in.

...I was aware that she didn't belong to me. I didn't mean that, on paper at least, she was another's man's wife. If you knew her, you would know that she never belonged to him either. I'm not sure if she even realized it herself, but she's the kind of woman that will never belong to anyone.

If you're a grown women and have more than ten dollars in the bank, nobody understands why you can't have a baby.