Christina Baker Kline, A Piece Of The World Quotes
Do our natures dictate the choices we make, I wonder, or do we choose to live a certain way because of circumstances beyond our control?
It's hard to say what's in my head. It's been a long time since anyone cared to ask.
That man would have chipped away at your heart bit by bit until there was nothing left. It may have been bruised, but at least it's whole.
I am acutely aware that like a slip of paper in the wind, something in his nature eludes my grasp.
This is like telling a person who has leapt off a cliff to be careful. I am already in midair.
If you really want to know me, I said, we'll have to start with the witches.
It's a peculiar kind of dissatisfaction, a bittersweet nostalgia for a moment not yet past.
How did I go from being the maiden in a fairy tale to a wretched old maids so quickly? It happened almost without my realizing it...
I want to say, Christina, that you are ... unusual. And somehow..." her voice trails off. "Your mind-- your curiosity-- will be your comfort.
People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find...
To get it all done I have to dim my brain, turn it down by notches like the flat-turn knob on a gas lantern, leaving only a nub of flame.
The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance.
I ... am left with the lingering feeling that the places we go in our minds to find comfort have little to do with where our bodies go.
I couldn't have imagined how much more there was to lose.
I remember her words to me when I left school: Your mind will be your comfort. It is, sometimes. And sometimes it isn't.
My heart is shattered, an all that's left are jagged shards.
It's painful to hold out hope for the things that once brought you joy. You have to find ways to make yourself forget.
Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel.