Quotes by Audrey Niffenegger

I fell asleep. But later that night I woke up. There was moonlight coming through the window, and shadows of tree branches fell onto the bed, waving gently in the breeze.And then you saw the ghost?James laughed. Dear chap, the branches WERE the ghost. There werent any trees within a hundred yards of that house. Theyd all been cut down years before. I saw the ghost of a tree.

...and I suddenly feel that Henry is there, incredible need for Henry to be there and to put his hand on me even while it seems to me that Henry is the rain and I am alone and wanting him- Clare

The space that I can call mine, that isnt full of Henry, is so small that my ideas have become small.

Long ago, men went to sea, and women waited for them, standing on the edge of the water, scanning the horizon for the tiny ship. Now I wait for Henry. He vanishes unwillingly, without warning. I wait for him. Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each moment I can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. Why has he gone where I cannot follow?

Time, let me vanish. Then what we separate by our very presence can come together.

“Its hard being left behind. (...) Its hard to be the one who stays.”

“It’s dark now and I am very tired. I love you, always. Time is nothing.”

“To world enough and time.”

“Chaos is more freedom; in fact, total freedom. But no meaning.”

“I think about my mother singing after lunch on a Summer afternoon, twirling in blue dress across the floor of her dressing room”

“When I am out there, in time, I am inverted, changed into a desperate version of myself. I become a thief, a vagrant, an animal who runs and hides. I startle old women and amaze children. I am a trick, an illusion of the highest order, so incredible that I am actually true.”

“...all of our laments could not add a single second to her life, not one additional beat of the heart, nor a breath. ”

“I sit quietly and think about my mom. Its funny how memory erodes, If all I had to work from were my childhood memories, my knowledge of my mother would be faded and soft, with a few sharp memories standing out.”

“I go to sleep alone, and wake up alone. I take walks. I work until Im tired. I watch the wind play with the trash thats been under the snow all winter. Everything seems simple until you think about it. Why is love intensified by abscence?”

“You can still be cool when you’re dead. In fact, it’s much easier, because you aren’t getting old and fat and losing your hair.”

“We are often insane with happiness. We are also very unhappy for reasons neither of us can do anything about. Like being separated.”

“Even her name seemed empty, as though it had detached itself from her and was floating untethered in his mind. How am I supposed to live without you? It was not a matter of the body; his body would carry on as usual. The problem was located in the word how: he would live, but without Elspeth the flavour, the manner, the method of living were lost to him. He would have to relearn solitude.”

“I wont ever leave you, even though youre always leaving me.”

“one of the best and the most painful things about time traveling has been the opportunity to see my mother alive.”

“Right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment.”