Quotes by Christina Baker Kline

People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find...

Ive come to think thats what heaven is - a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on. ,

Before we leave the gravesite, Mary sings Mothers favorite gospel hymn ...Marys lovely voice rises and lingers in the air, and by the end of the song most of us are crying. I am too, though I still dont know what those stars are meant to represent. My mistake, I suppose, is in thinking they should mean something.

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.

Its painful to hold out hope for the things that once brought you joy. You have to find ways to make yourself forget.

My heart is shattered, an all thats left are jagged shards.

I remember her words to me when I left school: Your mind will be your comfort. It is, sometimes. And sometimes it isnt.

If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead.

I couldnt have imagined how much more there was to lose.

I learned long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable. I know what it means to lose everything, to let go of one life and find another. And now I feel, with a strange, deep certainty, that it must be my lot in life to be taught that lesson over and over again.

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.

The smallest things get to her. Its as if she assumes everything will go right, and when it doesnt -- which, of course, is pretty often -- she is surprised and affronted.

The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance.

So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason — to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences? Molly asks when Vivian reads some of these stories aloud.It certainly helps, Vivian says.

I think about all the ways I’ve been perceived by others over the years: as a burden, a dutiful daughter, a girlfriend, a spiteful wretch, an inva

Know what a symbol is?...Shit that stands for shit.

She is so white-hot furious she can barely see. She stokes the fire of her hatred, feeding it tidbits about bigoted Dina and spineless mushmouth Ralph, because she knows that just beyond the rage is a sorrow so enervating it could render her immobile. She needs to keep moving, flickering around the room. She needs o fill her bags and get the hell out of here.

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.

She has never tried to find out what happened to her family — her mother or her relatives in Ireland. But over and over, Molly begins to understand as she listens to the tapes, Vivian has come back to the idea that the people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our most ordinary moments. Theyre with us in the grocery store, as we turn a corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles.

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?