Because of her singing they all went away feeling moved, feeling comforted, feeling, perhaps, the slightest tremors of faith.
Ann PatchettMaybe the private life wasn't forever. Maybe everyone got it for a little while and then spent the rest of their lives remembering.
Ann PatchettOnly a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.
Ann PatchettFor the most part wisdom comes in chips rather than blocks. You have to be willing to gather them constantly, and from sources you never imagined to be probable. No one chip gives you the answer for everything. No one chip stays in the same place throughout your entire life. The secret is to keep adding voices, adding ideas, and moving things around as you put together your life. If youโre lucky, putting together your life is a process that will last through every single day youโre alive.
Ann Patchett