Sara Gruen Quotes

I was always searching, always seeking the next big thing, because that was the thing that was going to make everything all right again. And while I was working toward it, it gave me something to think about other than that thing I couldn't put my finger on. But it always came back.

Sometimes when you get older — and I’m not talking about you, I’m talking generally, because everyone ages differently — things you think on and wish on start to seem real. And then you believe them, and before you know it they’re part of your history, and if someone challenges you on them and says they’re not true — why, then you get offended because you can’t remember the first part. All you know is that you’ve been called a liar.

After sixty-one years together, she simply clutched my hand and exhaled.

Hey! Shouts Camel. There ain't no woman in the world worth two bottles of whiskey!

Life is the most spectacular show on earth.

I look after those who look after me." He smacks his lips, stares at me, and adds, "I also look after those who don't." - Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants)

Then I lie down on the horse blanket and drift into a dream about Marlena that will probably cost me my soul.

He stares at me, and then leans back in his chair. "He's ill, Jacob." I say nothing. "He's a paragon schnitzophonic." "He's what?!" "Paragon schnitzophonic," repeats Uncle Al. "You mean paranoid schizophrenic?" "Sure. Whatever. But the bottom line is he's mad as a hatter.

When will people learn that just because you can make something doesn’t mean you should?

How is it that everyone on this train has so much alcohol?" "We always head to Canada at the beginning of the season," she says taking her seat again. "Their laws are much more civilized. Cheers.

It's just a crazy damned life, that's all.

I hate this bizarre policy of protective exclusion, because it effectively writes me off the page.

I scan the room. Catherine is writing quickly, her light brown hair falling over her face. She is left-handed, and because she writes in pencil her left arm is silver from wrist to elbow.

I'm truly grateful for my microwave, which allows me to easily clarify butter, steam vegetables, and - when I am really lazy - feed my three kids in less than five minutes.

Do you have any idea how much an elephant drinks?

Juliet is one of those rare novels that has it all: lush prose, tightly intertwined parallel narratives, intrigue, and historical detail all set against a backdrop of looming danger. Anne Fortier casts a new light on one of history's greatest stories of passion. I was swept away.

I used to think I preferred getting old to the alternative, but now I'm not sure. Sometimes the momotony of bingo and sing-alongs and ancient dusty people parked in the hallway in wheelchairs makes me long for death. Particularly when I rememver that I'm one of the ancient dusty people, filed away like some worthless tchotchke.

They grew fat and happy--the horses, not the children, or Marlena for that matter.

When you are five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties, you know how old you are. I'm twenty-three you say, or maybe twenty-seven. But then in your thirties, something strange starts to happen. It is a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I'm--you start confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say thirty-three, but you are not. You're thirty-five. And then you're bothered, because you wonder if this is the beginning of the end. It is, of course, but it's decades before you admit it.

How hard can it be to find a girl and an elephant for Christ's sake?

The more distressing the memory, the more persistent it's presence.

I have to convince myself that this is not a pointless life, even the body is telling me so.

With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.

Although, pretending not to notice is almost worse than noticing.

Must protect my little pockets of happiness.

Honey, I plan to marry you the moment the ink is dry on that death certificate.

Is where you're from the place you're leaving or where you have roots?

I just can't. I'm married. I made my bed and now I have to lie in it.

You work hard on a book and throw it out there and then it's beyond your control.