Quotes from David Guterson

Let us so live in this trying time that when it is all over we can look one another in the eye with the knowledge that we have behaved honourably and fairly.

opinion, sir? You have not denied that my scenario is plausible. You have not denied that this premeditated murder might have happened in precisely the fashion I have just described, have you, Mr. Gillanders—have you?" "No, I haven't," Josiah said. "But—" "No further questions

at the same time he knew that most elderly people were not wise at all but only wore a thin veneer of cheap wisdom as a sort of armor against the world.

She sat across from him at the kitchen table at three o'clock in the morning, while he stared in silence or talked or wept, and she took when she could a piece of his sorrow and stored it for him in her own heart.

He was a reader and recognized his habit of reading as obsessive and neurotic…

her husband had been the best sort of partner, one who understood what it meant to respect somebody and love them for who they are and not wish for them to be different, or need them to be different, that had been the key to their long and happy life together, but, also, her husband had been natively cheerful and essentially kind, and those things had helped a lot

I promise myself to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind … to look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true … to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.")

Is it better for you to have what you have now, this opportunity in another country, or is it better for you to be with the people who will always love you no matter what?

Each was a talisman with magical properties. They were imbued with memory, story, and event, and in the course of time had gone from mere phenomena to sacred vessels of personal history. They were simultaneously a nuisance and completely necessary. My mother had grown old without losing the better part of innocence when it came to keepsakes. "Look

My father is a practicing criminal law attorney in the Seattle area.

At one level you're condemned to the voice you have. But within those confines, you have a certain amount of freedom to range among your possible voices.