Quotes from Christina Baker Kline

It's as if she assumes everything will go right, and when it doesn't - which, of course, is pretty often - she is surprised and affronted.

Here I am, there he is, connected by sky.

The truth is, when I'm immersed in a book I'm less aware of the pain in my unpredictable arms and legs.

When you live on a farm, everyone is uncomfortable much of the time. Too cold, too warm, dirty, bone tired, banged up, injured by a tool or hot grate - too preoccupied to worry much about each other

I want to say, Christina, that you are ... unusual. And somehow..." her voice trails off. "Your mind-- your curiosity-- will be your comfort.

I hate her for it. For seeing me clearly, for not seeing me at all.

We sit in silence, the air between bristling with words unsaid.

What she wants most-what she truly years for-is what any of us want: to be seen. And look. She is.

It's really none of your business...

I am ninety-one years old, and almost everyone who was once in my life is now a ghost. Sometimes these

But it kind of feels nice to nurture her resentment, to foster it. It's something she can savor and control, this feeling of having been wronged by the world.

It's hard to say what's in my head. It's been a long time since anyone cared to ask.

When I shut my eyes in the warm bath, I feel as if I'm floating inside a cloud.

The bitterness and alcohol and depression are stripped away from these phantom incarnations, and they console and protect me in death as they never did in life. I've come to think that's what heaven is—a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on.

Actually, I did it because when we lived on Indian Island we had this turtle named Shelly.

Do you believe in fate?" I ask. "What's that again?" "That everything is decided. You're just—you know—living it out.

I remember her words to me when I left school: Your mind will be your comfort. It is, sometimes. And sometimes it isn't.

I feel a joy so strong it's almost painful—a knife's edge of joy.

the places we go in our minds to find comfort have little to do with where our bodies go.

I think you're used to being observed but not really ... seen.

I know too much; I have seen people at their worst, at their most desperate and selfish, and this knowledge makes me wary. So I am learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside.

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

Jeez Louise, this is why

If you going to steal a book thought, you should at least take the nicest one, otherwise what's the point?