Quotes from Carol Shields

Anyone's childhood can be an act of disablement if rehearsed and replayed and squinted at in a certain light. . .

Eventually, everything gets stuck between a pair of parentheses or buried in the bottom of a trunk.

What I'd like is a lobotomy, a clean job, the top of my head neatly sawn off and designated contents removed.

I don't know how to get things started... It's like there's this great big wheel I've got to start rolling only I don't seem to have the muscles to get it going.

How does a poet know when a poem is ended? Because it lies flat, taut; nothing can be added or subtracted. How does a woman know when a marriage is over? Because of the way her life suddenly shears off in just two directions: past and future.

Women were supposed to be strong, but they weren't really, they weren't allowed to be.

It's hard work being a person, you have to do it every single day.

There are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud.