Caldwell Quotes

I write about modern people who share a deep sense of connection to the mysteries of the past. I find that I understand myself and my world better when I'm able to peer into history as a mirror. ~ Ian Caldwell

I don't do earrings. ~ Kimberly Caldwell

Leanoardo wrote that a painter should begin every canvas wit a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light. Most painters do the opposite, starting with a whitewash and adding the shadows last. But Paul, who knows Leonardo so well you'd thing the old man slept on the bottom bun, understands the value of starting with the shadows. The only things people can ever know about you are the ones you let them see. ~ Ian Caldwell

I have been constantly betrayed and deceived all my life. ~ Taylor Caldwell

We found out that day, fairly quickly, how great and complex our fondness was for each other; I also had my first sense of something central about Caroline that would become a pillar of our friendship. When she was confronted with any emotional difficulty, however slight or major, her response as to approach rather than to flee. There she would stay until the matter was resolved, and the emotional aftermath was free of any hangover or recrimination. My instincts toward resolution were similar: I knew that silence and distance were far more pernicious than head-on engagement. This compatibility helped to ensure that there was no unclaimed baggage between us in the years to come. ~ Gail Caldwell

In crisis, I circled my wagons, more afraid of being disappointed by someone than going it alone. ~ Gail Caldwell

Memory is both the curse of grief and the eventual talisman against it; what at first seems unbearable becomes the succor that can outlast pain. ~ Gail Caldwell

Adam and Eve had their midlife Crisis when they realized that they were older than sin! ~ Jonathan Edward Caldwell

You know, me finding the perfect dress is more about you than it is about me."
"Oh yeah? How's that?"
"My plan, you see, is to scour the city for just the right dress that will make it absolutely impossible for you to resist me. You'll simply be at my mercy the entire night."
Trent frowns, "How is that different from any other time we're together? ~ Janine Caldwell

Heart disease is a food-borne illness. ~ Caldwell Esselstyn

If you approach an opera as though it were something that always went a certain way, that's what you get. I approach an opera as though I didn't know it. ~ Sarah Caldwell

If there is a God, then he was particularly harsh to me. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Animals do not betray; they do not exploit; they do not oppress; they do not enslave; they do not sin. They have their being, and their being is honest, and who can say this of man? ~ Taylor Caldwell

Forlorness. An unspoken sadness that required no words. ~ Christi Caldwell

He still could not understand why he had nothing, and would never have anything, and there was no one who knew and who could tell him. It was the unsolved mystery of his life. ~ Erskine Caldwell

I'll remind you one more time, I've treated a lot of vegans for heart disease. ~ Caldwell Esselstyn

Through climbing, I've learned to find goals and work toward them. That's just the way I love to live. ~ Tommy Caldwell

Boia is trying to force Simon to talk. Nowak is trying to keep the exhibit a secret. ~ Ian Caldwell

His stomach lurches. He has a sense, for the first time in his soldiering career, of what a war crime might look like from the inside. And it's not him who's the criminal, or even Caldwell. It's Justineau. And Mailer. And that drunken bastard Whitaker, and all the rest of them. Caldwell, she's just a butcher. She's Sweeney Todd, with a barber's chair and a straight razor. She didn't spend years twisting kids' brains into pretzels. ~ M.R. Carey

But what was a body? Dust, dung, urine, itches. It was the light within which was important, and it was not significant if that light endured after death, or if the soul was blinded eternally in the endless night of the suspired flesh. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Parks waits a long while, until he's absolutely certain that Justineau's monologue is finished. The truth is, for most of the time he's been trying to figure out what it is exactly that she's trying to tell him. Maybe he was right the first time about where they were heading, and Justineau airing her ancient laundry is just a sort of palate-cleanser before they have sex. Probably not, but you never know. In any case, the countermove to a confession is an absolution, unless you think the sin is unforgivable. Parks doesn't.

"It was an accident," he tells her, pointing out the obvious. "And probably you would have ended up doing the right thing. You don't strike me as the sort of person who just lets shit slide." He means that, as far as it goes. One of the things he likes about Justineau is her seriousness. He frigging flat-out hates frivolous, thoughtless people who dance across the surface of the world without looking down.

"Yeah, but you don't get it," Justineau says. "Why do you think I'm telling you all this?"

"I don't know," Parks admits. "Why are you telling me?"

Justineau steps away from the parapet wall and squares off against him – range, zero metres. It could be erotic, but somehow it's not.

"I killed that boy, Parks. If you turn my life into an equation, the number that comes out is minus one. That's my lifetime score, you understand me? And you … you and Caldwell, and Private Ginger f**king Rogers … my God, whe ~ M.R. Carey

An honest politician is either a hypocrite - or he is doomed. ~ Taylor Caldwell

The two hardest things to contemplate in life ( ... ) are failure and age, and those are one and the same. ~ Ian Caldwell

Made a decision. I will never let a sunny day happen without me again. Darkness is almost always guaranteed unless some strange thing happens. But the sun...?! Go get some. ~ Robin Caldwell

Life has taught this boy to string nets beneath his hopes. ~ Ian Caldwell

It's taken years for me to understand that dying doesn't end the story; it transforms it. Edits, rewrites, the blur, aand epiphany of one-way dialogue. Most of us wander in and out of one another's lives until not death, but distance, does us part
time and space and heart's weariness are the blander executioners or human connection. ~ Gail Caldwell

After Father died, she told me that it felt strange to have hands anymore, what with no one to hold them. ~ Ian Caldwell

Things hurt worse before they hurt better. ~ Chloe Caldwell

They whooped our tail last time we was here. So it's time for a little revenge, and show that Florida football is coming back. ~ Andre Caldwell

Tanglewood [summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra] was a place where gods strode the earth. ~ Sarah Caldwell

People lie. People disagree. People make mistakes. To find out the truth, you have to know how to search for it. ~ Ian Caldwell

I thought on that, but there just ain't no way around the fact that some folks need killing. ~ C. Hoyt Caldwell

My childhood was appalling. ~ Taylor Caldwell

From the first winter afternoon in the Harvard ball fields, "Oh no
I need you" had become an admission and a clarion call
the tenet of dependency that forms the weft of friendship. We needed each other so that we could count the endless days of forests and flat water, but the real need was soldered by the sadder, harder moments
discord or helplessness or fear
that we dared to expose to each other. It took me years to grasp that this grit and discomfort in any relationship are an indicator of closeness, not it's opposite. ~ Gail Caldwell

Freedom was given to humanity by God. But, governments, if they can help it, never give freedom. They just hand out slavery with slogans. ~ Taylor Caldwell

In hindsight, I see it was my decision not to let go. I didn't know how, though some days I focused completely on it: using therapy, distraction, exercise. Other days I left myself wildly grieve. Finn affects it all: every conversation I have, what I choose to wear, what books I read, what films and shows I watch. There's that Buddhist quote, (S)he who angers you owns you. She owned me. I allowed it. She controlled me. I knew this feeling of misery would pass, that what I needed was time, but I was impatient. Unfortunately, we must live through the present to get to the future, writes Hanif Kureishi in his novel Intimacy. ~ Chloe Caldwell

I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses. ~ Taylor Caldwell

I juggle a lot of different balls and sometimes I don't know how I manage to keep them all up in the air, but I do! ~ Kimberly Caldwell

Hope, ... which whispered from Pandora's box after all the other plagues and sorrows had escaped, is the best and last of all things. Without it, there is only time. And time pushes at our backs like a centrifuge, forcing outward and away, until it nudges us into oblivion ... It's a law of motion, a fact of physics ... , no different from the stages of white dwarves and red giants. Like all things in the universe, we are destined from birth to diverge. Time is simply the yardstick of our separation. If we are particles in a sea of distance, exploded from an original whole, then there is a science to our solitude. We are lonely in proportion to our years. ~ Ian Caldwell

The important thing to recognize is that it takes a team, and the team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Successes have many fathers, failures have none. ~ Philip Caldwell

'He is very ugly,' said his mother. ~ Taylor Caldwell

In some ways, climbing in the clouds is comforting. You can no longer see how high off the ground you are. ~ Tommy Caldwell

You've always called me irreverent. You've
branded me irreverent. In my mind you invented irreverent. ~ Chloe Caldwell

My relatives used to laugh when I talked of being a writer. ~ Taylor Caldwell

If they can't do it in California, it can't be done anywhere. ~ Taylor Caldwell

The rest of the family tree had a root system soggy with alcohol ... One aunt had fallen asleep with her face in the mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner; another's fondness for Coors was so unwavering that I can still remember the musky smell of the beer and the coldness of the cans. Most of the men drank the way all Texas men drank, or so I believed, which meant that they were tough guys who could hold their liquor until they couldn't anymore
a capacity that often led to some cloudy version of doom, be it financial ruin or suicide or the lesser betrayal of simple estrangement. Both social drinkers, my parents had eluded these tragic endings; in the postwar Texas of suburbs and cocktails, their drinking was routine but undramatic. ~ Gail Caldwell

That she was irreplaceable became a bittersweet loyalty: Her death was what I had now instead of her. ~ Gail Caldwell

I am a Westerner of Westerners! ~ Taylor Caldwell

physicians, Drs. Bill Castelli, Bill Roberts and Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., that in their long careers they had never seen a heart disease fatality among their patients who had blood cholesterol levels below 150 mg/dL. Dr. Castelli was the long-time director of the famous Framingham Heart Study of NIH; Dr. Esselstyn was a renowned surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic who did a remarkable study reversing heart disease (chapter five); Dr. Roberts has long been editor of the prestigious medical journal Cardiology. BLOOD CHOLESTEROL AND DIET ~ T. Colin Campbell

The Visa bill has been almost manageable lately."
"Don't you think that maybe buying things was just her way of coping with her loneliness? Like when you both had to hide so much of yourselves; that couldn't have been easy."
"Hmm, that's quite insightful. Have you been watching Dr.Phil again? ~ Janine Caldwell

Some people think plant-based diet, whole foods diet is extreme. Half a million people a year will have their chests opened up and a vein taken from their leg and sewn onto their coronary artery. Some people would call that extreme. ~ Caldwell Esselstyn

Hmm," he said, his tone non-committal. ~ Christi Caldwell

Don't ever put yourself in that position again, do you understand me?

I can't promise that, I whispered quietly. I'd rather do it than lose you. Don't you understand how important you are to me? ~ Arielle Caldwell

The adventure of our first days together gradually blossomed into something else: a feeling I'd never had, which I can only compare to the sensation of returning home, of joining a balance that needs no adjusting, as if the scales of my life had been waiting for her all along. ~ Ian Caldwell

You'll notice that it is the haters of humanity who are always trying to reform it. They want to feel superior to the general run of mankind. ~ Taylor Caldwell

It's a funny thing about love: you don't need to have it returned to love somebody. Loving's enough.
A Prologue to Love ~ Taylor Caldwell

There were always well-developed plans in Jeeter's mind for the things he intended doing; but somehow he never got around to doing them. One day led to the next, and it was much more easy to say he would wait until tomorrow. When that day arrived, he invariably postponed action until a more convenient time. Things had been going along in that easy way for almost a lifetime now; nevertheless, ~ Erskine Caldwell

My mother wanted to be Betty Boop. Betty Boop was independent. Betty Boop was sexy. Betty Boop really had her shit together, you know? ~ Chloe Caldwell

I'm not that interested in people. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Men who retain irony are not to be trusted. They can't always resist an impulse to tickle themselves. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Time passed, worlds diverged. ~ Ian Caldwell

At first I read mostly books by Southern authors - black and white - because almost all the people I knew were born and raised in the South, starting with my mother. I remember I got a lot of Erskine Caldwell. ~ Edward P. Jones

If a nation has not God that nation must fall, but if a nation has God then all the powers of evil, and all the armies, cannot shake its foundations; no, not even if the whole world is arrayed against it. ~ Taylor Caldwell

I'm not interested in plots. I'm interested only in the characterization of people and what they do. ~ Erskine Caldwell

In all the years i had blundered along in search of my own footing, she had never given me an inkling of this wish. unburdened by the demands of history or anyone else's dreams, i had wandered toward and finally reached a world far outside the plains i loved and loathed. my mother had neither begrudged me this journey nor expected it, certain that i had to make my own way. but she packed my toolbox with her great wit and forbearance before i went, and she stashed there, for long safekeeping, her desire. ~ Gail Caldwell

Near the end I asked him one night in the hospital corridor what he thought was happening, and he said, "Tell her everything you haven't said," and I smiled with relief. "There's nothing," I said. "I've already told her everything. ~ Gail Caldwell

Music - opera particularly - is a process which is endurable or successful only if it is achieved by people who love to collaborate. ~ Sarah Caldwell

I think solitude chose me. ~ Gail Caldwell

Faith in Christ is a one-time decision that leads to a lifetime of growth. ~ Stephen Caldwell

You can be happy with money and you can be wretched with it. It depends on what kind of person you are.
A Prologue to Love ~ Taylor Caldwell

On the way back to Berea College, Deborah and William caught up on events, most of the time both talking at once. Mr. Caldwell listened and smiled, perhaps remembering his youth. ~ William Roy Pipes

It is a waste of money to help those who show no desire to help themselves. ~ Taylor Caldwell

A good friend stands in harm's way for you the second you ask
but a great friend does it without being asked at all. ~ Ian Caldwell

I think you must remember that a writer is a simple-minded person to begin with and go on that basis. He's not a great mind, he's not a great thinker, he's not a great philosopher, he's a story-teller. ~ Erskine Caldwell

Deep in the marrow of our religion is the conviction that loss and sacrifice are noble. To surrender something is the highest proof of Christian duty. ~ Ian Caldwell

No man is more abhorred than a man who is different from his neighbors. They feel violated and threatened if one dares to be as they are not. ~ Taylor Caldwell

The more controlling the parent," Caldwell explained, "the more likely a child is to experience boredom. ~ Po Bronson

His intelligence was relentless and wild, a fire even he couldn't control. It swallowed entire books at a sitting, finding flaws in arguments, gaps in evidence, errors in interpretation, in objects, far from his own. ~ Ian Caldwell

This obsession is a curious thing. Sometimes wonder about the merits of devoting so much of myself to a singular climbing objective. Much of the time it beats me down, leaves me hanging my head in despair. But then there are the moments that bring me to life. When excitement wells up inside my chest in a way that doesn't happen in every day life. Today my fingertips were cracked and bleeding. I made no progress despite great conditions. Now I am on the ground and can hardly contain my excitement to get back on the wall. It's a crazy rollercoaster and I owe my family and partners a great deal for encouraging me through it all. ~ Tommy Caldwell

The very idea of carrying my memory into eternity devastated me, and I took refuge in atheism. ~ Taylor Caldwell

The worst thief is a bad book ~ Ian Caldwell

They lack the ultimate audacity." Caldwell nodded, frowning. "They possess a certain inventiveness, they plan superbly, they execute with ferocity and care. But then there comes that moment." He glanced at his son-in-law with a quick, fond smile. "That terribly lonely moment when you must make a further decision - a huge one. One that has nothing to do with everything you've anticipated. With the whole future in doubt, with hopelessly inadequate information and exhausted from the strain of the battles already fought, you have to summon up all your energies and decide, quickly and clearly; and act." He took his pipe from his mouth. "That's where they break down." MacConnadin ~ Anton Myrer

I can accept that all I've ever wanted is not very special - all I've ever wanted, like most people, is proof of love. ~ Chloe Caldwell

It ain't no use putting up your umbrella till it rains! ~ Alice Caldwell Rice

What they never tell you about grief is that missing someone is the simple part. ~ Gail Caldwell

Sometimes I'll flip through a magazine and do a double take when I see myself in it, it's just crazy! ~ Kimberly Caldwell

Hsiao Lao smiled weakly. "He is a foolish God... Your God does not behave in the way I would expect." I laughed suddenly, for I had thought the same many times -- how foolish God is with me, my sweet, spendthrift, profligate Lord, bestowing on me things I would not have thought myself capable of. "It may seem that way, Hsaso Lao. He is foolish in His giving and in His care for us. He has spoiled me throughout my life. ~ Bo Caldwell

The best way to avoid being confused about Bruce Jenner is get your head out of his bedroom and closet, and then think about all of the things you've been hiding and been miserable about. So what he made his announcement via media. Books, music, movies, business launches are announced in the same manner. Just focus on the feeling of finally disclosing something that enables you to be free and to live as authentically as possible. And then imagine what it's like to own your truth, tell it your way, thus taking away anyone else's ability to spin it their way or use it against you. If you can do any of the above, you will no longer be confused. ~ Robin Caldwell

You don't love Buck. If you did, you'd have four kids by now. Wouldn't you? Now wouldn't you? A woman like you ... ~ Erskine Caldwell

Though I am a Catholic, a professing one, I have serious doubts about the survival of the human personality after death. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Hope ... which is whispered from Pandora's box only after all the other plagues and sorrows had escaped, is the best and last of all things. Without it, there is only time. And time pushes at our backs like a centrifuge, forcing us outward and away, until it nudges us into oblivion. ~ Ian Caldwell

I am deeply convinced that happiness does not exist in this world. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Don't let the past steal your present. This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Most beings only saw the beauty of a smoothed stone and thought nothing of the shape it might once have held or of the ceaseless pressure that formed it. Perhaps that was enough, though, for the rock to bear its own hardship in silence and share only with others what they wanted to see. ~ Dallas E. Caldwell

A boy can't imagine how hard he will find it, someday, to forgive his own enemies. Or his own loved ones. He has no inkling that good men can sometimes find it impossible to forgive themselves. The darkest mistakes can be forgiven, but they can never be undone. ~ Ian Caldwell

Real change, though, is forgiving enough to take a little failure, strong enough to take despair in small doses. ~ Gail Caldwell

I have anonymously helped many thousands. ~ Taylor Caldwell

Pain is what yields the solution. ~ Gail Caldwell

What manner of men had lived in those days...who had so eagerly surrendered their sovereignty for a lie and a delusion? Why had they been so anxious to believe that the government could solve problems for them which had been pridefully solved, many times over, by their fathers? Had their characters become so weak and debased, so craven and emasculated, that offers of government dole had become more important than their liberty and their humanity? Had they not know that power delegated to the government becomes the club of tyrants? They must have known. They had their own history to remember, and the history of five thousand years. Yet, they had willingly and knowingly, with all this knowledge, declared themselves unfit to manage their own affairs and had placed their lives, which belonged to God only, in the hands of sinister men who had long plotted to enslave them, by wars, by "directives," by "emergencies." In the name of the American people, the American people had been made captive. ~ Taylor Caldwell

I saw Hunter when I woke up. I saw Hunter as I ate a bowl of cereal. I saw him in human sexuality, where he seemed to be trying to break a record for most innuendos in one hour. I saw him at work where he assaulted my email. I saw him every night at dinner. I saw him go to and from the bathroom. I saw him at our stupid meditations, where were as pointless as socks with sandals.
I. Saw. Him. EVERYWHERE. ~ Chelsea M. Cameron