Leslye Walton Quotes

Fate. As a child, that word was often my only companion. It whispered to me from dark corners during lonely nights. It was the song of the birds in spring and the call of the wind through bare branches on a cold winter afternoon. Fate. Both my anguish and my solace. My escort and my cage. ~ Leslye Walton

You don't have to carry it by yourself. ~ Leslye Walton

She found that she did not mind losing the previous moment, for this one was just as lovely. ~ Leslye Walton

To many, I was myth incarnate, the embodiment of a most superb legend, a fairy tale. Some considered me a monster, a mutation. To my great misfortune, I was once mistaken for an angel. To my mother, I was everything. To my father, nothing at all. To my grandmother, I was a daily reminder of loves long lost. But I knew the truth - deep down, I always did.
I was just a girl. ~ Leslye Walton

She spent her days trying to forget the sound of his voice, and her nights trying to remember. ~ Leslye Walton

I wonder why I haven't seen that before."
"Maybe you just needed someone to help you see the parts that aren't so obvious. ~ Leslye Walton

And she knew he would be back, just as she knew that some of the stars that shone bright in the sky were already dead and that she was beautiful, if only to Jack. And that's just the way it was. ~ Leslye Walton

Any decent human being, witch or otherwise, had the capacity to do good in this world. It's merely a case of whether one chooses to do so. ~ Leslye Walton

It seemed there was no separating the girl from the wings. One could not survive without the other. ~ Leslye Walton

Because I'm your mother, that's why. ~ Leslye Walton

a Libra. Balanced. Diplomatic. Even-tempered. ~ Leslye Walton

The morning of December 23, Emilienne woke from the kind of hard, heavy sleep known only to soldiers, drunks, and mothers of newly born children. ~ Leslye Walton

They died with empty bellies, their eyes vacant of both dreams and expression. ~ Leslye Walton

The first of many autumn rains smelled smoky, like a doused campsite fire, as if the ground itself had been aflame during those hot summer months. It smelled like burnt piles of collected leaves, the cough of a newly revived chimney, roasted chestnuts, the scent of a man's hands after hours spent in a wood shop. ~ Leslye Walton

Some sacrifices aren't worth the cost. Even, or perhaps most especially, those made out of love. ~ Leslye Walton

For a very long time, Viviane and Jack lived in that world people inhabit before love. Some people called that place friendship; others called it confusing. Viviane found it a pleasant place with an altitude that only occasionally made her nauseous. ~ Leslye Walton

His heart line was long and curved, and she traced it with her eyes over and over again. A person with a curved heart line was a person capable of great warmth and kindness, a person willing to give their whole selves to love, no matter the cost. ~ Leslye Walton

Gabe pulled her closer. You just lean on me, Vivi. I'll keep us both upright for a while. ~ Leslye Walton

She is the glorious reincarnation of every woman ever loved. ~ Leslye Walton

The Griffith House was like nothing Viviane remembered, reminding her of how fast the world changed and of how insignificant she was in the grand scheme of things. She thought it unfair that her life should be both irrelevant and difficult. One or the other seemed quite enough. ~ Leslye Walton

I just don't think you should let other people d-define you,' Rowe said quickly. 'I think you could be anything you wanted. ~ Leslye Walton

As he rose to leave, Jack was crushed by the realization that while his father considered himself to be a great man, in his father's eyes the best Jack could ever hope to be was useful. ~ Leslye Walton

I like to think that he marveled at the mass of bandages that unraveled completely and tumbled to the ground, ant at the pair of pure white wings that unfolded from my shoulder blades and arched, large and strong, over my head.
But, mostly, I like to think that Jack Griffith, my father, smiled as I let go of the railing behind me and, stretching my wings to that star-studded sky, soared into the night. ~ Leslye Walton

The days she was finally brought out of the house would later be remembered as a day when shadows seemed blacker, as if something more lingered in those darkened spaces. ~ Leslye Walton

It was as if Henry carried the world, misshapen and imperfect, in his lovely wide pupils. ~ Leslye Walton

The first bout of warm spring rain caused normally respectable women to pull off their stockings and run through muddy puddles alongside their children. ~ Leslye Walton

Treat others with respect, and one should seldom be in need of protection. As for the times when this is not effective, one should do oneself a favor and get a knife. ~ Leslye Walton

But hidden by those large blooms was Emilienne's real garden: white chrysanthemums for protection, dandelion root for a good night's sleep, eucalyptus and marjoram for healing. There was foxglove, ginger, heather, and mint. The poisonous belladonna. The capricious peony. And lavender. One could never have enough lavender. ~ Leslye Walton

Falling out of love was much harder than Gabe would have liked. Normally led through life by the heart attached to his sleeve, finding logic in love proved to be a bit like getting vaccinated for some dread disease: a good idea in the end, but the initial pain certainly wasn't any fun. He came to appreciate that there were worse ways to live than to live without love. For instance, if he didn't have arms, Gabe wouldn't be able to hide in his work. Yes, a life without arms would be quite tragic, indeed. ~ Leslye Walton

He smiled then, bringing back that twinge in her stomach, something that she only later recognized as the pangs of desire. ~ Leslye Walton

Folks around here call us el destinos.
They like to say we came from the stars. And when I stare up at the infinite heavens stretched out above us like a shroud, it's hard to imagine we came from anywhere else. ~ Leslye Walton

Folks around here like to say we came from the stars. Perhaps it's simpler to think of us not as human but as creatures made of stardust
that if you cut us, not blood but constellations will pour from out wounds. ~ Leslye Walton

Viviane considered herself a rational woman.She was a Virgo. She was used to solving problems , even if it meant she spent far too much time mulling things over in the bathtub. This didn't make any sense; when she tried to envision her life without Jack or his without her , all she could think about were platypuses.What was a platypus but a kind of duck with fur?The whole idea of it was ridiculous and wrong. ~ Leslye Walton

Love makes us such fools. ~ Leslye Walton

Love can make us such fools. ~ Leslye Walton

Rowe shrugged. You. Just - you. ~ Leslye Walton

I love you, you know. Viviane let the words hang in the air between them for a moment, like a sweet pink cloud. Then she inhaled the words in whole, turned them over in her mouth, relished their solidity on her tongue. ~ Leslye Walton

It's ... dangerous for someone like me to be out in the open.' As if in response, my wings started to flutter beneath their shroud. I gave the cloak a good yank.
'Someone like you? Someone different, you mean?'
I shrugged. 'Yes,' I answered quietly, suddenly shy.
'So, is it dangerous for us or for you?'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean, are you the threat, or are we? ~ Leslye Walton

If mother kept a list of the reasons she confined me to the house on the hill, she'd have a length of paper that could stretch all the way down Pinnacle Lane and trail into the waters of the Puget Sound. It could choke passing sea life. It could flap in the wind like a giant white flag of surrender atop our house's widow's walk. ~ Leslye Walton

Unmarried women woke in the night with tears in their eyes, not because they were alone, but because there wasn't any cake left. ~ Leslye Walton

Because once things turned out, good or bad, there's nothing you can do about it. It just is. And Henry liked just is. ~ Leslye Walton

Children betrayed their parents by becoming their own people. ~ Leslye Walton

If the past had taught her anything, it was that as long as she didn't love someone, he wasn't as likely to die or disappear. When they were pronounced man and wife, Emilienne silently promised she'd be good to her husband, as long as he didn't ask for her heart. She no longer had one to give. ~ Leslye Walton

Happiness had a pungent scent, like the sourest lime or lemon. Broken hearts smelled surprisingly sweet. Sadness filled the air with a salty, sea-like redolence; death smelled like sadness. People carried their own distinct personal fragrances. ~ Leslye Walton

Why would you be given wings if you weren't meant to fly? ~ Leslye Walton

When Henry heard a word he didn't like, he had to lie facedown on the floor until the bad feeling stopped. Humming sometimes worked too. ~ Leslye Walton

By this point Viviane Lavender had loved Jack Griffith for twelve years, which was far more than half of her life. If she thought of her love as a commodity and were to, say, eat it, it would fill 4,745 cherry pies. If she were to preserve it, she would need 23,725 glass jars and labels and a basement spanning the length of Pinnacle Lane.
If she were to drink it, she'd drown. ~ Leslye Walton

I found it ironic that I should be blessed with wings and yet feel so constrained, so trapped. It was because of my condition, I believe, that I noticed life's ironies a bit more often than the average person. I collected them: how love arrived when you least expected it, how someone who said he didn't want to hurt you eventually would. ~ Leslye Walton

Foreseeing the future, I would later learn, means nothing if there is nothing to be done to prevent it. ~ Leslye Walton

She, who'd always thought love's only companion was sorrow, learned that worry came hand in hand with love. ~ Leslye Walton

And that might just be the root of the problem: we're all afraid of each other, wings or no wings. ~ Leslye Walton

I have to remind myself that love comes in all sorts of packages. ~ Leslye Walton

Rain in the winter smelled simply like ice, the cold air burning the tips of ears, cheeks, and eyelashes. Winter rain was for hiding in quilts and blankets, for tying woolen scarves around noses and mouths–the moisture of rasping breaths stinging chapped lips. ~ Leslye Walton

Those born under Pacific Northwest skies are like daffodils: they can achieve beauty only after a long, cold sulk in the rain. ~ Leslye Walton

And then, in shocked disappointment, and stunned horror, I'm sure, Connor Lavender realized he was dead. ~ Leslye Walton

I feel like the whole world's been tipped on its axis. Just walking upright feels like too much today. ~ Leslye Walton

This time could be different. This time it could last. Maybe it would be a longer, deeper love: a real and solid entity that lived in the house, used the bathroom, ate their food, mussed up the linens in sleep. A love that pulled her close when she cried, that slept with its chest pressed against her back. ~ Leslye Walton

Death just seems to follow some of us, don't it? Death's been following me for years. It's easy to spot your own kind. That kind of sorrow you can't just wash away; it sticks to you. And people, they can tell. They can feel it. ~ Leslye Walton

Years later the lights of the growing city would erase the stars from the sky, but back then they shone through the branches like jailed fireflies. ~ Leslye Walton

She laughed for her wasted, difficult life that never had to be wasted or difficult in the first place. ~ Leslye Walton

I acknowledged Gabe and his attempts at flight the way a legless child might view a hopeful but misguided parent buying a house full of stairs. After a while, when Gabe offered me a morning greeting, it didn't feel like he was greeting me but rather a giant pair of wings; no girl, just feathers. ~ Leslye Walton

How foolish it was to love someone who didn't love you back. ~ Leslye Walton

Dangers lurk around every corner for the strange. ~ Leslye Walton

I loved you before, Ava. Let me love you still. ~ Leslye Walton

After seeing Fern's little demonstration on national television" Apothia said, "your grandmother and I decided we needed something to give us strength. We haven't decided if that strength will come from food or from vodka. ~ Leslye Walton

Gabe was unusually tall, so he had to be careful where he stood, for if he blocked the sun, his shadow could cause flowers to wither and old women to send their grandchildren inside to fetch their sweaters. Because of his height, many thought Gabe to be much older than he was. This was both a blessing and a curse. ~ Leslye Walton

I knew I was different, but that didn't make me as human as anyone, or was I something else? ~ Leslye Walton

To my mother, I was everything. To my father, nothing at all. To my grandmother, I was a daily reminder of loves long lost. ~ Leslye Walton

The whole world had given up on love anyway and clung instead to its malformed cousins: lust, narcissism, self-interest. ~ Leslye Walton

That fact filled Gabe with so much hope that he grew another two inches just to have enough room to hold it all. ~ Leslye Walton

Dancing is spiritual. Dancing is personal. Some people look at a dancing person and say, What a total show-off. They only notice the body of the dancing person. They look at the way the elbows jut out, the way the hips shake and the neck bends. They criticize all of these things, saying, This dancing person shouldn't be dancing. This dancing person has no rhythm.
But the dancer is immune to all of this. ~ Will Walton

My main point is to entertain in a way that is unique and different from what anybody else id doing; to apply my voice in a way that nobody else in the industry is applying theirs. ~ Rob Walton

I've never been one to dwell on reverses. ~ Sam Walton

I am small, but sometimes I am a small part of great things. ~ Jo Walton

Marvel has put out good product. DC has put out good product. Even Image has put out good product, as far as I'm concerned ... although it's few and far between. But it's not getting recognized, no matter who's doing it. ~ Rob Walton

Berkshire has the lowest turnover of any major company in the U.S.The Walton family owns more of Wal-Mart than Buffett owns of Berkshire, so it isn't because of large holdings. It's because we have a really unusual shareholder body that thinks of itself as owners and not holders of little pieces of paper. ~ Charlie Munger

The first thing you need to run for President is a budget of around $20 million dollars a day. ~ Rob Walton

I talked far more than I should have. I knew it even at the time. I just couldn't stop myself. I didn't actually interrupt anyone, which would be unforgivable, I just didn't hold back enough to give other people a turn. ~ Jo Walton

I couldn't imagine not playing basketball. To me, basketball is what life is all about. ~ Bill Walton

Consider Augustus's motto. Hurry more slowly. ~ Jo Walton

I had the only beard in the Western Hemisphere that made Bob Dylan's look good. ~ Bill Walton

Being on stage was all about the palpable energy of a rapt audience hopefully buying into a life onstage. The immediate connection with the audience was the best part for me. The camera is not as fun, but your work is preserved forever. There's immortality to it. ~ David Walton

Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. ~ Sam Walton

The key problem I encounter working with wounded, depressed, and unhappy people is a lack of connection…starting from a disconnection from themselves and then with others. This is why love often becomes so distorted and destructive. When people experience a disconnection from themselves, they feel it but do not realize the problem. ~ David Walton Earle

Each day's dawn is a sweet symphony and as long as I hear the music, my dreams will have to die another day. ~ Eric Vance Walton

Chemistry's a funny thing. It can be instantaneous, but it helps when you know someone. ~ David Walton

I think my constant fiddling and meddling with the status quo may have been one of my biggest contributions to the later success of Wal-Mart. ~ Sam Walton

I love tennis. I've played it my whole life. Loved it since the age of three. I had an injury, so from the age of 13 to 24 I didn't play much. Then when I moved out to L.A., there were so many tennis courts that I rekindled the love. ~ David Walton

This school is enough to make anyone a communist. ~ Jo Walton

And what he had offered me was exactly everything I most wanted - to make art, to build the future, to help each other become our best selves. He honors me. ~ Jo Walton

I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning. ~ Izaak Walton

I loved being on stage with heroes of mine, like Gregg Edelman and Jimmy Walton, and the lovely Chita Rivera and Stephanie J. Block. ~ Will Chase

Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score. ~ Sam Walton

See, you're walking really fast now, you don't need it at all," she called after me. I stopped and turned around. I could feel my cheeks burning. The bus station was full of people. "Nobody would pretend to be a cripple! Nobody would use a stick they didn't need! You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking that I would. If I could walk without it I'd break it in half across your back and run off singing. You have no right to talk to me like that, to talk to anyone like that. Who made you queen of the world when I wasn't looking? Why do you imagine I would go out with a stick I don't need - to try to steal your sympathy? I don't want your sympathy, that's the last thing I want. I just want to mind my own business, which is what you should be doing. ~ Jo Walton

Health is ... a blessing that money cannot buy. ~ Izaak Walton

A re-read is more leisurely than a first read. I know the plot, after all, I know what happens. I may still cry (embarrassingly, on the train) when re-reading, but I won't be surprised. Because I know what's coming, because I'm familiar with the characters and the world of the story, I have more time to pay attention to them. I can immerse myself in details and connections I rushed past the first time and delight in how they are put together. I can relax into the book. I can trust it completely. I really like that. ~ Jo Walton

I would like to think that Ive left the world of cardiovascular surgery better than when I found it. That would be a suitable epitaph. ~ C. Walton Lillehei

Fiction's nice. Fiction lets you select and simplify. ~ Jo Walton

I always try to be cautiously optimistic. ~ David Walton

(She has read LOTR, and I don't know if she read it identifying with all of the evil people and hoping the good ones wouldn't resist their temptations, but I know she has read it because the first time I read it, it was her copy. This proves that just reading it isn't enough. After all, the devil can quote scripture.) ~ Jo Walton