Sarah Addison Allen Quotes

There was a long-ago saying that was still heard from time to time in town: Waverleys know where to find the truth, they just can't stomach it. Bay ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She wished she had known back then. Known that happiness isn't a point in time you leave behind. It's what's ahead of you. Every single day. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Her life was monotonous, but it kept her out of trouble. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She couldn't see the tree, but she knew it was there. That always gave her a small measure of comfort. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Mary had become anxious in her old age, and she hated being away from the house for long. She'd hold the girls' hands tightly and calm herself by telling them what she would make for first frost that year- pork tenderloins with nasturtiums, dill potatoes, pumpkin bread, chicory coffee. And the cupcakes, of course, with all different frostings, because what was first frost without frosting? Claire had loved it all, but Sydney had only listened when their grandmother talked of frosting. Caramel, rosewater-pistachio, chocolate almond. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Why don't you take off your shirt?" he finally asked. "I bet you say that to all the girls. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The neighborhood homeowners always knew when she ran by, because they suddenly felt the desire to organize their sock drawers and finally replace those burned out light-bulbs they'd been meaning to. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Sitting at the old patio table she'd cleared of leaves, she smiled and leaned back. The stars looked twisted in the limbs of the trees, like Christmas lights. She felt like part of the hollow around her was filling. She'd come here with too many expectations. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Young girls always know. They know older women look at them and see what they've left behind and can't get back. It's a truth everyone knows but no one acknowledges: There's nothing more powerful than an eighteen-year-old girl. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

A haunting, magical, modern-day fairytale. A feast for the senses. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Men as steadfast and normal as the women were mercurial and strange. The men in their lives loved them the way astronomers loved stars, loved the promise of what they were, knowing there was something about them they would never truly understand. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Mom! Look. This one is my favorite," Devin said, pulling out a faded pink dress with a red plaid sash. The crinoline petticoat underneath was so old and stiff it made snapping sounds, like beads or fire embers. She dropped the dress over her head, over her clothes. It brushed the floor. "When I'm old enough for it to fit me, I'm going to wear it with purple shoes," she said.
"A bold choice," Kate said as Devin dove back into the trunk. The attic in Kate's mother's house had always fascinated Devin with its promise of hidden treasures. When Kate's mother had been alive, she had let Devin eat Baby Ruth candy bars and drink grape soda and play in this old trunk full of dresses that generations of Morris women had worn to try entice rich men to marry them. Most of the clothes had belonged to Kate's grandmother Marilee, a renowned beauty who, like all the rest, had fallen in love with a poor man instead. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

When Paxton was a teenager, her friends had even envied her relationship with her mother. Everyone knew that neither Paxton nor Sophia scheduled anything on Sunday afternoons, because that was popcorn-and-pedicures time, when mother and daughter sat in the family room and watched sappy movies and tried out beauty products. And Paxton could remember her mother carrying dresses she'd ordered into her bedroom, almost invisible behind tiers of taffeta, as they'd planned for formal dances. She'd loved helping Paxton pick out what to wear. And her mother had exquisite taste. Paxton could still remember dresses her mother wore more than twenty-five years ago. Imprinted in her memory were shiny blue ones, sparkly white ones, wispy rose-colored ones. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

We're connected, as women. It's like a spiderweb. If one part of that web vibrates, if there's trouble, we all know it, but most of the time we're just too scared, or selfish, or insecure to help. But if we don't help each other, who will? ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Things happened the way they were supposed to, and it was no use trying to predict what was going to come next. People liked to think otherwise, but what you thought had no practical influence on what eventually happened. You can't think yourself well. You can't make yourself fall out of love. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

I maced people for you," WIlla said; "you've got me for life ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Being left makes you doubt your ability to keep people, even friends. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Not every man was sorry when he hurt a woman. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

He lifted up on one elbow and looked down at her. What she wouldn't give to see what he saw, to know what made him look at her that way. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Sometimes people who had been together for a long time got to imagining that things used to be better, even when they weren't. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She snorted. "Are you seriously asking me to have a fling with you?" "Absolutely not," he said, feigning shock. "I said dinner. It was your lascivious mind that went to the bedroom."....When he met her eyes, he was stunned to see they were huge They darted once to his lips. She thought he was going to kiss her. And she wasn't running away. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She'd fallen into the best part of her past. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

But relying on one person for your every need is so dangerous. One set of hands isn't enough to keep you from falling. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Those stories were the sound track of my summer with you. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

That right there, what just happened, is called attraction. A-trak-shee-un. Look it up in the dictionary. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

This was an adventure. She was alive and awake and in charge, and Devin needed to see that. A kaleidoscope of landscapes passed like a slide show- farmland, sandy pine barrens, cypress ponds. This is what Kate's mother had referred to as the "Wet South, as they'd made their way to Lost Lake the last time. She'd made it sound unexplored and exotic, something untoward and almost fearful. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The trick to getting through life, she'd told him, is not to resent it when it isn't exactly how you think it should be. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

On the day the tree bloomed in the fall, when its white apple blossoms fell and covered the ground like snow, it was tradition for the Waverleys to gather in the garden like survivors of some great catastrophe, hugging one another, laughing as they touched faces and arms, making sure they were all okay, grateful to have gotten through it. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

But that would leave Paxton to fend for herself, and the last thing any woman wanted in this kind of situation was to look around and see all the people who could help her doing nothing. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

What Claire could do with the edible flowers that grew around the cranky apple tree in the backyard was the stuff of legend. Everyone knew that if you got Claire to cater your anniversary party, she would make aioli sauce with nasturtiums and tulip cups filled with orange salad, and everyone would leave the party feeling both jealous and aroused. And if you got her to cater your child's birthday party, she would serve tiny strawberry cupcakes and candied violets and the children would all be well behaved and would take long afternoon naps. Claire had a true magic to her cooking when she used her flowers. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

There was a certain power beautiful mothers held over their less beautiful daughters. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The word lethologica describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The air outside was tomato-sweet and hickory-smoked, all at once delicious and strange. It automatically made her touch her tongue to her lips. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Lisette was born without the ability to speak, but she'd been brazen with written words as a child, substituting a sharp tongue for a poison pen. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

There's an old hymn called 'How Can I Keep from Singing?' That's what writing feels like to me. I have to write. It's intrinsic to who I am. So it was a natural choice for me to try to pursue writing as a career. Truthfully, though, I still daydream about how fun it would be to ride on the back of a garbage truck. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

There was a mood of magic and frenzy to the room. Crystalline swirls of sugar and flour still lingered in the air like kite tails. And then there was the smell-the smell of hope, the kind of smell that brought people home. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The morning sun on her white hair and pale face made her seem almost translucent. She'd been a beautiful woman in her day, with wide eyes, high cheekbones, and a long, thin nose. Sometimes you could still catch sight of that beauty, and it was like looking through enchanted glass. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

People always say life is too short for regrets. But the truth is, it's too long. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

When your cup is empty, you do not mourn what is gone. Because if you do, you will miss the opportunity to fill it again. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She was enchanting. He loved the notes she wrote in her pretty handwriting, the way she smelled, like oranges and dough, the savage blackness of her hair. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

There was something magnetic about him"
~Sarah Addison Allen ~ Sarah Addison Allen

You're suddenly quiet."
He watched her swallow. "I don't understand how you do this to me." He leaned in slightly. His hair smelled like something flowery, like the fading scent of lilacs. "Do what?" "Your touch." "I'm not touching you, Emily." She turned around. "That's just it. It feels like you are. How do you do that? It's like you have something I can't see, that reaches out. It doesn't make sense." That startled him. She felt it. No one had ever felt it before. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Your peers when you're a teenager will always be the keepers of your embarrassment and regret. It was one of life's great injustices, that you can move on and be accomplished and happy, but the moment you see someone from high school you immediately become the person you were then, not the person you are now. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

But a man like that deserved to never be thought of again. Why couldn't he have just stayed buried? No good had come of this. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She knew him in that way you can only know a person as a child. Like if you cracked away the adult shell, you'd find that child, happily sitting inside, smiling at you. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The sky was incredible that night, the moon nearly full and the stars littering the sky like tossed stones. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

They all watched Devin run up to meet the other girls. For a moment Kate felt indescribably sad, because she couldn't go with Devin back to her childhood. She could only stand here as an adult as the distance became greater and greater until, finally, there was an ocean between them. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

You'd be surprised how easy some things can be, things you never thought you'd do, when you take self-respect out of the equation. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

And everyone still swore the rose candies made them think of their first loves. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

This past year, sometimes I would get up in the mornings and actually look forward to going to school because I knew I would see you. I would wonder what you were going to wear. I loved lunch because I could sit in the cafeteria and look out the window and see you up there in the bleachers. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She'd been there for a few hours when Sawyer showed up. It was after midnight, but there he was, walking around the track. The moon was out and he was wearing white shorts and a white polo, so she could see him very clearly from her seat. She didn't move, so she didn't know what made him look up. But he did, and her breath caught, as it did every time he looked at her in school. They stared at each other for a long moment. Then he crossed the track and walked up the bleachers towards her. Sawyer had never approached her before, but he had always watched her at school. A lot of people watched her, so that in itself wasn't unusual. But he was always so deliberate about it. She'd often wondered if that was why she had these strange feelings for him, because she thought he really saw her. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The front door opened as he walked up the steps, and she appeared like a spirit in a black dress. She didn't have on the red sweater. That, at least, was a relief. But the scent of peppermint swirled around her and reached out to him as he got nearer. Damn, she smelled good. She always made him smile and remember things he hadn't thought of in ages- Christmases, hot chocolate with his family, schnapps at lodge bars. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

For stubborn souls like Lisette, death was easier than the courage it took to actually change your life. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

It had always fascinated him that she'd consumed so many words, that her head was full of stories, told a thousand different ways. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She did know that it's remarkably easy to fall in love with someone who is already in love with you. It's a little like falling in love with yourself. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Memories, even hard memories, grew soft like peaches as they grow older. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

There was always a slight upswing in February, the town's coldest month, when out-of-towners liked to hike into the national park to see the famous waterfalls when they rose, like bridal veils, against the mountains. But mostly, from December to April, those who made their living off tourists just suffered through, dreaming of warmer months, of kingfisher-blue skies and leaves so green they looked like they'd just been painted, as if the color would smear if you touched it. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

There were crooked photos on the wall of Della Lee as a child, with dark hair and eyes. Josey wondered when she started dyeing her hair blond. In one photo she was standing on top of a jungle gym. In another she was diving not the public pool from the high dive. She looked like she was daring the world to hurt her. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The next morning dawned bright and sweet, like ribbon candy. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Books liked her. Books wanted to look after her. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

But we spend all our lives looking for puzzle pieces that will give us a clearer picture of ourselves, of where we're supposed to go and who we're supposed to be. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The air around her was cool lately, as if she were creating a vacuum with her unhappiness. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

I lost myself trying to find happiness in things that didn't love me back. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

They were wounded. They were victims. If only they had everything they'd ever wanted, then they'd be okay. But because they didn't, it was everyone else's fault. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Maybe you don't fall in love. Maybe you jump. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She saw that Devin's bedroom door was still closed, and a sudden, irrational fear gripped her that Devin might not be there. But she opened her door and saw her sleeping on her back, her limbs spread out like points of a star. Her glasses were perched on her bedside table as if watching her, as if lonely for her. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She would read a book hundreds of times, carrying it with her until the pages were torn and the covers were falling off, then she'd paste the covers to the ceiling where she could stare at them, like remembering a good dream. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

There was an art to the male posterior. That's all there was to it. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

He claimed the waters must have, indeed, been healing, because look how hard his journey was on him to get there, and how easy it was on him to get home. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Stability was overrated. Crises and adventures, on the other hand, could actually teach you something. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Sawyer was quiet for a moment as he studied her. She wished he would take off his sunglasses. She didn't like how uncomfortable she looked. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Josey was a different person than she was even a month ago. She reminded Margaret so much now of Marco's cousins from Italy. They'd shown up in Bald Slope without warning once, early in Marco and Margaret's wedding. They were magical women, with their long curly hair, large breasts and movements like dancers. Their bracelets sounded like wind chimes when they walked. Margaret had been fascinated by them. Marco had ushered them out within hours of their arrival and taken them to Asheville for their stay. He was ashamed of them, their earthiness and sensuality, of their provincial ways. No one from Italy ever visited again. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Nothing's wrong. I just can't ever seem to do enough.'
'Enough for who? Mom and Dad? You have to get over that. You're never going to be happy until you live your own life. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

He had on long swim trunks, which were dark with water and sticking to his thighs. His hair was wet and dripping into his eyes, and he smelled like warm lake water. She cleared her throat. "I almost didn't recognize you without your suit," she said. A corner of his mouth lifted, amused. "It's a different kind of suit." "But no bow tie." "Hard to swim in. I tried. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

A house isn't a real house without a woman in it. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Motherhood, true motherhood, was what went on when no one else could see. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

He didn't often get angry at other people. There was no sense in it. The person you were angry at was rarely ever repentant. Now, getting angry with yourself had some merit. It showed you had sense enough to chastise the one person who had any hope of benefiting from it. And he was plenty angry with himself. For ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Food is just something you grow and recipes are just words written in notebooks. They are nothing until the right person comes along. And that's when the real magic happens. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Like all fairy tales, the beginning is always beautiful, a ruse to draw you into something you are anticipating. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Selma stood. "You can put a tuxedo on a goat, but it's still a goat."
"No, it's not," Bulahdeen said. "It's a completely different goat when you put a tuxedo on it. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Embarrassed, she quickly met his eyes again. It looked like he come right out of the lake water and made a beeline for her. But how could he haver known she was there? How could he have seen her from the water? ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Willa said happiness means taking risks. And if you're not a little scared, you're not doing it right."
That made him laugh, "If that's the case, we have nothing to worry about," he said, leaning forward to kiss her. "Let's be terrified together again. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

I think of the future all the time. All my life I've chased dreams of what could be. For the first time in my life, I've actually caught one. I'll give you one day at a time, Claire. But remember, I'm thousands of days ahead already. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The comfort of browning butter and the excitement of lemon zest. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Loaves of fig and pepper bread, of course. But there was also lasagna cooked in miniature pumpkins, and pumpkin-seed brittle. Roasted red pepper soup, and spiced caramel potato cakes. Corn muffins and brown sugar popcorn balls and a dozen cupcakes, each with a different frosting, because what was first frost without frosting? Pear beer and clove ginger ale in dark bottles sat in the icy beverage tub. They ate well into the afternoon, and the more they ate, the more food there seemed to be. Pretzel buns and cranberry cheese and walnuts appearing, just when they thought they'd tasted everything. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Claire understood things about Bay without Bay having to say a word. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Her color was high and her brown eyes were shining. Her gorgeous red hair was a thick mass of curls that fell down her back. She looked like a painting, fragile, caught in a moment she couldn't get out of. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

My writing process is very organic. I start with an idea. I have the general story arc and the cast. But then I sit down to write, and things change. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Willa?"
"Yes"
"It's morning and I still love you. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Old hands can hold memories of good things. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

At any given time I'm listening to the Cory Branan, Leonna Naess, Eve 6, the King's Noyse, Sean Paul, Green Day, the BoDeans, Buddy Holly, Nowell Sing We Clear ... the list goes on and on. But I rarely listen to music while I write. I start typing the lyrics. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

It was early evening when they walked outside, the sky the color of pink lemonade. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Summer was a lady who didn't give up her spotlight easily. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

She loved him with a force that could bring tears to her eyes, and the thought of losing him felt like standing on the edge of an endless black pit, about to fall in. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Misfits need a place to get away, too. All that trying to fit in is exhausting. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

To Fred, those years seemed to pass like quickly skimming a book and then finding the ending wasn't what he expected. He wished he'd paid more attention to the story. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Some of the best people i know are fools', Evanelle said. 'The strongest people I know. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Adolescence is like having only enough light to see the step directly in front of you. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

Soy milk and two sugars." Just this past week, Rachel had become convinced that how people took their coffee gave some secret insight into their characters. Were people who took their coffee black unyielding? Did people who liked their coffee with milk and no sugar have mother issues? She had a notebook behind the coffee counter in which she wrote her findings. Willa decided to keep her on her toes by making up a different request every day.
Rachel walked back to the coffee bar to write that down in her notebook. "Hmm, interesting," she said seriously, as if it made all the sense in the world, as if she'd finally figured Willa out.
"You don't believe in ghosts, but you do believe that how I take my coffee says something about my personality?"
"That's superstition. This is science. ~ Sarah Addison Allen

To think, after all this time, after all the searching and all the waiting, after all the regret and the time she'd spent away, she came back to find that happiness was right where she's left it.
On a football field in Mullaby, North Carolina.
Waiting for her. ~ Sarah Addison Allen