Quotes from book

The Lake

“Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who've been through something traumatic.”

“When things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place.”

“You have the nicest window, you know? None of the others can even compete. It´s not flashy like the others, or bleary – your window gives of this nice, quiet light.”

“This is what it means to be loved… when someone wants to touch you, to be tender…”

“When someone tells you something big, it's like you're taking money from them, and there's no way it will ever go back to being the way it was. You have to take responsibility for listening.”

“Everything in life has some good in it. And when something awful happens, the goodness stands out even more--it's sad, but that's the truth.”

“If you don’t say what you’re thinking, you end up lying when you really need to speak up.”

“Why were we so far apart, even when we were together? It was a nice loneliness, like the sensation of washing your face in cold water.”

“But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.”

“It was so gorgeous it almost felt like sadness.”

“The sky was incredibly far away, and beautiful enough to make a person wonder why our hearts are never so free.”

“And when something awful happens, the goodness stands out even more…”

“I felt how important the simplest things were, like feeling proud, finding something funny, stretching yourself, retreating into yourself.”