Quotes from book

The Mermaid Chair

“She didn't even know how dangerous the truth could be, all the tiny, shattering seeds it carried.”

“I didn't know then what I wanted, but the ache for it was palpable.”

“I promise you, no one judges me more harshly than I do myself; I caused a brilliant wreckage. Some say I fell from grace; they’re being kind. I didn’t fall – I dove.”

“So few people know what they're capable of.”

“If you aren't giving people something to talk about, you've become too dull.”

“You can go other places, all right - you can live on the other side of the world, but you can't ever leave home”

“Yes, here I am returning, the woman who bore herself to the bottom and back. Who wanted to swim like dolphins, leaping waves and diving. Who wanted only to belong to herself.”

“You can't stop your heart from loving, really -- it's like standing out there in the ocean yelling at the waves to stop.”

“All my life I've thought I needed someone to complete me, now I know I need to belong to myself.”

“I felt amazed at the choosing one had to do, over and over a million times daily--choosing love, then choosing it again… how loving and being in love could be so different.”

“Gazing into the mirror, I saw myself as I was-a black silhouette in the room, a woman whose darkness had completely leaked through.”