CBChristina Baker Kline

40 collected words

Christina Baker Kline

Dates not recorded

Name supplied in the contributor-provided quotation collection. Basic attribution label; identity, lifetime and quotation authenticity have not been independently verified.

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Quotations and sayings

01Undated

People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find...

Christina Baker Kline / quote

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02Undated

I've come to think that's what heaven is - a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on." ,

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03Undated

Before we leave the gravesite, Mary sings Mother's favorite gospel hymn ...Mary's lovely voice rises and lingers in the air, and by the end of the song most of us are crying. I am too, though I still don't know what those stars are meant to represent. My mistake, I suppose, is in thinking they should mean something.

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04Undated

Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel.

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05Undated

It's painful to hold out hope for the things that once brought you joy. You have to find ways to make yourself forget.

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06Undated

My heart is shattered, an all that's left are jagged shards.

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07Undated

I remember her words to me when I left school: Your mind will be your comfort. It is, sometimes. And sometimes it isn't.

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08Undated

If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead.

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09Undated

I couldn't have imagined how much more there was to lose.

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10Undated

I learned long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable. I know what it means to lose everything, to let go of one life and find another. And now I feel, with a strange, deep certainty, that it must be my lot in life to be taught that lesson over and over again.

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11Undated

I ... am left with the lingering feeling that the places we go in our minds to find comfort have little to do with where our bodies go.

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12Undated

The smallest things get to her. It's as if she assumes everything will go right, and when it doesn't -- which, of course, is pretty often -- she is surprised and affronted.

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13Undated

The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance.

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14Undated

So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason — to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences?" Molly asks when Vivian reads some of these stories aloud."It certainly helps," Vivian says.

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15Undated

I think about all the ways I’ve been perceived by others over the years: as a burden, a dutiful daughter, a girlfriend, a spiteful wretch, an inva

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16Undated

Know what a symbol is?...Shit that stands for shit.

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17Undated

She is so white-hot furious she can barely see. She stokes the fire of her hatred, feeding it tidbits about bigoted Dina and spineless mushmouth Ralph, because she knows that just beyond the rage is a sorrow so enervating it could render her immobile. She needs to keep moving, flickering around the room. She needs o fill her bags and get the hell out of here.

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18Undated

To get it all done I have to dim my brain, turn it down by notches like the flat-turn knob on a gas lantern, leaving only a nub of flame.

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19Undated

She has never tried to find out what happened to her family — her mother or her relatives in Ireland. But over and over, Molly begins to understand as she listens to the tapes, Vivian has come back to the idea that the people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our most ordinary moments. They're with us in the grocery store, as we turn a corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles.

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20Undated

Do our natures dictate the choices we make, I wonder, or do we choose to live a certain way because of circumstances beyond our control?

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21Undated

You can live for a long time inside the shell you were born in. But one day it'll become too small.""Then what?" I ask."Well, then you'll have to find a larger shell to live in."I consider this for a moment. "What if it's too small but you still want to live there?"She sighs. "Gracious, child, what a question. I suppose you'll either have to be brave and find a new home or you'll have to live inside a broken shell.

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22Undated

It is marvelous to be young on a big city street.

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23Undated

This life of ours can feel an awful lot like waiting.

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24Undated

Molly learned long ago that a lot of the heartbreak and betrayal that other people fear their entire lives, she has already faced. Father dead. Mother off the deep end. Shuttled around and rejected time and time again. And still she breathes and sleeps and grows taller. She wakes up every morning and puts on clothes. So when she says it's okay, what she means is that she knows she can survive just about anything.

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