Beth Brower > Quotes

“The idea that one could live in a world where a friend would invite you to go read in another’s library feels more dream than reality. It bodes well for my life’s prospects”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6

“And I think that was the moment I began to suspect that the luck Hawkes spoke of might really only be an awareness, an awareness of grace.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“It takes a great deal to trust the future after one is acquainted with loss.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“I’ve decided positivity is the Everest of virtues. You have to not only confront the dismal realities of life but choose, ofttimes, to blatantly ignore them.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“Does he read?” “Oh, I expect not. How else would one remain so incredibly stupid?”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“I make a go of it, when I can. It’s not my disposition to…what I mean to say is, I learned a long time ago that my happiness has to be separate from the things beyond my control.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“I hadn’t realised until that moment how much I’ve missed that feeling, of someone inside your four walls watching out for you. The feeling that home isn’t just a place, but also people. I’ve forgotten it could be.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“Is it immoral to marry a man solely to gain a library? And if that man happens to be tremendously good looking, is it more or less of a sin?”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4

“It is one of the great arts of the human soul," Ezekiel said to himself.
Her hand on the door, Quincy shifted and looked back at her uncle's profile. "What is?"
"Staying with someone. Companionship is one of the great arts of the human soul.”
― Beth Brower, The Q

“Life must be lived. And if we can enjoy some of it, so much the better.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“Hawkes began slowly. “It takes a great deal to trust the future after one is acquainted with loss.” “It feels impossible, for longer than is comforting. And then too tentative to trust.” “It does. But it seems that sword pierced Christ so that we always have a future. Even one different than planned.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“A grin is only a smile that’s fully decided to get on with it.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“Oh, how words love Hawkes. They wrap around the unexpected inflections of his voice, eager, offering their best cadence and lilt and soul. They know him well, and he them. Almost as if words are the one thing in his life he has never had to push away. He speaks words the way they pound in my chest. And it feels like a miracle, finding such a dear part of oneself walking around in someone else’s body.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6

“I must march forward before my desire has flown and I become one of those contented souls chained to their small routine, all the while believing themselves to be free. Don’t think I mind a routine, that’s just what I’m craving. But the right routine. My routine. Two walks a day, several hours of reading, perhaps one visit with someone I enjoy. One dinner or entertainment per week if you must, possibly two, but please let there be reading.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“I sit at the very top of a fresh month with a choice before me. One which very well may have an impact on the whole of my existence. Which book do I read next?”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6

“If you want quality, you must work for it. You wake and you strive and you make decisions to sacrifice. An easy life will never bring the kind of satisfaction the soul craves. I despise people who lounge all day as if there weren’t more important ideas than comfort, complacency, and appetite. Stretch yourself! Be industrious! Do something!”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7

“If she could walk away, she would; her pride demanded at least that much from her. But Quincy knew that her heart beat with the rhythm of the presses in the back room, that her blood ran black with ink, and that her mind filled with reams of numbers and projections and plans. The Q was Quincy's only vital organ, so she would play the game.”
― Beth Brower, The Q

“one can love many places and still miss home.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“And I hadn’t realised until that moment how much I’ve missed that feeling, of someone inside your four walls watching out for you. The feeling that home isn’t just a place, but also people. I’ve forgotten it could be.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“Quincy and Fisher walked through all this in silence. Silence was the most common stock-in-trade between them, and the portfolio of their friendship was thick with it. So, without words, they stepped across the streets, their feet pressing the pavement with the same sounds, their toes turned just so; they knew what life was like at each other's side. Sometimes he would speak, or she would, small offerings on the altar of their joint survival.”
― Beth Brower, The Q

“I had forgotten what it is like to live with an artist. The unexpected pauses over what might be considered mundane to most.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“There is no feeling quite like finishing a book that you’ve loved. I expect to feel nothing less.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6

“Maybe I’m coming down with something. Like a cold, or an allergy to people in general.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7

“It’s messier than we ever imagined it to be as children,” he said. “What?” “Life.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“We cannot always predict the outcomes of our actions, Miss Lion, however well intended.” I stood. “What else is life but a string of outcomes beyond our control?”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

“My mother always felt that Christmas -- a proper Christmas -- was meant to delight every sense”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“While there are many things beyond our control, I’ve always thought the cruellest is that we mortals are not told when our last glance is just that.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion #1

“A year is such an odd packet of time. It seems so ordered: a dozen months, a handful of seasons. Deceptively even. Make no mistake, it will go awry every which way. Balance? Impossible. Control? Not worth mentioning the word. Some days cling and others run, many shifting just enough to incommode but give no great variety. And then out of the pedestrian blue comes an explosion which reduces all plans to smithereens. The reward for making it through? Getting to do it again.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7

“The edge of life can be marked in black faster than one would suppose. Why not ring all the bells?”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5

“But it seems that sword pierced Christ so that we always have a future. Even one different than planned.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5