Kate Clayborn > Quotes

“...Sometimes fighting isn't about leaving, it's about staying. It takes practice to get it right, and it's painful, but if you want to stay with people, you do it.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“I think I quit reading at the word stochastic, which actually sort of reminded me of Reid, if what it means is a combination of stoic and sarcastic. But I’m pretty sure it has to do with calculus.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“I was not speaking literally.” I think the slight softness to his voice is sympathy. Dear Diary, I imagine him writing later. Today I met a woman wearing too many buttons who does not understand what a metaphor is.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“I thought I’d let go of the shame about this part of my life, the way I was basically medicating myself twenty-four hours a day. It’s no different from what millions of people do, good people who are in pain or unsure of where to turn; good people who need a break from everything in this world that’s hard and sad and unforgiving.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“That's the truth about making mistakes, about making wrong choices. You live with them, and if you're lucky you get enough perspective to see where you went astray. You figure out what you can do to repair the damage, and you figure out how to do better going forward.”
― Kate Clayborn, Luck of the Draw

“They encouraged me to make friends, to try new things, to make mistakes. They gave me the space to be a blank, a mess; they never treated me like their puppet. They gave me what I needed but never told me what I wanted. They made sure I had a place to come when I was finally ready to figure it out. They loved me, no matter what. No strings attached.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“I tell her I’ll be there soon and for the rest of the trip over, I’m doing that thing I indulge myself in sometimes, where I compose a lengthy, highly organized but incredibly witty lecture of censure to someone who has done me wrong.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“Yes, but it’s, you know—every year, you’re all, ‘March! This is going to be great! Start of spring!’ But it’s definitely not, right? Because there will be a weird, freak snowstorm, and it’s like winter’s started all over. Unexpected things happen in March.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“Levi Fanning,” I say softly. “Are you calling me trouble?” He lowers his mouth to kiss me, slow and perfect. “I’m calling you the best thing that ever happened to me.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“You don't have to love people the way you learned to love at first.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love at First

“I perform the task of exhausted women everywhere—taking my bra off without removing my top. Once I’ve pulled it through the armhole of my tank, I fling it onto the old, slouchy couch, sending it the disgusted glare that all bras deserve after a long, hot day.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“I’ve seen his daughter in a state of undress, and my dog’s worn a pair of her underpants.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“He’s tough because he’s never had a soft place to land,” Dad says. “Not a lot of kindness offered to Levi Fanning around here, for a long time, and I bet that makes it pretty hard for him sometimes. Especially when he needs to figure the soft things out.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’d thought he was leaving. Again. “You don’t even believe in luck.” He looks at me for a long time. “I don’t,” he says, simply, a small shrug of his shoulders. “But I believe in you.”
― Kate Clayborn, Best of Luck

“She’s giving me something for the moment. A soft place to land.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“The thing that you always “think is a liability. You not making plans. You not always knowing the exact thing you want for the future.”
"Yeah"
“It’s wonderful. It’s the most magical thing about you, the way you adapt. I think maybe—maybe the world takes advantage of that quality in you, Georgie. I know I have, and I know Nadia did. But it isn’t your flaw. It’s your gift, and the only reason people don’t tell you all the time is because they’re too caught up in their own shit.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“I don’t think you’re poison, Lee. Not to me and not to our sister, and I bet not to Georgie, either. I wanted to tell you that, in case you were thinking any different.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“Whatever is worse than man-splaining, this is it. This is man-terrogating.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“Just kids' isn't a thing. Important stuff happens to kids. Kids do important stuff.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“When I had my own fight with them,I say adjusting for my limit, I guess... I felt so out of control. We all said things we can't take back, and nothing's ever been the same. So I really try hard to-I keep the peace with people. I don't like the way it make me feel, to fight.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“Nothing was complicated when you had an enemy. It was you versus them, and you versus them stopped you thinking about the other problem, which was usually something more like: you versus you. You versus your fear. You versus your sadness. You versus your anger.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love at First

“Reid," I whisper to him. "It wasn't a mistake."
"No," he says, resting his forehead against mine. "It was a sign.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“The point is . . . sometimes fighting isn’t about leaving, it’s about staying. It takes practice to get it right, and it’s painful, but if you want to stay with people, you do it.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“Okay, so,” I finally say, which everyone knows is the agreed-upon code for best friends when one of them is about to drop some kind of bomb. “The notebook from yesterday.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“If Sibby were here, she would remind me that talking about the weather in this way is functionally the same as having "I'm a Midwesterner" tattooed onto my face. For my next trick, why not bring up a garage sale I heard about? Or perhaps point out that I got the bag I'm carrying at a fifty percent off sale, with an extra five percent deducted for a temperamental zipper? Would Reid be interested in knowing my opinions on mayonnaise versus Miracle Whip?”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“I enjoyed watching you work. I love that word, enjoyed. It sounds small and polite, but it contains something big, passionate. In my head I see it as it should be, I think. The en- and the -ed should be small, but sturdy. Like bookends, or like hands, supporting something that’s lean and tall, but fragile and new. A fawn’s legs. J-O-Y.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

“I don’t want to act like it was stressful, with my parents.” It was, though. It was stressful to spend so much time alone. It was stressful that it wasn’t easy to make friends, that most of her socialization came from people who were way older than her.”
― Kate Clayborn, Love at First

“I’ve finished with the zucchini, and according to Levi’s fancy book, there are still approximately one hundred more vegetables to chop. Following recipes is terrible.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“stroking the spot where I swear I felt a tear slide across my skin last night, when Levi pressed his face against my neck after he came.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along

“Hey,” he says, arms still crossed forbiddingly. Maybe he can somehow sense I’ve seen his brother and sister. Maybe he’s got a secret love of antiquing and he saw the whole thing. “Hi,” I say, desperate to shake off this unnecessary guilt. “You’re home early.” As soon as it’s out of my mouth, I realize how weird it sounds. Home? He doesn’t live here. Early? I don’t know his regular schedule. I might as well be the one-dimensional wife in a bad TV pilot.”
― Kate Clayborn, Georgie, All Along