Elle Marr > Quotes

“Art is never more than a reflection of an artist’s twisted mind.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“Isn’t all art an exploitation of a hurt, a trauma, an unresolved fear?”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“Knowing that he was dying liberated him in a way. He traveled where he wanted, ate his favorite foods, and had long conversations with loved ones.”
― Elle Marr, Strangers We Know

“we aren’t defined by our beginnings or by the choices our parents made for us. We can define ourselves.”
― Elle Marr, Lies We Bury

“Then let us toast. To not seeking happiness in others’ opinions. To finding stability from within.”
― Elle Marr, The Missing Sister

“Sunshine doesn’t mean protection. The worst crimes can happen in the daylight.”
― Elle Marr, Lies We Bury

“Secrets have a way of breaking free. But when they do, their shame lingers—like the smell of rotten meat sauce.”
― Elle Marr, Lies We Bury

“It’s not exactly who you know—more like how you make people feel.”
― Elle Marr, Lies We Bury

“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. —Sigmund Freud”
― Elle Marr, Lies We Bury

“The vibe is somber but warm, as if the bones of this house have already loved and buried countless kin.”
― Elle Marr, Strangers We Know

“Siblings, for better or for worse, are the only people in the world with whom you share so many experiences, who outlast friends and lovers, who understand”
― Elle Marr, The Missing Sister

“if you get knocked down, make sure you get back up.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“Science is always at its limit until it surpasses itself. The earth is flat until it is not, gravity pulls greater on a fat man until it does not, and there are only sixty elements in the periodic table until there are not.” He pauses, inviting me to disagree with him. “We’re only a few steps short of understanding the final mysteries this world has to offer. Until we learn there are more.”
― Elle Marr, The Missing Sister

“Wetness streams down my face: rain—no, tears. All-consuming emotion that comes to those who share their entire selves for months on end, just to see one breath of life inhaled by a tiny face.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“Janet was always my guiding light, even if I ignored it from time to time. Without her, without the stability I never received from my neglectful parents, the success I yearned for in the military, or the recognition I feel owed in my current job as regional director of mall security, the world seems off-balance. It’s only been a matter of hours, but the moon has dulled—smudged at the edges.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“I wondered what this family did when an outsider wasn’t present.”
― Elle Marr, The Family Bones

“Somewhere along the line they started to hate each other—or, maybe, at a certain point and intensity, love and hate in a relationship become blurred when extremes are at hand.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“the sign’s words remain clear: TRISTEN’S TAXIDERMY”
― Elle Marr, Strangers We Know

“begins to chime at the front door. It’s nearly nine o’clock. “What about food? Can I make you something?” I smile, recognizing Lottie’s love language: feeding people.”
― Elle Marr, Strangers We Know

“The creative adult is the child who survived. —Unknown”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“I’ll never be more than one of the girl-survivors, and I’ll never be allowed to work through my trauma on my own terms, via my sculptures. All they or I will ever be is an object of fascination and fear.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“been told by everyone—our parents, our grandparents, by society—to settle. Settle for whatever you can grab on to, and don’t let go once it’s yours. No, no, no! Our generation has to do better, to choose more, to settle for more—when the world is offering less. Instead of waiting until I’m retired, I choose to live now.”
― Elle Marr, The Missing Sister

“It’s a strange turn of events, to hawk the sculptures that I first created as a form of catharsis—of dealing with what happened—as commodities to be collected and valued at top dollar.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“I hope to meet a man one day who doesn’t think loving someone means having ownership over all her thoughts.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“Calgary”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“Life is so rarely what we expect, dear sister. I feel like our generation has been told by everyone—our parents, our grandparents, by society—to settle. Settle for whatever you can grab on to, and don’t let go once it’s yours. No, no, no! Our generation has to do better, to choose more, to settle for more—when the world is offering less. Instead of waiting until I’m retired, I choose to live now. To enjoy the world, my youth, my ambitions and my dreams now, now. Because tomorrow is not promised, little (by two minutes) sister, and we have to do the best with what we’ve got. Let it be known! said the preachy twin.”
― Elle Marr, The Missing Sister

“I yearn for a better quality of life—I fear the cost of it in the same breath.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“The lies we tell ourselves during stable hours—like I’m a good person or I don’t deserve this—become the lies we bury deep down, too far to access, in times of pain.”
― Elle Marr, Lies We Bury

“The creative adult is the child who survived.”
― Elle Marr, The Alone Time

“Instead of some clue that pointed to another relative, this note and its location would provide any investigating party with a neon arrow directed at me.”
― Elle Marr, The Family Bones