Ann Napolitano > Quotes

“She was no longer who she used to be, and she wasn't yet whoever she was becoming.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“You’re depressed, not crazy. It’s not insane to be depressed in this world. It’s more sane than being happy. I never trust those upbeat individuals who grin no matter what’s going on. Those are the ones with a screw loose, if you ask me.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“When an old person dies,” Kent said, “even if that person is wonderful, he or she is still somewhat ready, and so are the people who loved them. They’re like old trees, whose roots have loosened in the ground. They fall gently. But when someone like your aunt Sylvie dies—before her time—her roots get pulled out and the ground is ripped up. Everyone nearby is in danger of being knocked over.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“When your love for a person is so profound that it’s part of who you are, then the absence of the person becomes part of your DNA, your bones, and your skin.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“We’re part of the sky, and the rocks in your mother’s garden, and that old man who sleeps by the train station. We’re all interconnected, and when you see that, you see how beautiful life is. Your mother and sisters don’t have that awareness. Not yet, anyway. They believe they’re contained in their bodies, in the biographical facts of their lives.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“The air between us is not empty space.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“Humans need community, for our emotional health. We need connection, a sense of belonging. We are not built to thrive in isolation.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“So much could be solved, she thinks, if we simply held hands with each other more often.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“Opportunity did not knock until I built the door.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“Take stock of who we are, and what we have, and then use it for good.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“What happened is baked into your bones, Edward. It lives under your skin. It’s not going away. It’s part of you and will be part of you every moment until you die. What you’ve been working on, since the first time I met you, is learning to live with that.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“She wondered if dying was simply going to be an exercise in letting go of one thing after another.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“Everything ends,” she says. “That’s nothing to be sad about. What matters is what starts in that moment.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“Sylvie had read somewhere that the more times a story was told, the less accurate it became. Humans were prone to exaggeration; they leaned away from the parts of the narrative they found boring and leaned into the exciting spots. Details and timelines changed over years of repetition. The story became more myth and less true. Sylvie thought about how she and William rarely told their story and felt pleased; by not being shared, their love story remained intact.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“This was not a tragedy. Dying on your couch watching TV by yourself is a tragedy. Dying while doing something you love with every part of your body is magic. I wish you magic, Edward.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“It was hard for me to accept the fact that we don’t choose who we love, because who you love changes everything.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“You know what Daddy would say when he saw Sylvie,” Julia said in a quiet voice. Emeline and Izzy nodded, and Cecelia said, “Hello beautiful.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“that just because you never thought about someone didn’t mean they weren’t inside you.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“The thing was—” He stopped, looking for the right language. “Yes?” the doctor said. “Alice is a lamp. A bright lamp, from the moment she was born. She kind of shines. Looking at her hurt my eyes, and I was afraid to touch her.” “You were afraid of her light?” “No. I was afraid I was going to put her light out. That my darkness would swamp her light.” “So you felt like you had to stay away from her, to keep her safe.” “I have to stay away from her, yes.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“When in doubt, read books. Educate yourself. Education has always saved me Edward. Learn about the mysteries.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“Grief is love.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“He was her heart. He had changed all the molecules inside her. Sylvie had known love would come for her with the force of a tsunami. She’d dreamed of this”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“There was no reason for what happened to you, Eddie. You could have died; you just didn’t. It was dumb luck. Nobody chose you for anything. Which means, truly, that you can do anything.”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“But Carrie had told her friend once, during high school, not to model herself on Julia. "I like your mom a lot," Carrie had said, "but anyone that dresses and does their hair as carefully as your mom does every single day is unhappy on the inside. She's trying to hide all her messiness, and I want better than that for you.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“Since death is certain, but the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?” —PEMA CHÖDRÖN”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“Stop thinking about who you were when you were living the wrong life, William. You’re built for the life you’re living now.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“She existed outside her own body-she was scattered across this ground-but somehow this made her feel less vulnerable. She was painted into this family, mirrored in her father's face. She was more abundant than she'd believed possible.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“It’s because you know that more is possible that you’ll always see the pointlessness in following a stupid rule or clocking in and out of a boring class. Most people can’t see that distinction, so they just do as they’re told. Of course, this makes them bored and irritated, but they think that’s the human condition. You and I are lucky enough to see that it doesn’t have to be that way.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?” —GEORGE ELIOT”
― Ann Napolitano, Dear Edward

“We’re not separated from the world by our own edges.” Charlie set down his beer glass, empty now, and rubbed his hand up and down his arm, as an example of one of his edges. “We’re part of the sky, and the rocks in your mother’s garden, and that old man who sleeps by the train station. We’re all interconnected, and when you see that, you see how beautiful life is. Your mother and sisters don’t have that awareness. Not yet, anyway. They believe they’re contained in their bodies, in the biographical facts of their lives.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful