Sarah Winman > Quotes

“And I wonder what the sound of a heart breaking might be. And I think it might be quiet, unperceptively so, and not dramatic at all. Like the sound of an exhausted swallow falling gently to earth.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“Memories no matter how small or inconsequential are the pages that define us.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“There's something about first love, isn't there? she said. It's untouchable to those who played no part in it. But it's the measure of all that follows.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“Nothing stays forgotten for long, Elly. Sometimes we simply have to remind the world that we're special and that we're still here.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“And he uncovered in us a curious need: that we each secretly wanted him to remember us the most. It was strange, both vital and flawed, until I realised that maybe the need to be remembered is stronger than the need to remember.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“I haven't cried. But sometimes I feel as if my veins are leaking, as if my body is overwhelmed, as if I'm drowning from the inside.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“There are moments in life, so monumental and still, that the memory can never be retrieved without a catch to the throat or an interruption to the beat of the heart. Can never be retrieved without the rumbling disquiet of how close that moment came to not having happened at all.”
― Sarah Winman, Still Life

“Things happen. To everyone. No one escapes.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“Men and boys should be capable of beautiful things.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“I try hard to be liked, I always have. I try hard to lessen people’s pain. I try hard because I can’t face my own.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“I am here but I am not yours.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“And I remember thinking, how cruel it was that our plans were out there somewhere. Another version of our future, out there somewhere, in perpetual orbit.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“Everything was real, not perfect. And yet that's what had made it so perfect.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“No single act of generosity remains in isolation. The ripples are many.”
― Sarah Winman, Still Life

“Truth, as he always said, was overrated, nobody ever won prizes for telling the truth.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“You see, that's who you are, Joe. All these things. That's the person I know, and through him is the way you'll know me, because connected to all these things are moments, and for so many of them, I was there. And that's the thing that hurts so much...

You see, you were the only person who knew everything. Because you were there. You were my witness. And you make sense of the fucked-up mess I become every now and then. And I could at least look at you and think, at least he knows why I am the way I am. There were reasons. But I can't do that anymore and I feel so lonely.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“I said to him that just because you can’t remember, doesn’t mean the past isn’t out there. All those precious moments are still there somewhere.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“And sometimes, when the day loomed grey, I'd sit at my desk and remember the heat of that summer. I’d remember the smells of tuberose that were carried by the wind, and the smell of octopus cooking on stinking griddles. I’d remember the sound of our laughter and the sound of a doughnut seller, and I’d remember the red canvas shoes I lost in the sea, and the taste of pastis and the taste of his skin, and a sky so blue it would defy anything else to be blue again. And I’d remember my love for a man that almost made everything possible.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgement. Captures forever that which is fleeting.”
― Sarah Winman, Still Life

“So, time heals. Mostly. Sometimes carelessly. And in unsuspecting moments, the pain catches and reminds one of all that's been missing. The fulcrum of what might have been. But then it passes. Winter moves into spring and swallows return. The proximity of new skin returns to the sheets. Beauty does what is required. Jobs fulfil and conversations inspire. Loneliness becomes a mere Sunday. Scattered clothes. Empty bowls. Rotting fruit. Passing time. But still life in all its beauty and complexity.”
― Sarah Winman, Still Life

“Do I believe in an old man in the clouds with a white beard judging us mortals with a moral code from one to ten? Good Lord no, my sweet Elly, I do not! I would have been cast out from this life years ago with my tatty history. Do I believe in a mystery; the unexplained phenomenon that is life itself? The greater something that illuminates inconsequence in our lives; that gives us something to strive for as well as the humility to brush ourselves down and start all over again? Then yes, I do. It is the source of art, of beauty, of love, and proffers the ultimate goodness to mankind. That to me is God. That to me is life. That is what I believe in.”
― Sarah Winman

“The first thing we need to find,' said Mr Golan, 'is a reason to live'.
...
'Without a reason, why bother? Existence needs purpose: to be able to endure the pain of life with dignity; to give us a reason to continue. The meaning must enter our hearts, not out heads. We must understand the meaning of our suffering.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“I wondered if all women did with other women was lie and hug.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“I divide my life into two parts. Not really a Before and After, more as if they are bookends, holding together flaccid years of empty musings, years of late adolescent or the twentysomething whose coat of adulthood simply does not fit.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“But it was my humanness that led me to seek, that's all. Led us all to seek. A simple need to belong somewhere.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“And for two hours the wine was poured, the cheese cut, and the two men talked. Of what? Who knows? Of love, of war, of the past. And they listened with hearts instead of ears, and in the candle-lit kitchen three floors up in an old palazzo, death was put on hold.”
― Sarah Winman, Still Life

“No amount of self-sufficiency could dispel the craving he still felt for that person we no longer talked about; that person who'd taken him apart and left a piece missing that none of us could find.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“We love who we love, don’t we?”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

“We were solitary and apart. Slept during the day, uncurled at dusk like evening primroses; fragrant and lush. We never wanted to conquer the world, only our fears. We didn't keep in touch. Somewhere, though, our memories had.”
― Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit

“Tree said, Thanks for everything. It’s been nice knowing you. You too, said Cress. Will you be OK? I’m a tree. I’ve done this a thousand times before. Done what? Goodbyes. Really? Think about it. Leaves”
― Sarah Winman, Still Life