Annie Barrows > Quotes

“We clung to books and to our friends; they reminded us that we had another part to us.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive—all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“If I could have anything I wanted, I would choose story without end, and it seems I have lots of company in that.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I am a grown woman-- mostly-- and I can guzzle champagne with whomever I choose.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“It suddenly struck me that Dawsey is a lonesome person. I think it may be that he has always been lonely, but he didn't mind before, and now he minds.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“[I] threw open the door to find Rob sit­ting on the low stool in front of my book­case, sur­round­ed by card­board box­es. He was seal­ing the last one up with tape and string. There were eight box­es - eight box­es of my books bound up and ready for the base­ment!

"He looked up and said, 'Hel­lo, dar­ling. Don't mind the mess, the care­tak­er said he'd help me car­ry these down to the base­ment.' He nod­ded to­wards my book­shelves and said, 'Don't they look won­der­ful?'

"Well, there were no words! I was too ap­palled to speak. Sid­ney, ev­ery sin­gle shelf - where my books had stood - was filled with ath­let­ic tro­phies: sil­ver cups, gold cups, blue rosettes, red rib­bons. There were awards for ev­ery game that could pos­si­bly be played with a wood­en ob­ject: crick­et bats, squash rac­quets, ten­nis rac­quets, oars, golf clubs, ping-​pong bats, bows and ar­rows, snook­er cues, lacrosse sticks, hock­ey sticks and po­lo mal­lets. There were stat­ues for ev­ery­thing a man could jump over, ei­ther by him­self or on a horse. Next came the framed cer­tificates - for shoot­ing the most birds on such and such a date, for First Place in run­ning races, for Last Man Stand­ing in some filthy tug of war against Scot­land.

"All I could do was scream, 'How dare you! What have you DONE?! Put my books back!'

"Well, that's how it start­ed. Even­tu­al­ly, I said some­thing to the ef­fect that I could nev­er mar­ry a man whose idea of bliss was to strike out at lit­tle balls and lit­tle birds. Rob coun­tered with re­marks about damned blue­stock­ings and shrews. And it all de­gen­er­at­ed from there - the on­ly thought we prob­ably had in com­mon was, What the hell have we talked about for the last four months? What, in­deed? He huffed and puffed and snort­ed and left. And I un­packed my books.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“You know how I love talking about books, and you know how I adore receiving compliments.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“We could have gone on longing for one another and pretending not to notice forever. This obsession with dignity can ruin your life if you let it.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“The first rule of snooping is to come at it sideways--when you began writing me dizzy letters about Alexander, I didn't ask if you were in love with him, I asked what his favorite animal was. And your answer told me everything I needed to know about him--how many men would admit that they loved ducks?”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“Mary Ann could no more endure a day without reading than she could grow feathers.”
― Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“The wonderful thing about books--and the thing that made them such a refuge for the islanders during the Occupation--is that they take us out of our time and place and understanding, and transport us not just into the world of the story, but into the world of our fellow readers, who have stories of their own.”
― Annie Barrows

“I’ve learned that history is the autobiography of the historian, that ignoring the past is the act of a fool, and that loyalty does not mean falling into line, but stepping out of it for the people you love.”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us

“There had been a problem in Bean's house. The problem was staples. Bean loved staples. She loved them so much that she had stapled things that weren't supposed to be stapled. The things looked better stapled, but her mother didn't think so, and now Bean was outside.

She was going to be outside for a long time.”
― Annie Barrows, What's the Big Idea?

“I have since wondered, of course, how my life would have been different if I'd decided to stay home that morning. This is what's called the enigma of history, and it can drive you out of your mind if you let it.”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us

“Ivy! It's a natural disaster! You have to be there!”
― Annie Barrows, Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter

“Time softened on Sundays; it stretched itself out in vast rubbery lengths, and by two o'clock, there was more of it than would ever be needed for anything. There was no point in reading a book, writing a letter, or playing a game, because time was too flaccid ever to proceed to the moment in which the plot would twist, the letter would be sent, or the game would be won.”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us

“A hint: perhaps in this case, you should refrain from throwing the book at the audience when you finish.”
― Annie Barrows

“If you had duct tape, you were prepared for anything.”
― Annie Barrows, Make the Rules

“You are so weird sometimes.”
― Annie Barrows, Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter

“Reading good books spoils you for enjoying bad books.”
― Annie Barrows

“You're right, Jottie, but what good is it? Rightness is nothing. You can't live on it. You might as well eat ashes." I glanced at Father, his bloodshot eyes and the stain on his pants. I loved him so. Once more, I tried to explain. "This is all we can do; it's all we're allowed. We can't go back. The only thing time leaves for us to decide" -- I picked up Father's hand and held it tight-- "is whether or not we're going to hate each other.”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us

“And she’s certainly a good cook.” Miss Betts sighed. “The epitaph of the spinster.”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us

“Bean decided to pay attention to what Ms. Aruba-Tate was saying. "Today, class, we are having a special science lesson." Science! Bean stopped thinking about Colorado. Science was usually dirt or fish, and Bean liked both of them.”
― Annie Barrows, What's the Big Idea?

“That meant that Nancy was the grown-up, the one who got to decide everything. And it meant that Bean was the little, boring, poopy baby who didn't get to decide anything.”
― Annie Barrows, Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter

“When grown-ups asked you to sit in a circle, they were usually about to tell you something you didn't want to hear. Ms. Aruba-Tate, Ivy and Bean's second-grade teacher, was forever gathering them in a circle for bad news. Like, the class fish died over the weekend. Or, everyone has to start using real punctuation. Or, the pencil sharpener is off-limits. Circles meant trouble.”
― Annie Barrows, Doomed to Dance

“All of us see a story according to our own lights. None of us is capable of objectivity. You”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us

“He was lying; I could hear it the way you hear a tune and you know how it goes. I wondered how many times I'd heard him lie, to know so well what it sounded like.”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us

“Time softened on Sundays; it stretched itself out in vast rubbery lengths, and by two o’clock, there was more of it than would ever be needed for anything. There”
― Annie Barrows, The Truth According to Us