Katherine Owen > Katherine's Quotes

“You know what they say about air and water when it comes to fire, don’t you?” she asks.
Now, I’m curious. She hasn’t spoken for the last ten minutes of the drive. “What?”
“Too much air blows out the fire. Too much water destroys it.”
I nod trying to determine what she’s really comparing us to. “The idea would be to keep the flame going, right. For years?” She nods. “Like a relationship. Like a marriage.” She cringes at the word marriage. Noted. “So you need the air—to stay constant—to fan the flames of the fire, and you know, grasshopper,” I smile at her and catch sight of the corners of her mouth turning slightly upward in response to the endearment, “a hot enough fire will burn water, so you have to be careful with the water too.”
“That I do know,” she says softly. “So that’s the truth about air and water.” She sighs deep.
“Which is?”
“It’s hard to maintain the balance to keep the fire going. You have to fan the flames without putting it out with too much water. But too little water will burn the fire right up. Too much fire. Too much destruction. We’re out of control.”
“You’re talking in circles,” I say.
“No. That’s us,” she says with certainty.”
― Katherine Owen, The Truth About Air & Water

“My smell stays with you? I ruined you…for what?”
“Your smell keeps me going all the time. I’m in a clutch game or at practice and it’s full count? Your cloves and vanilla scent calms me down. I spray it on the front of my uniform and rub my right hand across like this.” I demonstrate by rubbing my chest and she watches me in fascination like a starstruck teenager watches a rockstar play his bass. “I went to three different stores before I found the exact scent. Expensive. French perfume. Chamade by Guerlain.”
She nods looking fascinated or charmed by me at least for a few seconds. “I got it in Paris when I was there a few years ago. I love it.”
“I do too. So yes, you ruined me. For anyone else.”
She’s smiling but then it slowly disappears like a countdown does as it goes from ten to zero. “What are you doing to me, Elvis?” she asks, looking troubled.”
― Katherine Owen, The Truth About Air & Water

“Here’s what I know: death abducts the dying, but grief steals from those left behind.”
― Katherine Owen, Seeing Julia

“The psyche questionnaire asks me to list the things I dislike. Why don’t they just use the word, hate? Why is everyone so afraid to admit they hate something? I write Advil, and then add Athens, Afghanistan and the U.S. Army. “In conclusion, I hate a lot of things that begin with the letter A,” I write in the space provided.”
― Katherine Owen, Seeing Julia

“Finally, I say, “long dark hair, blue-violet eyes, slender, tall, she had a Liz Taylor in Black Beauty thing going on.” Reluctance sets in. Do I really want to put this together for him? “Like you,” he says. Pandora’s Box opens. Chocolate anyone? An abundance of heartbreak. Rare happiness. Plenty of self-destruction. Take your pick. Julia’s got everything in here.”
― Katherine Owen, Seeing Julia

“There are all kinds of ways for a relationship to be tested, even broken, some, irrevocably; it’s the endings we’re unprepared for.”
― Katherine Owen, Not To Us

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”
― Marilyn Monroe

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
― Marilyn Monroe

“Part of the problem with the word 'disabilities' is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren't able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.”
― Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

“You can live through most anything as long as you have the right tranquilizers on hand.”
― Mary Guterson, We Are All Fine Here

“There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”
― Bertrand Russell

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
― Henry James

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”
― Bernard M. Baruch

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
― Mark Twain

“When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.”
― Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

“My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter.”
― Thomas Helm

“Life is too short to waste time on books that end badly”
― Jayne Ann Krentz, Running Hot

“All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.”
― E.B. White

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I’ve told too many lies. I hold too many secrets. Who can I really trust? Who can trust me when I don’t even trust myself?”
― Katherine Owen, Not To Us

“I never regret anything. Because every little detail of your life is what made you into who you are in the end.”
― Drew Barrymore

“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
― Alexander Graham Bell

“The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.”
― Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“You want me as much as I want you. And all I want is you."
My tongue warred with my mind. "Today," I whispered.
Noah stood slowly, his body skimming mine as he rose. "Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever.”
― Michelle Hodkin, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

“You could start a fire with the heat between you two."
"You're mistaking bitter animosity for heartfelt affection.”
― Michelle Hodkin, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

“What would you do if I kissed you right now?"
I stared at his beautiful face and his beautiful mouth and I wanted nothing more than to taste it. "I would kiss you back.”
― Michelle Hodkin, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”
― Plato

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”
― Steve Martin

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
― Oscar Wilde

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”
― Bill Keane