Abby

“But seven-year-old Werner seems to float. He is undersized and his ears stick out and he speaks with a high, sweet voice; the whiteness of his hair stops people in their tracks. Snowy, milky, chalky. A color that is the absence of color. Every morning he ties his shoes, packs newspaper inside his coat as insulation against the cold, and begins interrogating the world.”
― Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See

“The biggest surprise-- and it came as a great revalation-- was understanding that whatever happens, no matter how catastrophic or wonderful, it's just another patch. There are times when something special happens: a marriage, graduation, or the birth of a child. There's no denying it's a glorious patch. It might even be a red patch-- the one that pulls the whole quilt together. But I couldn't stop repeating, "It's just another patch.”
― Sue Bender, Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish

“Don't you miss the world?"
He is quiet; so is she. Both ride spirals of memory.
"I have the whole world right here," he says, and taps the cover of Darwin. "And in my radios. Right at my fingertips.”
― Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See

“Perhaps each of us has a starved place, and each of us knows deep down what we need to fill that place. To find the courage to trust and honor the search, to follow the voice that tells us what we need to do, even when it doesn't seem to make sense, is a worthy pursuit.”
― Sue Bender, Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish