Family Saga Quotes

“The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent's own independence.”
― Rosamunde Pilcher, The Shell Seekers

“What a happy woman I am, living in a garden, with books, babies, birds and flowers, and plenty of leisure to enjoy them. Sometimes I feel as if I were blest above all my fellows in being able to find happiness so easily."
(Quoted from Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim)”
― Rosamunde Pilcher, The Shell Seekers

“We are all the product of things we've never seen and people we never met. In fact, if just one little detail had been changed in their lives, we may not even exist!”
― Melanie Johnston

“Live today. You never know when tomorrow will be a day too late.”
― Rochelle Carlton, The Quilt

“We may be finished with the past but the past is not finished with us.”
― Donald Riggio, Seven-Inch Vinyl: A Rock and Roll Novel

“This is what I know about my parents. They spent the next several years trying to forget each other, and me.”
― Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“What would you like for your own life, Kate, if you could choose?”
“Anything?”
“Of course anything.”
“That’s really easy, Aunty Ivy.”
“Go on then.”
“A straw hat...with a bright scarlet ribbon tied around the top and a bow at the back. A tea-dress like girls used to wear, with big red poppies all over the fabric. A pair of flat, white pumps, comfortable but really pretty. A bicycle with a basket on the front. In the basket is a loaf of fresh bread, cheese, fruit oh...and a bottle of sparkly wine, you know, like posh people drink.
“I’m cycling down a lane. There are no lorries or cars or bicycles. No people – just me. The sun is shining through the trees, making patterns on the ground. At the end of the lane is a gate, sort of hidden between the bushes and trees. I stop at the gate, get off the bike and wheel it into the garden.
“In the garden there are flowers of all kinds, especially roses. They’re my favourite. I walk down the little path to a cottage. It’s not big, just big enough. The front door needs painting and has a little stained glass window at the top. I take the food out of the basket and go through the door.
“Inside, everything is clean, pretty and bright. There are vases of flowers on every surface and it smells sweet, like lemon cake. At the end of the room are French windows. They need painting too, but it doesn’t matter. I go through the French windows into a beautiful garden. Even more flowers there...and a veranda. On the veranda is an old rocking chair with patchwork cushions and next to it a little table that has an oriental tablecloth with gold tassels. I put the food on the table and pour the wine into a glass. I’d sit in the rocking chair and close my eyes and think to myself... this is my place.”
From A DISH OF STONES”
― Valentina Hepburn, A Dish of Stones

“I don’t know. She didn’t exactly say she didn’t want me. Shit. You’re making me sound like an ass.”

“Aww. You’re not an ass. You’re just a confused man. That’s why God gave you a sister.”
― Claudia Connor, Worth It All

“She opened up the glass jar she kept spare buttons in and began sorting through them. It was like handling bits and pieces of the past—buttons from loved ones’ dresses and suits and coats carefully gathered up and saved for future use. She had inherited many of the buttons from her mother and grandmother, even her Great Aunt Maggie. Each woman adding to the collection, like curators of a family museum. Now what would happen to them?”
― Elizabeth Jennings, The Button Collector

“Sometimes opposites attract, or so they say, but Paloma and Rocío were like arroz and mangú: they didn’t really mix well.”
― Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“Next to God, Family is the best thing.”
― April Floyd, Unique: A Unique World & A Unique Life

“I look at you, Mrs. Emily. I see your eyes smile before your lips. Your hair has a curl that droops onto your forehead when the weather is humid . . .

I look at you too, Sabine. I see you.”
― Phyllis H. Moore, Sabine, Book One of the Sabine Trilogy

“Julia, is everything all right?” her father said in a raspy voice. “It’s three in the morning, m’ija.”

“I’m sorry. I have to talk to you; it’s something very important. Papá, Mamá, I’ve made a decision, and I wanted to share it with you. I’ve decided to convert to the Muslim religion.”

“What?” Pilar screamed. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Julia, what are you saying?”

“I want to be a Muslim. I’ve even chosen a new Muslim name, Aliyah.”

“Julia, are you drunk?”

“No, Papá, I’m not drunk. I’ve thought about this for a very long time. I think it’s the right thing for me, a way to follow God.”
― Sergio Troncoso, From This Wicked Patch of Dust

“I was struck by the image of Daddy still dressed in that same plaid shirt and undershirt with the bloodstains below the neck, the one I had first seen him wearing in the jail the previous day.”
― Earl B. Russell, Cold Turkey at Nine: The Memoir of a Problem Child

“It’s sad really, trying to appreciate all of the great events in our lives and all the amazingly good days. Sometimes it seems like we take them for granted, until something bad comes along to put us back into perspective. Are these bad events catalysts for change, which bring out the resiliency and best in us? A cosmic wakeup call that reminds us to enjoy the good times, because they can be taken away so easily.
How messed up and ironic would that be?
Is it even possible for us to remember what goodness we’re truly capable of on a daily basis, not just when things cause us to react out of necessity. A base line of beautiful acts and thoughts that are not brought out only by holiday music or someone else’s misfortune, but remain at the surface of who we really are. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Wouldn’t that be something to strive for?”
― Matthew Alan, What We Leave Behind

“Sometimes time can play tricks. One moment it idles by, an hour can seem a lifetime, such as when sitting by the river at dusk watching the bats snatching insects above the limpid waters; the breaching fish causing ringed ripples and a satisfying plop. Other times, time flashes by in an immodest fashion. So it is with the start of war. First time quivers with the last strum of a wonderful peace, the note holding in the air, mysterious and haunting, filling the listener with awe. Then, with a rising crescendo the terror starts with uncouth haste; with a boom the listener is shaken from their reverie and delivered into the servitude, of an ear-shattering cacophony.”
― M.A. Lossl, Mizpah Cousins: life, love and perilous predicaments during the Great War era.

“Sometimes the futility of it all drives me crazy. It’s so mindbogglingly brainless. We are on this tiny speck of soil and dirt which we call Earth, which won’t even register anywhere in vastness if you start comparing it with the other objects in the universe and our existence is such a paltry blip on it, just like a blink of an eye. And, even though, all you have to do is to look at the sky to be reminded of your being so minuscule and your existence to be so worthless, we still have the nerve to make each other’s lives miserable.”
― Amit Sharma, False Ceilings

“Social dynamic theory is philosophy, not politics. There can't be only one correct answer, or there would only be one book." Sharon L Reddy, Worldcon, 1995.”
― Sharon L. Reddy

“The magic of a jewel and the mystery of a book never end!”
― Laura Beth, 2 Girls, 2 Cats: A Magical Mystery

“He was seven years old the summer that his life ended. He'd always felt like his life was taken the moment that truck rammed into his father and sister. Or at least, the life he would have had was ended before it even began.”
― Melodie Ramone, Burning Down Rome

“His transgression may become their salvation.”
― Victoria Saccenti, Destiny's Plan

“Breathe, Emma. Now is not the time to swoon.”
― Eva Lauren Walker, Hanging by a Moment

“What had those vile creatures unleashed in me? What beast had they awakened? I think I vowed to kill the beast and bury it so deep in the abyss it would never again rear its ugly head. Part of me did make this promise. The other part embraced an unfolding of life’s inextinguishable flames and the mind’s unspoken bondage.
As far as reinforcing the strength of my mind’s resolve, I supposed my body was a useless entity. Rather, it was this fancy thing I lived in—a mausoleum that beckoned the living, promising gratification, refuge, solace, peace, even immortality. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t mine. I realized then, it had never belonged to me. I could control what happened to it only if people were merciful. Watching Valentin was not merciful. It was a torturous joy.”
― Kyrian Lyndon, Deadly Veils Book One Provenance of Bondage

“Sometimes people go through a lifetime of pain by holding a secret that could have changed everything. It is an intoxicating addiction, an act of dominance to know that you hold something in your grip that could have changed the life of a person you detest.”
― Amit Sharma, False Ceilings

“Not everyone is a murderer, Aaryan. There are people on this Earth who have led their entire lives without raising a finger on anyone. Why has this notion entered your mind that everyone is evil?”
“Because I have seen normal people who were leading their lives without raising a finger on anyone kill each other. Dad, we are animals. We just need a chance. We are like werewolves. We wait for the moon of hatred.”
― Amit Sharma, False Ceilings

“I could never understand this emotional sword of sacrifice which parents hold to cut open their child’s right to make his own decisions. No parents give any sacrifice to bring their children in the world, far from it. They were having fun when the child was conceived. Remember? And once a child is in the world, it’s the moral responsibility of the parent to feed him and keep him alive. There is no sacrifice in that. So please, parents should stop turning themselves into martyrs to plunk their dreams on their children. It’s cheap and disgusting.”
― Amit Sharma, False Ceilings

“He was not a likeable figure but then when you are a part of a family, you cannot wish to see someone wither away even when you dislike him. He is a part of your blood, he and all his idiosyncrasies. There is always a tinge of warmth in the corner of your heart, reminiscent of the good times spent together. Then there are always those moments, when you wonder why everything turned out so different. When you wonder what possibly could hold people together, if not the fact that they come from the same blood? Or are we just not born to be that way? Craving to be something that we cannot be, each with our own false ceilings to hide our true selves?”
― amit sharma, False Ceilings

“God not da faddah, he just the spoiled moody child, but you got to go t'rough him to get to da real power, his mama, Mot'er God. She da real Almighty! She run da heavens alone. Original single parent. When somethin' bad happen, usually mean she let God try his hand, and he screw up plenny. You need something important, you go directly Mot'er God. Jesus, Mary, Joseph? Dey just small potatoes, part of the chorus, neh?”
― Kiana Davenport, Shark Dialogues

“Life is never just in your own hands ...”
― Jasmine Sparks, Dolly

“Simple survival is never as ordinary as it seems!”
― Jasmine Sparks, Dolly