Paula McLain Quotes

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More and more I find myself at a loss for words and didn't want to hear other people talking either. Their conversations seemed false and empty. I preferred to look at the sea, which said nothing and never made you feel alone.

Paula McLain

Loss, Talking, Sea

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.307, Ballantine Books

49 Copy quote
It was our favorite part of the day, this in-between time, and it always seemed to last longer than it should--a magic and lavender space unpinned from the hours around it, between worlds.

Paula McLain

Space, Magic, World

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.361, Ballantine Books

357 Copy quote
If I can write one sentence, simple and true every day, I'll be satisfied.

Paula McLain

Writing, Simple, One Sentence

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.100, Ballantine Books

16 Copy quote
Sometimes I wish we could rub out all of our mistakes and start fresh, from the beginning,' I said. 'And sometimes I think there isn't anything to us but our mistakes.

Paula McLain

Mistake, Thinking, Wish

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.241, Ballantine Books

17 Copy quote
Nothing hurts if you don't let it.

Paula McLain

Hurt, Ifs

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.286, Ballantine Books

6 Copy quote
I miss good old-fashioned honorable people just trying to make something of life. Simply, without hurting anyone else. I know that makes me a sap.

Paula McLain

Hurt, People, Missing

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.245, Ballantine Books

13 Copy quote
You have to digest life. You have to chew it up and love it all through.

Paula McLain

And Love

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.204, Ballantine Books

5 Copy quote
My life was my life; I would have to stare it down, somehow, and make it work for me.

Paula McLain

Staring

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.30, Ballantine Books

36 Copy quote
Not everyone out in a storm wants to be saved

Paula McLain

Storm, Want, Saved

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.81, Ballantine Books

8 Copy quote
Dogs are easy. If their tails are up and their eyes are soft, you're in.

Paula McLain

Dog, Eye, Tails

9 Copy quote
Knowing he was suffering pained me. That’s the way love tangles you up. I couldn’t stop loving him, and couldn’t shut off the feelings of wanting to care for him— but I also didn’t have to run to answer his letters. I was hurting, too, and no one was running to me.

Paula McLain

Running, Hurt, Knowing

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.304, Ballantine Books

26 Copy quote
Maybe happiness was an hourglass already running out, the grains tipping, sifting past each other. Maybe it was a state of mind.

Paula McLain

Running, Past, Mind

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.63, Ballantine Books

17 Copy quote
The very rich only admire themselves

Paula McLain

Rich, Admire

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.273, Ballantine Books

4 Copy quote
You are everything good and straight and fine and true—and I see that so clearly now, in the way you’ve carried yourself and listened to your own heart. You’ve changed me more than you know, and will always be a part of everything I am. That’s one thing I’ve learned from this. No one you love is ever truly lost.

Paula McLain

Heart, Love Is, Way

5 Copy quote
Ernest once told me that the word paradise was a Persian words that meant walled garden. I knew then that he understood how necessary the promises we made to each other were to our happiness. You couldn't have real freedom unless you knew were the walls were and tended to them. We could lean on the walls because they existed; they existed because we leaned on them.

Paula McLain

Wall, Real, Garden

4 Copy quote
I didn't want to be a sweet boy's sweet girlfriend. I wanted to be Fawn's equal, the kind of girl who stood up for herself and took care of business, who cut guys loose when it was required.

Paula McLain

Girl, Sweet, Cutting

4 Copy quote
In Paris, you couldn't really turn around without seeing the result of lovers' bad decisions. An artist given to sexual excess was almost a cliché, but no one seemed to mind. As long as you were making something good or interesting or sensational, you could have as many lovers as you wanted and ruin them all.

Paula McLain

Artist, Paris, Long

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.161, Ballantine Books

4 Copy quote
Though I often looked for one, I finally had to admit that there could be no cure for Paris.

Paula McLain

Paris, France, Cures

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.8, Ballantine Books

4 Copy quote
I hope we'll get lucky enough to grow old together.

Paula McLain

Together, Lucky, Enough

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.76, Ballantine Books

4 Copy quote
I preferred to look at the sea, which said nothing and never made you feel alone.

Paula McLain

Sea, Looks, Made

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.307, Ballantine Books

4 Copy quote
Don't tell readers what to think. Let the action speak for itself.

Paula McLain

Thinking, Action, Speak

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.109, Ballantine Books

4 Copy quote
I also liked to look around at the houses surrounding the park and wonder about the people who filled them, what kinds of marriages they had and how they loved or hurt each other on any given day, and if they were happy, and whether they thought happiness was a sustainable thing.

Paula McLain

Love, Hurt, People

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.112, Ballantine Books

6 Copy quote
This was my one brush with love. Was it love? It felt awful enough. I spent another two years crawling around in the skin of it, smoking too much and growing too thin and having stray thoughts of jumping from my balcony like a tortured heroine in a Russian novel.

Paula McLain

Jumping, Years, Two

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.33, Ballantine Books

7 Copy quote
Books could be an incredible adventure. I stayed under my blanket and barely moved, and no one would have guessed how my mind raced and my heart soared with stories.

Paula McLain

Book, Heart, Adventure

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.36, Ballantine Books

4 Copy quote
It gave me a sharp kind of sadness to think that no matter how much I loved him and tried to put him back together again, he might stay broken forever.

Paula McLain

Sadness, Thinking, Together Again

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.113, Ballantine Books

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Born: 1965
Occupation: Author
Cite this Page: Citation

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