Paula McLain Quotes - Page 2

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I'd had my share of rain. My mother's illness ... had weighed on me, but the years before had been heavy, too. I was only twenty eight.

Paula McLain

Mother, Rain, Eight

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.14, Ballantine Books

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I knew that I could hate him all I wanted for the way he was hurting me, but I couldn’t ever stop loving him, absolutely, for what he was.

Paula McLain

Hurt, Hate, Way

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She was also incredibly confident, with a way of moving and talking that communicated that she didn't need anyone to tell her she was beautiful or worthwhile.

Paula McLain

Beautiful, Moving, Talking

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.213, Ballantine Books

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I would gladly have climbed out of my skin and into his that night, because I believed that was what love meant.

Paula McLain

Night, Skins

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

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On December 8, 1921, when the Leopoldina set sail for Europe, we were on board. Our life together had finally begun. We held on to each other and looked out at the sea. It was impossibly large and full of beauty and danger in equal parts-and we wanted it all.

Paula McLain

Europe, Sea, Together

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.84, Ballantine Books

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A week passes but it feels as if he's never been anywhere else. It's one of the things war does to you. Everything you see works to replace moments and people from your life before, until you can't remember why any of it mattered. It doesn't help if you're a soldier. The effect is the same.

Paula McLain

War, People, Soldier

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.133, Ballantine Books

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But when Bumby nursed, his fist clutching the fabric of my robe, his eyes soft and bottomless and locked on mine, as if I were the very heart of his universe, I couldn't help but melt into him.

Paula McLain

Heart, Eye, Nurse

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.204, Ballantine Books

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All that was left for me was a terrible kind of paralysis, this waiting game, this heartbreak game.

Paula McLain

Games, Waiting, Kind

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.317, Ballantine Books

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And that's when he finally tells me his name is Ernest. I'm thinking of giving it away, though. Ernest is so dull, and Hemingway? Who wants a Hemingway?

Paula McLain

Thinking, Names, Giving

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.13, Ballantine Books

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... and yet he could also be very charming, in a bookish, infinitely apologetic way.

Paula McLain

Way, Apologetic, Charming

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.57, Ballantine Books

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Why is it every other person you meet says they're an artist? A real artist doesn't need to gas on about it, he doesn't have time. He does his work and sweats it out in silence, and no one can help him at all.

Paula McLain

Real, Artist, Sweat

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.89, Ballantine Books

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To marry was to say you believed in the future and in the past, too-that history and tradition and hope could stay knit together to hold you up.

Paula McLain

Past, Together, Tradition

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.10, Ballantine Books

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I'd never met anyone so vibrant or alive. He moved like light.

Paula McLain

Light, Alive, Mets

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.24, Ballantine Books

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But love is love. It makes you do terribly stupid things.

Paula McLain

Stupid, Love Is, Stupid Things

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.288, Ballantine Books

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Maybe no one can know how it is for anyone else.

Paula McLain

Know How, Knows

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.152, Ballantine Books

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There was only today to throw yourself into without thinking about tomorrow, let alone forever. To keep you from thinking, there was liquor, an ocean's worth at least, all the usual vices and plenty of rope to hang yourself with. Love is a beautiful liar.

Paula McLain

Beautiful, Liars, Ocean

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Happiness is so awfully complicated, but freedom isn't. You're either tied down or you're not.

Paula McLain

Complicated, Tied

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.210, Ballantine Books

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People belong to each other only as long as they both believe. He stopped believing.

Paula McLain

Believe, Long, People

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.342, Ballantine Books

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How unbelievably naive we both were that night. We clung hard to each other, making vows we couldn't keep and should never have spoken aloud. That's how love is sometimes. I already loved him more than I'd ever loved anything or anyone. I knew he needed me absolutely, and I wanted him to go on needing me forever.

Paula McLain

Night, Love Is, Forever

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.88, Ballantine Books

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But in the end, fighting for a love that was already gone felt like trying to live in the ruins of a lost city.

Paula McLain

Fighting, Cities, Trying

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.356, Ballantine Books

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At twenty-eight I'd had a handful of beaux, but had only been in love once, and that had been awful enough to make me doubt men and myself for a good long while.

Paula McLain

Men, Eight, Long

Paula McLain (2011). “The Paris Wife: A Novel”, p.27, Ballantine Books

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The way I see it, how can you really say you'll love a person longer than love lasts?

Paula McLain

Way, Lasts, Persons

Paula McLain (2012). “The Paris Wife (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.353, Ballantine Books

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And sometimes I think there isn’t anything to us but our mistakes.

Paula McLain

Mistake, Thinking, Sometimes

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

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Born: 1965
Occupation: Author
Cite this Page: Citation

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