“ We follow our scripts like actors in a very large, very long production. And even with no audience, none of us gives a hint that it isn't real. Ann Brashares
“ Bridget's anger evaporated and the sadness came back. The anger was easier. She owned and controlled it, whereas the sadness owned her. Ann Brashares
“ In a way it scared me, having a summer of experiences and feelings that belonged to me alone. What happened in front of my friends felt read. What happened to me by myself felt partly dreamed, partly… Ann Brashares
“ Her vision of the world under the water represented a beautiful stillness, a version of heaven. It was the lost city of Lena, her alternate universe, the life she yearned for but didn't get to have. Ann Brashares
“ Bridget wondered whether it all came down to the claustrophobic choice between dying beautiful or living ugly. Ann Brashares
“ Tibby, who was not fond of change, had once told Bridget that the present, no matter what it brought, couldn't change the past. The past was set and sealed. Ann Brashares
“ You couldn't erase the past. You couldn't even change it. But sometimes life offered you the opportunity to put it right. Ann Brashares
“ When you feel someone else's pain and joy as powerfully as if it were your own, then you know you really loved them. Ann Brashares
“ She wondered again about her inclination to wish for things that made her so deeply unhappy. Ann Brashares
“ What made you feel that stomach-churning agony for one person and not another? If Bridget were God, she would have made it against the law for you to feel that way about someone without them having to… Ann Brashares
“ There was nothing new in sitting on this dock, on this or that wooden bench, watching for his boat to come. In some ways, she was always waiting for him. Ann Brashares
“ You could feel things or you could find a way to shut down. But once you were feeling things, you couldn’t decide exactly what to feel. That was the trouble with letting them in at all. They made a me… Ann Brashares
“ Alice suspected Paul couldn’t really picture his father, just like she couldn’t picture Paul when he was away. Maybe that was the case with people you wanted more than was good for you. Ann Brashares
“ I feel like I should love them right away. But how do you do that? You can't make yourself love someone, can you? Ann Brashares
“ Lena felt like a child. Worse than a child and less valuable. She felt like a mouse. No, smaller than a mouse and less alive. Her life seemed so small and crumpled you could shoot it through a straw l… Ann Brashares
“ His distress and pleasure mixed and married, giving birth to several anxious children. Ann Brashares
“ I picture you four girls back when you were small. I hardly knew where you ended and the other ones started. Ann Brashares
