“ She loved them so much that she felt a kind of hollowness on the inner surface of her arms whenever she looked at them- an ache of longing to pull them close and hold them tight against her. Anne Tyler
“ For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood. Anne Tyler
“ Time, in general, has always been a central obsession of mine - what it does to people, how it can constitute a plot all on its own. So naturally, I am interested in old age. Anne Tyler
“ Don't count on me to take you in because I'm angry. I'm angry at you for leading us on such a song and dance all these years, not just these few years but all the years, skipping all those holidays an… Anne Tyler
“ I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only in the last draft to consider how the work will loo… Anne Tyler
“ Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! Anne Tyler
“ He thought of dying as a kind of adventure, something new that he hadn't yet experienced. Like an unusual vacation trip. Anne Tyler
“ Bravest thing about people is how they go on loving mortal beings after finding out there's such a thing as dying. Anne Tyler
“ One thing that parents of problem children never said aloud: it was a relief when the children turned out okay, but then what were the parents supposed to do with the anger they’d felt all those years… Anne Tyler
“ Face it,' I said. 'There is no true life. Your true life is the one you end up with, whatever it may be. You just do the best you can with what you've got,' I said. Anne Tyler
“ Ghosts... they are the completions of the deads intended gestures, there unfinished plans still hanging in the air - something like when you forgot one thing and so you pantomime the motion. Anne Tyler
