Top 200 Ann Napolitano Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “He’d always assumed openness was synonymous with danger and that if he wasn’t holding on tight to the new life he’d built, it would blow away. But with the barriers down, he’d discovered that life became bigger.”

— Ann Napolitano

102. “The stories and the people in them did sound remarkable, Sylvie thought, when spoken aloud. She and the twins had rarely talked about what happened. They’d lived through it, after all, and the loss of Julia had made them quiet. But Josie’s wonder at the stories, and Izzy’s clear enjoyment of what she saw as a soap opera in which she played a small role, took the sting out of the grief woven through those times. When Sylvie spoke their family history into the air, all she heard was love.”

— Ann Napolitano

103. “Later that night, Sylvie sat in bed with a book open in her lap. She was too sleepy to read, but the proximity of the book was comforting. Telling.”

— Ann Napolitano

104. “Each letter feels like a page in a book that he won’t fully understand until he reaches the end. It feels imperative – in a way nothing else in his life has – that he read every word. The attention he brings to the letters seems to be changing him; Edward can feel strands inside himself gathering, trying to find a shape in which he will be able to meet the eyes of the people in the photographs.”

— Ann Napolitano

105. “He wanted to know where the ice was weakest beneath their feet so he could keep them from falling through.”

— Ann Napolitano

106. “The past is the same as the present to her, as precious and as close at hand. After all, if you think about one memory for most of a day, is that not your present? Some people live in the now; some people prefer to reside in the past – either choice is valid.”

— Ann Napolitano

107. “When Sylvie was a child, she’d watched in amazement when friends, upset about a bad day at school or a slight from a boy they had a crush on, burst into tears at the sight of their mother. Their mother was their safe space, and so, with her, they felt every iota of their feelings.”

— Ann Napolitano

108. “When she’s anxious, she replays moments from her life, perhaps to convince herself that she has a history.”

— Ann Napolitano

109. “She knew what mattered. She knew, at a deeper level each time, that what mattered was love. But love was what she had misread, mistaken, and misplaced in this life.”

— Ann Napolitano

110. “If you live long enough, everything is complicated.”

— Ann Napolitano

111. “Sylvie and her sisters had known themselves under their father’s gaze. And with that gaze gone, the threads that had tied their family so tightly together had loosened.”

— Ann Napolitano

112. “God damn it, Emeline,” Sylvie said. She knew Emeline didn’t like it when she swore. “Why do you have to be so wise?” “I’m the only one without my own personal life, so I have time to watch you all.”

— Ann Napolitano

113. “I’m either becoming Zen or more depressed, he thinks.”

— Ann Napolitano

114. “But Carrie had told her friend once, during high school, not to model herself on Julia. “I like your mom a lot,” Carrie had said, “but anyone that dresses and does their hair as carefully as your mom does every single day is unhappy on the inside. She’s trying to hide all her messiness, and I want better than that for you.”

— Ann Napolitano

115. “William thought of that sacrament now and felt bad for all the children who were forced to divide their ordinary lives into sins and not-sins so they would have something to say to a cassocked stranger.”

— Ann Napolitano

116. “Her father had called Julia his rocket ever since she was a little girl – I can’t wait to watch you fly, he’d say – and she was the one who fixed problems.”

— Ann Napolitano

117. “I could be mad at you. I could scream at you. But I won’t. You raised me to take care of myself, and I will.”

— Ann Napolitano

118. “Linda’s uptight too, but in a disheveled way. Her wires are crossed and split and her energy flow is a mess.”

— Ann Napolitano

119. “I’m not ready for this,” she says. “This,” Florida says. She thinks: This is the subject that defines women. Having babies. Will you have them? Can you have them? Do you want to have them?”

— Ann Napolitano

120. “I’d never seen that kind of love in person. My parents loved each other, but badly, and they were miserable. So were all the other couples in my neighborhood. Have you ever actually seen that kind of love?” William shook his head. He had married out of fear, because he didn’t think he was capable of steering himself into adulthood. He’d needed Julia to be his parent more than his.”

— Ann Napolitano

121. “I’m a writer,” Jane says. “I have a habit, I guess, where I see all the possibilities in a situation. No matter what, there’s always at least one that’s terrifying.”

— Ann Napolitano

122. “I’m not saying you have to be vegan,” Jordan says, perhaps picking up on his father’s melancholy. “If you want to continue to make animals suffer unnecessarily, be my guest.”

— Ann Napolitano

123. “When I’m with you, I feel fixed.”

— Ann Napolitano

124. “When in doubt, read books,” Principal Arundhi says. He speaks quickly, as if worried this might be his last opportunity to share his thoughts. “Educate yourself. Education has always saved me, Edward. Learn about the mysteries.”

— Ann Napolitano

125. “She needed a backup to her mother, who.”

— Ann Napolitano

126. “He realizes – gripping the arms of his chair as hot pain blinks on and off in his midsection – that all the major chapters in his personal life started and ended on wrinkled bedsheets. All the wives, the would-be wives, the ex-wives, negotiated their terms in the bedroom.”

— Ann Napolitano

127. “Sylvie was being punished for the choice she’d made twenty-five years earlier. Even.”

— Ann Napolitano

128. “I know it sounds silly, but I’m proud of myself. I guess for living a brave life.”

— Ann Napolitano

129. “He looks down at his busted legs, to avoid seeing the lethal sky.”

— Ann Napolitano

130. “Julia felt a deep gratitude to Manhattan, both for demanding all of her attention and for offering no reminders of her old life.”

— Ann Napolitano

131. “You’re built for the life you’re living now. You have a gift for seeing what’s wrong with these boys. And besides, you can’t fail when you’re doing what you love.” William was silent, considering this. “Do you not get it?” Arash had said, exasperated. William started to respond, but the older man cut him off: “It doesn’t matter if you get it, actually. It’s true.”

— Ann Napolitano

132. “Sylvie steered away from labels. She wanted to be true to herself with every word she uttered, every action she took, and every belief she held.”

— Ann Napolitano

133. “She’s one of those people who live way too much in their heads and are too invested in their careful plans.”

— Ann Napolitano

134. “Sylvie had read somewhere that the more times a story was told, the less accurate it became. Humans were prone to exaggeration; they leaned away from the parts of the narrative they found boring and leaned into the exciting spots. Details and timelines changed over years of repetition. The story became more myth and less true. Sylvie thought about how she and William rarely told their story and felt pleased; by not being shared, their love story remained intact.”

— Ann Napolitano

135. “He had been her person, and they’d passed books back and forth between them her entire life.”

— Ann Napolitano

136. “John gestures with his hand again, this time seeming to refer to everything: the photographs, the letters, middle age, marriage. “If you live long enough, everything is complicated.”

— Ann Napolitano

137. “The physical jolt shifts something inside Jordan, and a new truth yawns open: I do need them. I need all three of them. And while the plane hesitates, as if deciding its next move, his apartment now has a bunk bed to share with his brother and another bedroom, for his parents.”

— Ann Napolitano

138. “The fact that he had failed meant he had to continue to walk forward with his life history – his mistakes – slung over his shoulders like a heavy backpack. This fact exhausted him, but he was too tired to reject it.”

— Ann Napolitano

139. “Perhaps Sylvie’s body had been ultimately unable to bear the distance between Chicago and New York.”

— Ann Napolitano

140. “They were both twenty-three years old. William felt at least forty – which was ancient.”

— Ann Napolitano

141. “Waters? A little sunshine never did anyone any harm.”

— Ann Napolitano

142. “Sylvie had talked about one-two punches, about how Charlie had died on the day Izzy was born, and Sylvie had clearly used her magic to somehow bring William his daughter on the day his heart broke. His wife was trying to save him, yet again.”

— Ann Napolitano

143. “He nods. Jordan was given the series as a birthday gift and then had the idea to take the books out of the library as well, so he and his brother could read them at the same time. They lay in their bunks for hours, for several weeks on end, mowing through one book after another. Jordan would call out from the top bunk: Holy cow, Eddie, are you on page 202 yet?”

— Ann Napolitano

144. “You’ll all set sail, as you should, and leave your mother and me here. It’s a tale as old as time.”

— Ann Napolitano

145. “Alice had always found her grandmother’s agitation comforting. It made her feel safe, because she knew if someone was ever mean to her, Grandma Rose would let them have it.”

— Ann Napolitano

146. “Alice nodded in vague agreement, but it seemed too early for gossip, like going on vacation and buying a house on the first day. She thought, But we don’t know any of these people. I don’t know you. We’re all strangers.”

— Ann Napolitano

147. “He watches his new life walk into his old life.”

— Ann Napolitano

148. “William wanted to cup his hands again, to hold close his love for his wife, to hold close her love for him.”

— Ann Napolitano

149. “We thought the boy might want this.”

— Ann Napolitano

150. “He knows the loss of Jordan will remain with him forever, even as Edward slowly leaves his parents behind. He was supposed to grow up and leave his mom and dad, after all, just like he will leave John and Lacey in the fall when he goes to college. That is part of the natural order. Edward wasn’t supposed to leave Jordan, though. They were meant to age together. That loss continues to be spiked with pain; it will never be soothed.”

— Ann Napolitano