Top 200 Ann Napolitano Quotes (2024 Update)
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101. “People fly despite knowing that a certain percentage of airplanes crash every year.”

— Ann Napolitano

102. “William worked on his passing too, so he could feed the ball to the best players in the park. He wanted to keep his place on the court, and he knew that if he made the other boys better, he had value.”

— Ann Napolitano

103. “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

104. “Sylvie had almost missed this life with this man, and because of this near-miss, she appreciated their moments together, even as they accumulated.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

106. “The two boys lead the way down the hall. There are windows in this corridor, and the skyscrapers of New York City are visible in the distance – man-made mountains of steel and glass piercing a blue sky. Jane and Bruce can’t help but locate the spot where the Twin Towers used to be, the same way the tongue finds the hole where a tooth was pulled. Their sons, who were both toddlers when the towers fell, accept the skyline as it is.”

— Ann Napolitano

107. “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

108. “Julia by her side; it made sense that with her sister she would also briefly be allowed her normal taste buds.”

— Ann Napolitano

109. “But perhaps what felt impossible was leaving that person behind. When your love for a person is so profound that it’s part of who you are, then the absence of the person becomes part of your DNA, your bones, and your skin. Charlie’s and.”

— Ann Napolitano

110. “I knew that if I never found my great love, I would rather be single than settle for a mediocre relationship. I can’t bear to pretend happiness.”

— Ann Napolitano

111. “Sylvie thought, This is worth dying for.”

— Ann Napolitano

112. “It felt like a piece of punctuation in a run-on sentence.”

— Ann Napolitano

113. “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

114. “I’m not going to waste their kindness.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

117. “Imagine that I’m a house, and when I find my great love, I’ll become the entire world. Our love will show me so much more than I’ll be able to see on my own.”

— Ann Napolitano

118. “When he woke up in the hospital, dry, and saw Sylvie on a chair next to him, his first thought was that he’d failed. 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

119. “In the dream, William was swimming away from his mother and father, while they swam away from him. And he had told his wife and daughter to go away. So many people leaving each other. There had been a claustrophobic atmosphere in the dream, a foreboding, as if they were all about to find out they were swimming in a fishbowl. They were trying to get away from one another, and they were doomed to fail.”

— Ann Napolitano

120. “She was failing to provide significant comfort to her baby, and she was failing to be the mother that Jordan had always known. The three-year-old gazed at her nursing nightgown and uncombed hair with a combination of fear and sadness. She was also keenly aware that she was failing herself – she’d always believed that she could kick the butt of any situation, and this proved she couldn’t. She was not the woman she’d thought she was, nor the one she’d planned to be.”

— Ann Napolitano

121. “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

122. “The passage of time, and the details that spun some moments into unforgettable memories and others into thin air, traveled with Sylvie – the swirling atmosphere of her own life – while she walked.”

— Ann Napolitano

123. “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

124. “This act of generosity – Cecelia and Emeline had nothing to gain from him, personally – still struck him as extraordinary.”

— Ann Napolitano

125. “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

126. “Julia sought to collect labels like honors student, girlfriend, and wife, but 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

127. “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

128. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

130. “Edward swallows. Like a dutiful student, he follows her train of thought. Voldemort equals plane crash. Dead parents equal dead parents. Harry equals him.”

— Ann Napolitano

131. “Intense psychological stress tends to shut down the part of the brain responsible for innovative, creative thought.”

— Ann Napolitano

132. “This is worth dying for. A driver with a firm jawline.”

— Ann Napolitano

133. “To be the rocket, she had to be with her sisters, and she had to set her daughter free.”

— Ann Napolitano

134. “She’d carried a hesitation inside her ever since he’d met her at his basketball game when she was fourteen. Emeline had always seemed occupied with watching everyone else and trying to be helpful, but she’d stayed on the sidelines, as if it weren’t her turn to live.”

— Ann Napolitano

135. “William was slow-moving and unable to hold a conversation until he’d eaten a thousand calories and the color returned to his face.”

— Ann Napolitano

136. “He wanted to keep his place on the court, and he knew that if he made the other boys better, he had value.”

— Ann Napolitano

137. “He offered this stranger what looked like everything: his joy, his love, his brain, his complete attention. He gave that girl a face that Bruce, who has studied his son every single day of his life, had never seen. Never even knew existed.”

— Ann Napolitano

138. “William was her one.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

140. “When your love for a person is so profound that it’s part of who you are, then the absence of the person becomes part of your DNA, your bones, and your skin.”

— Ann Napolitano

141. “I didn’t expect” – she paused – “for it to be part of everything, every minute. I didn’t know that you could lose someone, and that meant you lost so much else.”

— Ann Napolitano

142. “I always thought that I wanted that dream because I was romantic and destined to live a big life, but that wasn’t true. I created that dream because real life scared me, and that dream seemed so far-fetched I didn’t think it would ever happen. I’d never seen that kind of love in person. My parents loved each other, but badly, and they were miserable.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

144. “And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.”

— Ann Napolitano

145. “My camp counselor won’t even let me read during lunch. She says it’s because reading is antisocial, but I think it’s because she’s actually Joseph Goebbels.” “Who’s that?” “Nazi. Burned books.”

— Ann Napolitano

146. “She was her father’s rocket.”

— Ann Napolitano

147. “Julia specialized in answers. From the time she was old enough to speak, she’d bossed her sisters around, pointing out their problems and providing solutions. Sometimes her sisters found this irritating, but they would also admit that having a “master troubleshooter” in their.”

— Ann Napolitano

148. “She could see this possibility and the way grief and depression tangled inside him; Sylvie found that she could accept his choice even if she didn’t fully understand.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

150. “Make sure you live a meaningful life.”

— Ann Napolitano