Top 200 Ann Napolitano Quotes (2024 Update)
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151. “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

152. “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

153. “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

154. “William was her one.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

156. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

159. “She was her father’s rocket.”

— Ann Napolitano

160. “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

161. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

164. “Some cover themselves with a jacket or blanket; like turtles, they withdraw into their shells.”

— Ann Napolitano

165. “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

166. “She could feel her friends’ love pushing past her skin, into her body, and she cried too.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

168. “How Leo Tolstoy had inspired Mahatma Gandhi, who had in turn inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. William.”

— Ann Napolitano

169. “Then he bites an O in half and wills himself to remember nothing, think nothing, until all that exists is a flatness – a flatness he now identifies as himself.”

— Ann Napolitano

170. “She had screwed up, not him. It made her sad that her vast experience, even her marathon dances with men, hadn’t left her any the wiser.”

— Ann Napolitano

171. “She was all of herself with him and even felt there was room for her to become more. When he rested his eyes on her, it was without judgment or expectation, and in that space, Sylvie felt her potential: for bravery, brilliance, kindness, joy. All of these sails rested on the deck of her ship; they were hers, but she hadn’t seen them before.”

— Ann Napolitano

172. “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

173. “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

174. “You know the quote about how the only reason for time is so everything doesn’t happen at once? I.”

— Ann Napolitano

175. “Julia decided to deep-clean the apartment.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

177. “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

178. “Since the diagnosis, Sylvie had returned to Leaves of Grass. She wanted to absorb Whitman’s optimistic take on death; she wanted to share the poet’s open mind about what came next. Whenever Sylvie felt a quiver of fear, she repeated to herself the line: And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.”

— Ann Napolitano

179. “He’s been sucker-punched by memories of his brother. This happens sometimes, and he knows he has to ride the memories out.”

— Ann Napolitano

180. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

182. “Do you know our chicken schedule? Because we have a chicken schedule. We eat fried chicken on Mondays, roasted chicken on Wednesdays, and barbecued chicken breasts on Fridays. It never varies.”

— Ann Napolitano

183. “He hated that his friend had to resume the duty of standing guard over his depression.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

185. “No one in his life, except perhaps Kent, had ever accepted him just as he was, and Sylvie had accepted him when he was so broken he was barely a person.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

187. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

189. “He never would have reached this point, the middle, without her.”

— Ann Napolitano

190. “Sylvie aced the classes she was interested in but got C’s or D’s in everything else. Julia had operated her determination like a lawn mower and mowed through high school with the next step in her sights.”

— Ann Napolitano

191. “Sylvie would love differently. She would celebrate whoever her beloved happened to be; she would be curious about his distinctiveness and sink into a love that was unblinkingly honest.”

— Ann Napolitano

192. “Mrs. Cox had also texted him on his birthday to say that.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

194. “This is why we live. She and William held.”

— Ann Napolitano

195. “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

196. “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

197. “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

198. “William, that she had the capacity to raise these giant, beautiful sails and go.”

— Ann Napolitano

199. “Rose glared in Sylvie’s direction with an anger she didn’t understand but that made Sylvie’s.”

— Ann Napolitano

200. “What do you want? Sylvie wouldn’t have asked this question before, because she would have been afraid of the answer, but she wanted to be deeply and truly herself and to experience the world in the deepest and truest way.”

— Ann Napolitano