Top 200 Ann Napolitano Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “He had been her person, and they’d passed books back and forth between them her entire life.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

153. “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

154. “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

155. “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

156. “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

157. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

161. “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

162. “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

163. “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

164. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

166. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

169. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

171. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

174. “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

175. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

179. “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

180. “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

181. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

184. “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

185. “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

186. “The Taking of MH370.”

— Ann Napolitano

187. “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

188. “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

189. “No one had ever wanted him before. He wished he could take her in his arms, in front of her sisters.”

— Ann Napolitano

190. “Stop thinking about who you were when you were living the wrong life, William. 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.”

— Ann Napolitano

191. “The sky, as if taking a breath, lightens.”

— Ann Napolitano

192. “He was vast, and beautiful, and more present in the gift of baby formula to a young mother than in any.”

— Ann Napolitano

193. “No matter how many minutes remained on the clock, there was no chance of victory.”

— Ann Napolitano

194. “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

195. “He’d convinced himself something between them was broken, when in truth the broken thing was him. Edward’s cheeks grow hot. He, alone, had almost destroyed the most important part of his life.”

— Ann Napolitano

196. “Edward spends every night reaching for unconsciousness as if it were a rock in the middle of a river, while a fierce current pulls him away. His fingertips sometimes.”

— Ann Napolitano

197. “People fly despite knowing that a certain percentage of airplanes crash every year.”

— Ann Napolitano

198. “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

199. “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

200. “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