Top 250 Ann Napolitano Quotes (2026 Update)
Page 5 of 6

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

— Ann Napolitano

202. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

204. “You have to keep growing, or you don’t live.”

— Ann Napolitano

205. “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

206. “She was stitching her life and heart together, and she wanted to keep it all before her: a beautiful whole.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

208. “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

209. “They’re telling me about all the bad things that have happened to their bodies,” William said to Arash. “Not just what happened on the court.” Arash nodded. “I’m glad.” “You’re glad?” “They need to let that out to someone. We hardly ever ask each other how we’ve been hurt.”

— Ann Napolitano

210. “He’d never had this level of molecular awareness before, never felt so much in a single moment. William had always evaded the pointed spears that emotions threw at him and been quick to smother any uncomfortable sensations. He had a hard time believing that other people were able to stand being alive if it came at them with this intensity.”

— Ann Napolitano

211. “She was her father’s rocket.”

— Ann Napolitano

212. “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

213. “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

214. “By not being shared, their love story remained intact.”

— Ann Napolitano

215. “But you built us an infrastructure of kindness.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

217. “And besides, you can’t fail when you’re doing what you love.”

— Ann Napolitano

218. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

220. “It’s because you know that more is possible that you’ll always see the pointlessness in following a stupid rule or clocking in and out of a boring class. Most people can’t see that distinction, so they just do as they’re told. Of course, this makes them bored and irritated, but they think that’s the human condition. You and I are lucky enough to see that it doesn’t have to be that way.”

— Ann Napolitano

221. “Grief is love.” Now Alice thought: Forgiveness is too. The.”

— Ann Napolitano

222. “Sylvie would keep boycotting boring classes to read in parks. She wouldn’t settle for less than true love, even though her sisters had issued a collective sigh when she told them that Ernie had asked her out on a proper date and she’d turned him down. She would wait, forever if necessary, for a man who saw the expanse of her, the way her father had.”

— Ann Napolitano

223. “We look out the window, or into ourselves, for something more.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

226. “Do you have everything you need for the flight?” Julia said, and then thought, Why can I only say stupid things? She wanted to be in this moment with her mother and sister, but she wasn’t. She was a cheap bouncy ball in the middle of a gunfight.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

228. “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

229. “She knew it was a strange contradiction, but despite her interest in love, weddings made her uncomfortable. They were too showy, too public. Deep love between two people was a private, wordless endeavor, and to place the lovers in fancy clothes in front of a crowd seemed antithetical to the nature of the thing. No one could see love – this was what Sylvie believed, anyway. It was an internal state. Watching that moment between two lovers felt wrong to her, almost blasphemous.”

— Ann Napolitano

230. “You and I are cut from the same cloth, baby girl. Neither of us would expect school or work to fill us up. We look out the window, or into ourselves, for something more.”

— Ann Napolitano

231. “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

232. “It felt like she’d been holding an umbrella to deny that it was raining, and now the umbrella was gone, and she was standing in a storm.”

— Ann Napolitano

233. “Her family was a mirror in which she recognized her reflection.”

— Ann Napolitano

234. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

236. “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

237. “Sylvie suddenly felt sad, and her voice sounded sad too – was there some basic human truth that if you were naked, you couldn’t control the tone of your voice? Like, her voice was naked too?”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

240. “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

241. “With his daughter gone, the man’s face never opened again.”

— Ann Napolitano

242. “This wasn’t on her calendar, which meant this moment could exist as a barnacle on the outside of her real life.”

— Ann Napolitano

243. “The Taking of MH370.”

— Ann Napolitano

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

— Ann Napolitano

245. “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

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

— Ann Napolitano

247. “Alice turned her face upward, as if to study the night sky, as if she required a different vantage point to sort through what was inside her.”

— Ann Napolitano

248. “William was her one.”

— Ann Napolitano

249. “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

250. “Sylvie wondered, looking at the mural, if bravery was wedded to loss: You did the unthinkable thing and paid a price.”

— Ann Napolitano