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Top 200 Emma Cline Quotes (2026 Update)
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Emma Cline Quote: “So much effort and noise required to cultivate this landscape, a landscape meant to invoke peace and quiet. The appearance of calm demanded an endless campaign of violent intervention.”

151. “So much effort and noise required to cultivate this landscape, a landscape meant to invoke peace and quiet. The appearance of calm demanded an endless campaign of violent intervention.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Her face answered all its own questions.”

152. “Her face answered all its own questions.”

Emma Cline Quote: “She simply looked at me, her watchful face on mine, as if she could take in my words and make a home for them.”

153. “She simply looked at me, her watchful face on mine, as if she could take in my words and make a home for them.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Any secret you kept made the other person, no matter what, seem stupid, because why didn’t they figure it out? And soon enough you thought to yourself, Why do I love someone who’s so stupid?”

154. “Any secret you kept made the other person, no matter what, seem stupid, because why didn’t they figure it out? And soon enough you thought to yourself, Why do I love someone who’s so stupid?”

Emma Cline Quote: “They throw something away and they still want it. That’s America.”

155. “They throw something away and they still want it. That’s America.”

Emma Cline Quote: “The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they’d backed you into.”

156. “The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they’d backed you into.”

Emma Cline Quote: “At the same time, she knew she would never go crazy – which was worse. She’d been almost jealous of the people she’d known in the city who’d totally cracked up, spiraled into some other realm. It was a relief to have the option to fully peace out of reality.”

157. “At the same time, she knew she would never go crazy – which was worse. She’d been almost jealous of the people she’d known in the city who’d totally cracked up, spiraled into some other realm. It was a relief to have the option to fully peace out of reality.”

Emma Cline Quote: “I waited to be told what was good about me. I wondered later if this was why there were so many more women than men at the ranch. All that time I had spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you – the boys had spent that time becoming themselves.”

158. “I waited to be told what was good about me. I wondered later if this was why there were so many more women than men at the ranch. All that time I had spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you – the boys had spent that time becoming themselves.”

Emma Cline Quote: “The desperate optimism of the born again.”

159. “The desperate optimism of the born again.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Suzanne was giddy from something, I could tell. Not alcohol. Something else, her pupils seeming to eat the iris, a flush lacing up her neck like a Victorian collar.”

160. “Suzanne was giddy from something, I could tell. Not alcohol. Something else, her pupils seeming to eat the iris, a flush lacing up her neck like a Victorian collar.”

Emma Cline Quote: “When I caught her eye, she seemed to retreat. I hadn’t thought, until that moment, that she might be nervous about me and Russell. A new feeling of power flexed within me a quick tightening of ribbon, so unfamiliar I didn’t recognize it.”

161. “When I caught her eye, she seemed to retreat. I hadn’t thought, until that moment, that she might be nervous about me and Russell. A new feeling of power flexed within me a quick tightening of ribbon, so unfamiliar I didn’t recognize it.”

Emma Cline Quote: “It was as easy as this – I’d entered a possibility that had always been there.”

162. “It was as easy as this – I’d entered a possibility that had always been there.”

Emma Cline Quote: “My father had always been in charge of pool maintenance – skimming the surface with a net, heaping wet leaves into a pile. The colored vials he used to test chlorine levels. He’d never been that assiduous with upkeep, but the pool had gotten bad since he’d left. Salamanders idling around the filter.”

163. “My father had always been in charge of pool maintenance – skimming the surface with a net, heaping wet leaves into a pile. The colored vials he used to test chlorine levels. He’d never been that assiduous with upkeep, but the pool had gotten bad since he’d left. Salamanders idling around the filter.”

Emma Cline Quote: “What seemed so peaceful, the black stretch of ocean, was frightening when she got up close. It would be easy to lose yourself. One step into the water. Another. Simple, all the questions answered.”

164. “What seemed so peaceful, the black stretch of ocean, was frightening when she got up close. It would be easy to lose yourself. One step into the water. Another. Simple, all the questions answered.”

Emma Cline Quote: “So grown women could smell it again, that chemical, flowery fug. That’s how badly people wanted it – to know that their lives had happened, that the person they once had been still existed inside of them. There.”

165. “So grown women could smell it again, that chemical, flowery fug. That’s how badly people wanted it – to know that their lives had happened, that the person they once had been still existed inside of them. There.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Misschien wist ik ergens wel welke kant het op dreigde te gaan, een glimp verzonken in de duisternis: misschien had ik een voorgevoel van de richting maar was er toch gewoon in meegegaan.”

166. “Misschien wist ik ergens wel welke kant het op dreigde te gaan, een glimp verzonken in de duisternis: misschien had ik een voorgevoel van de richting maar was er toch gewoon in meegegaan.”

Emma Cline Quote: “She searched until there was only searching left.”

167. “She searched until there was only searching left.”

Emma Cline Quote: “All that time I had spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you – the boys had spent that time becoming themselves.”

168. “All that time I had spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you – the boys had spent that time becoming themselves.”

Emma Cline Quote: “People just wanted to hear their own voices, your response a comma punctuating their monologue.”

169. “People just wanted to hear their own voices, your response a comma punctuating their monologue.”

Emma Cline Quote: “A problem of emotional excess, psychological gout.”

170. “A problem of emotional excess, psychological gout.”

Emma Cline Quote: “I was happy to twist the meanings, willfully misread the symbols. Doing what Suzanne asked seemed like the best gift I could give her, a way to unlock her own reciprocal feelings. And she was trapped, in her way, just like I was, but I never saw that, shifting easily in the directions she prompted for me. Like the wooden toy, clattering with the silver ball I’d tilted and urged into the painted holes, trying for the winning drop.”

171. “I was happy to twist the meanings, willfully misread the symbols. Doing what Suzanne asked seemed like the best gift I could give her, a way to unlock her own reciprocal feelings. And she was trapped, in her way, just like I was, but I never saw that, shifting easily in the directions she prompted for me. Like the wooden toy, clattering with the silver ball I’d tilted and urged into the painted holes, trying for the winning drop.”

Emma Cline Quote: “I didn’t want to breathe, feeling like it would be an imposition on him, even the fact of my ribs rising and falling too much of a bother.”

172. “I didn’t want to breathe, feeling like it would be an imposition on him, even the fact of my ribs rising and falling too much of a bother.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Can I take your plate?” I asked, too stunned to flinch. That was something I’d learned from my mother: revert to politeness. Cut pain with a gesture of civility. Like Jackie Kennedy. It was a virtue to that generation, an ability to divert discomfort, tamp it down with ceremony. But it was out of fashion now, and I saw something like disdain in his eyes when he handed me his plate. Though maybe that is something I imagined.”

173. “Can I take your plate?” I asked, too stunned to flinch. That was something I’d learned from my mother: revert to politeness. Cut pain with a gesture of civility. Like Jackie Kennedy. It was a virtue to that generation, an ability to divert discomfort, tamp it down with ceremony. But it was out of fashion now, and I saw something like disdain in his eyes when he handed me his plate. Though maybe that is something I imagined.”

Emma Cline Quote: “If anyone was questioning themselves, it was all under the surface, a filmy bubble drifting and popping in their brains. Their doubt growing weak as the particulars of a dream grow weak.”

174. “If anyone was questioning themselves, it was all under the surface, a filmy bubble drifting and popping in their brains. Their doubt growing weak as the particulars of a dream grow weak.”

Emma Cline Quote: “As if his mundane words would fool us, keep us from noticing how his glance dripped with filth.”

175. “As if his mundane words would fool us, keep us from noticing how his glance dripped with filth.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Amazing how little you had to give, really. People just wanted to hear their own voices, your response a comma punctuating their monologue.”

176. “Amazing how little you had to give, really. People just wanted to hear their own voices, your response a comma punctuating their monologue.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Her daughter who had always been good, even if that was more disappointing than being great.”

177. “Her daughter who had always been good, even if that was more disappointing than being great.”

Emma Cline Quote: “The cat was ill tempered, pink eyed, and unloved. Still, at least Paula had taken care of it. No one had ever thanked her. Didn’t she deserve a reward? Didn’t she deserve one good thing?”

178. “The cat was ill tempered, pink eyed, and unloved. Still, at least Paula had taken care of it. No one had ever thanked her. Didn’t she deserve a reward? Didn’t she deserve one good thing?”

Emma Cline Quote: “Because that was there even when love wasn’t – the net of family, the purity of habit and home.”

179. “Because that was there even when love wasn’t – the net of family, the purity of habit and home.”

Emma Cline Quote: “But that had been Alex’s immediate thought how easy it would be to take things, out here. All sorts of things. The bikes leaning against the fence. The bags unattended on towels. The cars left unlocked, no one wanting to carry their keys on the beach. A system that existed only because everyone believed they were among people like themselves.”

180. “But that had been Alex’s immediate thought how easy it would be to take things, out here. All sorts of things. The bikes leaning against the fence. The bags unattended on towels. The cars left unlocked, no one wanting to carry their keys on the beach. A system that existed only because everyone believed they were among people like themselves.”

Emma Cline Quote: “It made Alex uncomfortable, someone demanding love so overtly, showing all her cards. As if it were that easy, as if love were something you deserved and didn’t have to scramble to earn.”

181. “It made Alex uncomfortable, someone demanding love so overtly, showing all her cards. As if it were that easy, as if love were something you deserved and didn’t have to scramble to earn.”

Emma Cline Quote: “A space opened up between us as soon as I started to notice these things, to catalog her shortcomings the way a boy would.”

182. “A space opened up between us as soon as I started to notice these things, to catalog her shortcomings the way a boy would.”

Emma Cline Quote: “There was a demented dignity to their resistance – none of them had run. Even at the end, the girls had been stronger than Russell.”

183. “There was a demented dignity to their resistance – none of them had run. Even at the end, the girls had been stronger than Russell.”

Emma Cline Quote: “I tried to save up things to tell him, combing through my days for something to provoke a glint of interest. It didn’t occur to me, until I was an adult, that it was strange to know so much about him when he seemed to know nothing about me.”

184. “I tried to save up things to tell him, combing through my days for something to provoke a glint of interest. It didn’t occur to me, until I was an adult, that it was strange to know so much about him when he seemed to know nothing about me.”

Emma Cline Quote: “But Suzanne got the worst of it. Depraved. Evil. Her sneaky beauty didn’t photograph well. She looked feral and meager, like she might have existed only to kill. Talking.”

185. “But Suzanne got the worst of it. Depraved. Evil. Her sneaky beauty didn’t photograph well. She looked feral and meager, like she might have existed only to kill. Talking.”

Emma Cline Quote: “I’d always hated martini glasses – the stem and the funny shape seemed embarassing, like the adults were trying too hard to be adults.”

186. “I’d always hated martini glasses – the stem and the funny shape seemed embarassing, like the adults were trying too hard to be adults.”

Emma Cline Quote: “They expected life would march on. Things had to be done, and I got shunted along their logistics with the numbness that had taken the place of whatever had made me Evie. My love of cinnamon hard candies, what I dreamed – that had all been exchanged for this new self, the changeling who nodded when spoken to and rinsed and dried the dinner plates, hands reddening in the hot water.”

187. “They expected life would march on. Things had to be done, and I got shunted along their logistics with the numbness that had taken the place of whatever had made me Evie. My love of cinnamon hard candies, what I dreamed – that had all been exchanged for this new self, the changeling who nodded when spoken to and rinsed and dried the dinner plates, hands reddening in the hot water.”

Emma Cline Quote: “A buzzing in his head, a tight skull – certain refrains of songs looped and he said them aloud and smiled.”

188. “A buzzing in his head, a tight skull – certain refrains of songs looped and he said them aloud and smiled.”

Emma Cline Quote: “What were people seeing in her aura, what stink was emanating? Maybe she was imagining it. But maybe not.”

189. “What were people seeing in her aura, what stink was emanating? Maybe she was imagining it. But maybe not.”

Emma Cline Quote: “How impotent my anger was, a surge with no place to land, and how familiar that was: my feelings strangled inside me, like little half-formed children, bitter and bristling.”

190. “How impotent my anger was, a surge with no place to land, and how familiar that was: my feelings strangled inside me, like little half-formed children, bitter and bristling.”

Emma Cline Quote: “The fumes of cruciferous vegetables, roiling in plastic bags. Nothing.”

191. “The fumes of cruciferous vegetables, roiling in plastic bags. Nothing.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Younger men had to make everything mean something, had to turn every choice and preference into a referendum on their personality.”

192. “Younger men had to make everything mean something, had to turn every choice and preference into a referendum on their personality.”

Emma Cline Quote: “The ease of the moment before he pulled the trigger, how clean and winnowed the world must have seemed.”

193. “The ease of the moment before he pulled the trigger, how clean and winnowed the world must have seemed.”

Emma Cline Quote: “I waited to be told what was good about me.”

194. “I waited to be told what was good about me.”

Emma Cline Quote: “I would always be like this, I thought, the person who closed the refrigerator.”

195. “I would always be like this, I thought, the person who closed the refrigerator.”

Emma Cline Quote: “It was almost embarrassing how fervently George had believed that everything would continue to get better and better, life a steady accrual of successes, of moments becoming only more vivid and more pleasurable.”

196. “It was almost embarrassing how fervently George had believed that everything would continue to get better and better, life a steady accrual of successes, of moments becoming only more vivid and more pleasurable.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Logistics were already crowding in, making her tired – this is what people like Simon got to avoid, the constant churn of anxieties somehow both punishingly urgent and punishingly boring.”

197. “Logistics were already crowding in, making her tired – this is what people like Simon got to avoid, the constant churn of anxieties somehow both punishingly urgent and punishingly boring.”

Emma Cline Quote: “Because who else had loved her? Who had ever held her in their arms and told her that he heart, beating away in her chest, was there on purpose?”

198. “Because who else had loved her? Who had ever held her in their arms and told her that he heart, beating away in her chest, was there on purpose?”

Emma Cline Quote: “This might have been enough – to watch him sleep as a parent would, indulging the privilege of imagining happy dreams.”

199. “This might have been enough – to watch him sleep as a parent would, indulging the privilege of imagining happy dreams.”

Emma Cline Quote: “The possibility of judgment being passed on me supplanted any worries or questions I might have about Russell. At that age, I was, first and foremost, a thing to be judged, and that shifted the power in every interaction onto the other person. The.”

200. “The possibility of judgment being passed on me supplanted any worries or questions I might have about Russell. At that age, I was, first and foremost, a thing to be judged, and that shifted the power in every interaction onto the other person. The.”

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