Quotes from Open House

Elizabeth Berg ·  272 pages

Rating: (50.9K votes)


“I made cranberry sauce, and when it was done put it into a dark blue bowl for the beautiful contrast. I was thinking, doing this, about the old ways of gratitude: Indians thanking the deer they'd slain, grace before supper, kneeling before bed. I was thinking that gratitude is too much absent in our lives now, and we need it back, even if it only takes the form of acknowledging the blue of a bowl against the red of cranberries.”
― Elizabeth Berg, quote from Open House


“I remove my wedding rings and put them in the jewelry box. So many others have done this. I am not the only one. I am not the only one. But here, I am the only one.”
― Elizabeth Berg, quote from Open House


“It's amazing how smart the body is. Though maybe we could do without loving. I think it's overrated, and I think it's too hard. You should only love your children; that is necessary, because otherwise you might kill them. But to love a man? It's overrated, and it's too hard and I will never, ever do it again.”
― Elizabeth Berg, quote from Open House


“My mother lost too much and repaired herself in the only way she was able to repair herself. That in fact she is repairing herself, hour by hour.”
― Elizabeth Berg, quote from Open House


“I once read that Martha Stewart never wears a bathrobe. Not that I like Martha Stewart, nobody likes Martha Stewart, I don’t think even Martha Stewart likes Martha Stewart.”
― Elizabeth Berg, quote from Open House



“When did After start? I don't remember it starting. I only remember it having arrived. Things were bad for such a long time before he left. But I miss him. I can feel loneliness in my like circulation; as constant and as irrefutable.”
― Elizabeth Berg, quote from Open House


About the author

Elizabeth Berg
Born place: in St. Paul, Minnesota, The United States
Born date December 2, 1948
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“It is true that every mountain has four faces, and one tends to know but one.
― Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from Terra Nostra


“Her full breasts strained against the material as if dying to escape, turning her respectable business suit into a vehicle for a stripper. Horrified at the sudden veer of his thoughts, he quickly imagined nuns in underwear and got himself back in control.”
― Jennifer Probst, quote from The Marriage Mistake


“Affirmation for Today: I am strong enough to refrain from killing any or all members of my family.”
― Susan Donovan, quote from He Loves Lucy


“Belief in such things was widespread in America and Britain at the start of the twentieth century, when an Ouija board was a regular fixture in drawing rooms, to be brought out after dinner for impromptu séances.”
― Erik Larson, quote from Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania


“Whenever things were frightening, it was a good idea to measure them.”
― Daniel Kehlmann, quote from Measuring the World


Interesting books

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
(72.4K)
Wild Swans: Three Da...
by Jung Chang
The Awakening / The Struggle
(73.8K)
The Awakening / The...
by L.J. Smith
Thoughtless
(126.8K)
Thoughtless
by S.C. Stephens
The Millennium Trilogy
(40.6K)
The Millennium Trilo...
by Stieg Larsson
Faefever
(80.5K)
Faefever
by Karen Marie Moning
How Green Was My Valley
(12.5K)
How Green Was My Val...
by Richard Llewellyn

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.