Quotes from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“I want to sleep, I want dreams to pull me from this world and make me forget. To stop the memories from swirling around me. To put an end to this ache that consumes me.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“Suddenly, all I can think about are all the things I don't know about him. All the things I never had time to learn. I don't know if his feet are ticklish or how long his toes are. I don't know what nightmares he had as a child. I don't know which stars are his favorites, what shapes he sees in the clouds. I don't know what he is truly afraid of or what memories he holds closest.
And I don't have enough time now, never enough time. I want to be in the moment with him, feel his body against mine and think of nothing else, but my mind explodes with grief for all that I am missing. All that I will miss. All that I have wasted.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“Who are we if not the stories we pass down? What happens when there's no one left to tell those stories? To hear them? Who will ever know that I existed? What if we are the only ones left -- who will know our stories then? Who will remember those?”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“You think you want love, Mary. You think it is this beautiful gift that does nothing but fill you and make you whole. But you are wrong. Love can be cruel and ugly. It can become dark and cause the deepest pain.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“I realize that sometimes death comes before you expect it. That while we are rarely prepared for our friends, family and loved ones to die, we are never prepared for our own deaths. Never prepared to reconcile our own regrets.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“It wouldn't have mattered if they were scratches or not," he says, his voice like liquid. "I was bitten during the escape from the house." My limbs go weak, everything inside me folding in collapsing on itself.

"I was already dead," he says, opening his eyes.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“We forget that the rest of live can be just as dangerous. I think about how fragile we are here-- like fish in a glass bowl with the darkness pressing in on every side.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“Because I do not accept the hand of God; I do not believe in divine intervention or predestination. I cannot believe that our paths are pre-chosen and that our lives have no will. That there is no such thing as choice.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“... If you never try to see [someone] for who they are, then you don't love them enough.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“Did you know that when we were kids Cass used to tell me your stories? She used to laugh at you. Not in a mean way, but in the way that Cass used to laugh at everything before...." He gestures around us at our world now.

I shake my head. "I thought Cass never liked my stories. Never remembered them."

"Oh yes, I would beg her to tell me if she had new stories from you."

"Why didn't you ask me yourself?" I whisper.

"Because you were Harry's," he responds.

"Not always."

"Yes, always," he says. "Always in his eyes," he adds in a softer tone.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“When you know love . . . that's what makes life worth it.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“Who are we if not the stories we pass down? What happens when there's no one left to tell those stories? To hear them? Who will ever know that I existed?”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“We are our own memory-keepers and we have failed ourselves. It is like that game we played in school as children. Sitting in a circle, one student whispers a phrase into another student’s ear and the phrase is passed around until the last student in the circle repeats what she hears, only to find out it is nothing like what it is supposed to be.

This is our life now.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“It's as if there is infinity between our lips and we will never actually touch. Like math, where dividing by half can last for eternity.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“That's just the way life is. Some days you wake up and the beach is clear and you forget about everything that surrounds us. And some days you wake up and it looks like this. That's the nature of the tides.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“...[F]inding the end of the path [is] not quite as important as the journey to getting there.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“But then he whispers, "It will be okay, Mary." He pulls my head down to his chest and he wraps both his arms around me and all I can think is why can't life just stop here and now and leave us be in this moment.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“As I stare at the blank page, I am at once awash inwords but unable to find the ones I want to use.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“I need him with an urgency that I cannot escape.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“Every night I drown and every morning I wake up struggling to breathe.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“I will always need you," I whisper. "All of this time I've waited for you. And you were never coming for me. Why did you let me wait for you?”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“He places his hands over mine, the feeling so warm and familiar. 'Those days back there, in the house. That is my world. That is my truth,' he says. 'That is my ocean.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“I know in my life there have been breaches, but I also know that I am very good at blocking out the memories that serve me no purpose.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“I love you, Mary," he says, and that is when I let the tears come. The great heaving sobs of terror and pain that shake my body until I can do nothing but grab on to Travis to anchor me to this spot. He pulls me toward him and I curl around his body as I weep. I fall into darkness with his fingers trailing through my har, my cheeks still wet and my body heaving.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“We are our own memory-keepers, and we have failed ourselves.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“Those days back there, in the house. That is my world. That is my truth," he says. "That is my ocean.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“I wonder what right we have to believe our childhood dreams will come true.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Forest of Hands and Teeth

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“Jer jedino tako, živeći svaki trenutak odvojeno i ne gledajući ni napred ni natrag, može se ovakav život podneti i živ čovek sačuvati za bolje dane.”
― Ivo Andrić, quote from The Bridge on the Drina

“Happy the writer who, passing by characters that are boring, disgusting, shocking in their mournful reality, approaches characters that manifest the lofty dignity of man, who from the great pool of daily whirling images has chosen only the rare exceptions, who has never once betrayed the exalted turning of his lyre, nor descended from his height to his poor, insignificant brethren, and, without touching the ground, has given the whole of himself to his elevated images so far removed from it. Twice enviable is his beautiful lot: he is among them as in his own family; and meanwhile his fame spreads loud and far. With entrancing smoke he has clouded people's eyes; he has flattered them wondrously, concealing what is mournful in life, showing them a beautiful man. Everything rushes after him, applauding, and flies off following his triumphal chariot. Great world poet they name him, soaring high above all other geniuses in the world, as the eagle soars above the other high fliers. At the mere mention of his name, young ardent hearts are filled with trembling, responsive tears shine in all eyes...No one equals him in power--he is God! But such is not the lot, and other is the destiny of the writer who has dared to call forth all that is before our eyes every moment and which our indifferent eyes do not see--all the stupendous mire of trivia in which our life in entangled, the whole depth of cold, fragmented, everyday characters that swarm over our often bitter and boring earthly path, and with the firm strength of his implacable chisel dares to present them roundly and vividly before the eyes of all people! It is not for him to win people's applause, not for him to behold the grateful tears and unanimous rapture of the souls he has stirred; no sixteen-year-old girl will come flying to meet him with her head in a whirl and heroic enthusiasm; it is not for him to forget himself in the sweet enchantment of sounds he himself has evoked; it is not for him, finally, to escape contemporary judgment, hypocritically callous contemporary judgment, which will call insignificant and mean the creations he has fostered, will allot him a contemptible corner in the ranks of writers who insult mankind, will ascribe to him the quality of the heroes he has portrayed, will deny him heart, and soul, and the divine flame of talent. For contemporary judgment does not recognize that equally wondrous are the glasses that observe the sun and those that look at the movement of inconspicuous insect; for contemporary judgment does not recognize that much depth of soul is needed to light up the picture drawn from contemptible life and elevate it into a pearl of creation; for contemporary judgment does not recognize that lofty ecstatic laughter is worthy to stand beside the lofty lyrical impulse, and that a whole abyss separates it from the antics of the street-fair clown! This contemporary judgment does not recognize; and will turn it all into a reproach and abuse of the unrecognized writer; with no sharing, no response, no sympathy, like a familyless wayfarer, he will be left alone in the middle of the road. Grim is his path, and bitterly he will feel his solitude.”
― Nikolai Gogol, quote from Dead Souls

“It's not as if our lives are simply divided into light and dark. There's a shadowy middle ground. Recognizing and understanding the shadows is what a healthy intelligence does.”
― Haruki Murakami, quote from After Dark

“You were the person that turned things right again. With you, I became courageous and free. It was like the part of me that died with my mom came back when I met you, and I didn’t hurt if I knew I had you. Then one day, out of the blue, I lost you, too. The hurt returned, and I felt sick when I saw you hating me. My rainstorm was gone, and you became cruel. There was no explanation. You were just gone. And my heart was ripped open. I missed you.”
― Penelope Douglas, quote from Bully

“I was always desired. But now i am valued. And that is a different thing, i find.”
― Hilary Mantel, quote from Wolf Hall

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