Quotes from The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72

Molly Peacock ·  416 pages

Rating: (865 votes)


“Is being burnt a requisite for the making of art? Personally, I don't think it is. But art is poultice for a burn. It is a privilege to have, somewhere within you, a capacity for making something speak from your own seared experience.”
― Molly Peacock, quote from The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72


“But if a role model in her seventies isn't layered with contradictions - as we all come to be - then what good is she? Why bother to cut the silhouette of another's existence and place it against our own if it isn't as incongruous, ambiguous, inconsistent, and paradoxical as our own lives are?”
― Molly Peacock, quote from The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72


“The secret of marriage is thinking that your partner is better than yourself.”
― Molly Peacock, quote from The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72


“Having a collection, taking it out, looking at it, reordering it, and putting it away is creative in itself. It doesn't yield a product, like the results of an art, but is stops time, as making art does.”
― Molly Peacock, quote from The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72


“Robert Phelps, a biographer of Colette, said about watching, 'Along with love and work, this is the third great salvation. For whenever someone is seriously watching, a form of lost innocence is restored. It will not last, but during those minutes his self-consciousness is relieved.' Noticing keeps you alive.”
― Molly Peacock, quote from The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72



About the author

Molly Peacock
Born place: in Buffalo, New York, The United States
Born date June 30, 2018
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“In science, there are no universal truths, just views of the world that have yet to be shown to be false.”
― Brian Cox, quote from Why Does E=mc²? (And Why Should We Care?)


“Being from a Christian family doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage —”
― Terri Blackstock, quote from Last Light


“I'm not sure we're any better, but able to describe the attempt to track our wandering in circles in a way that perhaps somebody else can identify with. I don't think writers are any smarter than other people. I think they may be more compelling in their stupidity, or in their confusion.”
― David Lipsky, quote from Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace


“She grabbed the bills. “Alright, you rat bastard, you win.” She stuffed the money in her back pocket.
“But I’m only taking it because I’m greedy and desperate, and because there’s no door on that room so you can’t get too frisky.

“Fair enough.”

“I mean it, Dean. If you try to cop even one feel…”

“Me? What about you?” His eyes slid over her like cool icing on hot spice cake. “How about this, double or nothing.”

“What are you taking about?”

“You touch me first, I keep the hundred. I touch you first, you get two hundred. Nobody touches anybody, the deals stands as is.”

She thought it over, but couldn’t see any immediate loopholes other than the threat of her inner-slut emerging, and she could darn well control that little bitch. “Deal.”
― Susan Elizabeth Phillips, quote from Natural Born Charmer


“Our lives are like these things I make. Turn 'em, build 'em, bake 'em in fire. That's what you've been, son. Baked and fired. But a pot don't have the right to choose whether he be for water, wine, or just left empty. You have, son. You have.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks


Interesting books

King Hall
(7.9K)
King Hall
by Scarlett Dawn
KJV Study Bible
(535)
Barracuda
(6.3K)
Barracuda
by Christos Tsiolkas
The Nest
(117K)
The Nest
by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx
(1.2K)
Jake Ransom and the...
by James Rollins
The Bone Labyrinth
(9.2K)
The Bone Labyrinth
by James Rollins

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.