Quotes from The Sweet Gum Tree

Katherine Allred ·  314 pages

Rating: (25.6K votes)


“You can’t turn love on and off like a light switch, no matter how hard you try. All you can do is wall it off, one brick at a time, until you’ve created an impenetrable fortress around your emotions. And once that fortress is built, you camouflage it so well that even you can’t see it anymore.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“To my surprise, Nick reached under his shirt and pulled out the half-heart pendant. With his gaze fixed on mine, he slid the chain over my head. “No one should have to go through life with only half a heart,” he whispered.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“I promise you this. I’ll love you until the day I die even if I have to live without you. And if it’s fifty years from now, you come home, Nick Anderson. Do you hear me? I’ll be waiting on you.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“He always was someone. Because the core of the sweet gum tree never changes. Like Nick, the deep red wood stays true to its nature. Strong, and steady, and pure.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree



“Do you want to know the real reason I came back, Alix?” It was because of you. You’re my roots. Wherever you are would be home to me.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“There are more kinds of hurt than physical ones, hurts that run ever deeper and leave bigger scars, and not even Nick could protect me from himself.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“Lies and half-truths hurt not only the liar, but the people they love most.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“A sweet gum tree is the chameleon of wood, it’s corky exterior hiding it’s inner ability to imitate anything from cherry to mahogany. But it’s real value, one unrealized by most people, is it’s deep red heart, steady and strong.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“I’ll marry you,” I told him decisively. “That way, we can both have kids someday.”
He grinned, those dimples emerging in a blaze of glory. “Yeah, you probably would.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree



“Nick? Have you ever…”

”No.” He lifted his head again, studied me. “I’ve thought about it, but it never seemed right.”

The idea of him making love to anyone else sent a shaft of pain straight through my middle. “You better wait on me, damn it.”

”I don’t think I have much choice.” He brushed my hair back. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, Alix, the only one I’ll ever want. That’s a promise.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“We’re almost there,” I whispered in his ear. “Don’t you die, damn it. If you do, I’ll never speak to you again.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“This isn’t a church social, Sweetheart. You aren’t going to be able to save me this time.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“Life isn't kind, and we rarely get what we want out of it. We do the best we can, and we keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“God, I can’t lose you again.” His whisper was harsh, filled with pain. “Not now, when I’ve waited so long to hold you. I think it would kill me. But I’m so damn scared you’ll hate me when you find out the truth.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree



“But we southerners know that you can insult someone as much as you want so long as you add that "bless her heart" to the end of your comment.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“He was the most gorgeous hunk of male it had ever been my privilege to stare at, and darn his hide, he knew exactly what I was thinking.
His smile turned to a smug grin to so full of satisfaction, that I couldn’t help myself. I laughed.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“You’re not old enough to have a real boyfriend,” he muttered.
I stiffened.
“If I’m old enough to have babies, then I’m damn well old enough to have a boyfriend,” I ground out. “And just as soon as I decide on who it’s going to be, I’ll let you know.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“I love you. There hasn't been a single day in the last 15 years that I haven't regretted not telling you when I had a chance.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. And you couldn’t be indifferent to him if your life depended on it.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree



“The idea of him making love to anyone else sent a shaft of pain straight through my middle. “You better wait on me, damn it.”
“I don’t think I have much choice.” He brushed my hair back. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, Alix, the only one I’ll ever want. That’s a promise.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“...while I was vowing to save Nick, he had taken on the job of being my protector and staunchest defender”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“There’s a part of everyone that needs to be taken care of. Denying it exists doesn’t change the truth, it only makes you very lonely.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“Mothers. Can’t live with them, can’t hit them over the head with a board.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“I’d read enough to know that one of the symptoms of grief was a deep anger at the loved one who’d died, anger that impaired your judgement, made you want to scream and curse because they’d left you. But Nick hadn’t died, and I didn’t realize that I was suffering the symptoms of grief.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree



“That was also the year I discovered Boys. Or maybe I should say they discovered me. By then I knew what they wanted and I wasn’t buying it.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“I’m sorry, Nick,” I whispered, slipping his pendant from my neck. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“But there are more kinds of hurt than physical ones, hurts that run ever deeper and leave bigger scars, and not even Nick could protect me from himself.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“Helping someone because you feel sorry for them is one thing, but doing it because you like them and care about what happens to them is better. That means you aren't doing it for yourself.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree


“Do you want to know the real reason I came back, Alix? It was because of you. You’re my roots. Wherever you are would be home to me.”
― Katherine Allred, quote from The Sweet Gum Tree



About the author

Katherine Allred
Born place: Arkansas, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I’ll get you wetter than a banana in a women's prison.”
― Courtney Lane, quote from The Sordid Promise


“Mejor es adquirir sabiduría que el oro, y adquirir entendimiento vale más que la plata.”
― The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, quote from The LDS Scriptures: Unabridged Complete King James Version Holy Bible /The Book of Mormon / Doctrine and Covenants / The Pearl of Great Price


“It is Jesus that The Proverbs 31 Lady seeks when she dreams of happiness; He is waiting for her when nothing else she finds satisfies her; He is the beauty to which she is so attracted to; it is He who provoked her with that thirst for fullness that will not let her settle for compromise; it is He who urges her to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in her heart her most genuine choices, the choices that others try to suppress.
Do you desire to be that Lady of God? God desires a relationship with you. He's made this relationship possible by sending His Son. That inner void is filled through a relationship with the Lord. The place to start to fulfill the longing in your heart is to trust in the Lord for His salvation and allow the Holy Spirit to work within you to satisfy your thirst. As we go together to the well that never runs dry, I know the savior of our soul will meet us there. We will drink from the water of life He gives, the water that quenches our thirsty souls.”
― Mary Maina, quote from The Proverbs 31 Lady: Unveiling Her Secrets Before Saying I Do


“Pero pocos conocen 1984, de Orwell. Esta obra, difícil de obtener y cuya posesión entraña peligro, solo es conocida por algunos miembros del Partido Interno. Orwell los fascina por su perspicaz visión de detalles que ellos conocen muy bien, así como su uso de la sátira al estilo Swift. Tal manera de escribir ésta prohibida de la Nueva Fe, porque la alegoría, que por su naturaleza implica múltiples significados, violaría las prescripciones del realismo socialista y las exigencias de la censura.”
― Czesław Miłosz, quote from The Captive Mind


“I want her. But more than that, I want her to want me.”
― Lauren Layne, quote from Broken


Interesting books

Stray
(2.3K)
The Everlasting Man
(5.6K)
The Everlasting Man
by G.K. Chesterton
Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
(2.3K)
Babylon's Ark: The I...
by Lawrence Anthony
Twice Born
(3.9K)
Twice Born
by Margaret Mazzantini
The Death of the Heart
(5.3K)
The Death of the Hea...
by Elizabeth Bowen
Asking For It
(9.8K)
Asking For It
by Louise O'Neill

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.