Quotes from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“My daddy says that when you do somethin' to distract you from your worstest fears, it's like whistlin' past the graveyard. You know, making a racket to keep the scaredness and the ghosts away. He says that's how we get by sometimes. But it's not weak, like hidin'...it's strong. It means you're able to go on.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“My daddy always said being brave wasn’t not being scared. Being brave was keeping going when you were.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“God's job ain't to make our lives easier, it's to make us better souls by the lessons He gives us.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I wasn't never gonna run off again, no matter how bad things got. But I wasn't gonna be too scared to love the folks that took the time to love me back, and I sure wasn't gonna chase them that don't. And I was gonna spend the rest of my life asking questions and looking behind everything that happened, so I could find the gifts I got tucked inside me.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I had to hold on to the mad so the sad didn't drown me.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I locked the door and turned on the water to fill the tub. I made it so hot that I had to get in real slow. I wanted it to hurt; wanted my outside to feel as bad as my inside. I sat there a long time watching my skin turn redder and redder... Finally my insides was as fiery as my skin. I liked the burn and hoped it took everything I'd been wishing for and turned it to ashes.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“She grabbed me in a hug so ferocious, the love reached clean to my bones. She kissed the top of my head. "Truth is, you save me, child. You save me as sure as the sun rises.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“A body can't run from what they done. They carry it with them inside. It fester and spread like poison if it's buried. It gotta be out in the air where it can heal.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“She leaned down so she was looking right in my eyes. "You hear me, child. you can't use other folks' bad behavior to excuse your own. When we got a choice, we keep Jesus in our hearts and don't do nothing that would make him ashamed.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“Some of the best things in life come when you’re not planning on them. It’s important to see them for the gift they are.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“But I wasn’t gonna be too scared to love the folks that took the time to love me back, and I sure wasn’t gonna chase them that don’t.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“She slammed down the phone. The sharp bang shattered my heart like a bottle hitting the sidewalk”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“Sometimes laughin' is all a body can do, child. It's laugh or lose your mind.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I didn't know what words could have that much magic.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I know you didn’t see the violence and need for control in him in the beginning, but I’m sure it was there. Nothing you did turned him into such an abusive man. And you … well, you just didn’t see your own value before that. It’s an easy thing for a woman to overlook. We’re taught from the cradle that men rule.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I wondered, what other gifts I got bottled up inside me? That question had started to gnaw on me some.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“Why ain't you mad?" I asked.
"Might as well get mad at the wind for blowin'. Some things just be what they be.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“One day that song stopped being on the outside of me and went deep inside. It was there all the time, especially when I was feeling particularly lonely.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I spent my whole life wantin' to take care of children. You a blessing, not a burden." She looked at me hard. "Don't you go forgettin' that." She patted my shoulder and left me alone. As I fell asleep, it come to me that that was the first time anybody had ever told me I was a blessing.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“I knew how she felt, all jittered up inside and no place to put the aggravation.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“Outside was the calm that sat in front of a July storm, the kind of cloudy stillness that said you’d better get you and your bicycle on home before a gully washer let loose.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“Sometimes laughin’ is all a body can do, child. It’s laugh or lose your mind.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“all bullies got worse when you let them know they were hurting you.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“Never let a bully see you scared.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“God’s job ain’t to make our lives easier, it’s to make us better souls by the lessons he give us.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

“Patti Lynn had a real family with a sister and three brothers and lived in a big house on Magnolia Street. She even had a dog.”
― Susan Crandall, quote from Whistling Past the Graveyard

About the author

Popular quotes

“I'm the Bonesaw Killer's daughter," she whispered, almost to herself. "Why would you ever think I was good?”
― Dia Reeves, quote from Slice of Cherry

“Every morning brings us news of the globe, and yet we are poor in noteworthy stories. This is because no event comes to us without being already shot through with explanation. In other words, by now almost nothing that happens benefits storytelling; almost everything benefits information. Actually, it is half the art of storytelling to keep a story free from explanation as one reproduces it. . . . The most extraordinary things, marvelous things, are related with the greatest accuracy, but the psychological connection of the event is not forced on the reader. It is left up to him to interpret things the way he understands them, and thus the narrative achieves an amplitude that information lacks.”
― Walter Benjamin, quote from Illuminations: Essays and Reflections

“There are many things wrong with you. A hangover just isn't one of them.”
― Alethea Kontis, quote from Enchanted

“History is mostly guessing, the rest is prejudice.”
― Will Durant, quote from The Story of Civilization

“Your life was bad; I see it in your eyes. When you grin, your face is empty, and I have no doubt when you smile, your eyes won’t shine like they should. One day though, baby, I will make them shine.”
― Bella Jewel, quote from Hell's Knights

Interesting books

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.