Quotes from Blessings by Anna Quindlen

"That stayed with her for years, that sketch drawn in a few simple sentences, that idea of a parallel life that might have been hers," p66

"'Stalking,' she said. 'If you want delphiniums you must keep them stalked.' There were still some things of which she was absolutely certain." p130

"At each light he told her to make a wish. A pony. A pink bicycle. A spaniel puppy. 'That's too many wishes,' Lydia had called across the darkening oval at the center of the string of lights, and her father had called back, 'Ah, Lyds, my love, don't ever say that.'" p148

"She realized that lying was easier than telling the truth because it had such nice smooth edges, not jagged with impossibility and inconvenience the way the truth so often was." p151

"'Mother, that happened almost fifty years ago. It's a little late for you to become exercised about it.' She was right, of course. What a soft patina the passage of time gave to everything, at least once one learned to live in the present." p162