Katherine Center > Katherine's Quotes

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“The things we remember are what we hold on to. And what we hold on to becomes the story of our lives.”
― Katherine Center, Happiness for Beginners

“Barni loved talking about the dresses. "Aren't they huge? I've just always been this way," she said, twirling a little. "Just born healthy, I guess."

Oh, God. I hated her so much.”
― Katherine Center, Get Lucky

“Courage is contagious. My friend Katherine Center says, "You have to be brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

“Nobody was perfect. Not even close. And everybody had wrinkles from smiling and squinting and craining their necks. Everybody has marks on their bodies from years of living- a trail of life left on them. Evidence of all the adventures and sleepless nights and practical jokes and heartbreaks that had made them who they are.”
― Katherine Center, Everyone is Beautiful

“There is no better people-watching than at the airport: the whole world packed into such a tight space, moving fast with all their essentials in their rolling bags. And what caught my attention, as I took a few breaths and lay my eyes on the crowds, were all the imperfections. Everybody had them. Every single person that walked past me had some kind of flaw. Bushy eyebrows, moles, flared nostrils, crooked teeth, crows'-feet, hunched backs, dowagers' humps, double chins, floppy earlobes, nose hairs, potbellies, scars, nicotine stains, upper arm fat, trick knees, saddlebags, collapsed arches, bruises, warts, puffy eyes, pimples. Nobody was perfect. Not even close. And everybody had wrinkles from smiling and squinting and craning their necks. Everybody had marks on their bodies from years of living - a trail of life left on them, evidence of all the adventures and sleepless nights and practical jokes and heartbreaks that had made them who they were.

In that moment, I suddenly loved us all the more for our flaws, for being broken and human, for being embarrassed and lonely, for being hopeful or tired or disappointed or sick or brave or angry. For being who we were, for making the world interesting. It was a good reminder that the human condition is imperfection. And that's how it's supposed to be.”
― Katherine Center, Everyone is Beautiful

“And here, after all that, is what I have come to believe about beauty: Laughter is beautiful. Kindness is beautiful. Cellulite is beautiful. Softness and plumpness and roundness are beautiful. It's more important to be interesting, to be vivid, and to be adventurous, than to sit pretty for pictures. A woman's soft tummy is a miracle of nature. Beauty comes from tenderness. Beauty comes from variety, from specificity, from the fact that no person in the world looks exactly like anyone else. Beauty comes from the tragedy that each person's life is destined to be lost to time. I believe women are too hard on themselves. I believe that when you love someone, she becomes beautiful to you. I believe the eyes see everything through the heart - and nothing in the world feels as good as resting them on someone you love. I have trained my eyes to look for beauty, and I've gotten very good at finding it. You can argue and tell me it's not true, but I really don't care what anyone says. I have come, at last, to believe in the title I came up with for the book: Everyone Is Beautiful.”
― Katherine Center, Everyone is Beautiful

“I believe women are too hard on themselves. I believe that when you love someone, she becomes beautiful to you. I believe the eyes see everything through the heart. Nothing in the world feels as good as resting them on someone you love.”
― Katherine Center, Everyone is Beautiful

“A good man buys you tampons when you run out. He does the dishes. He makes you coffee before you're awake in the morning. He listens to you when you're talking, even if it's about home decor. He goes out of his way to touch you, even if it's just your hand. He doesn't call it 'babysitting' when he looks after his own children. He calls you from work just to hear your voice. And he always thinks you're beautiful, even---no, especially---when you don't.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“The human condition is imperfection. And that's how it's supposed to be.”
― Katherine Center, Everyone is Beautiful

“And I was grateful. For all the things that had brought me to this moment, and for every single thing that would follow.”
― Katherine Center, The Bright Side of Disaster

“I'd tried so hard to make a perfect, untouchable life for myself. But trouble finds you. Tragedy finds you. And we keep trying anyway. We hope for the best. We believe we can make something for ourselves- something good that will last- even though, at the exact same time, we know we can't.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“Really, when I look back on it, I did exactly what I had set out to do. I changed my life. I woke myself up. I rediscovered passions of every variety. I forced myself to take a little time. I found a way to bring some of who I used to be into who I was.”
― Katherine Center, Everyone is Beautiful

“However, the trouble with getting what you've always wanted is that once you have it, you have to worry that you'll lose it.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“it's not how you wanted it, but it's how it is”
― Katherine Center

“You can't just wish strength for yourself. Or wisdom. Or resilience. Those things have to be earned.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“I don’t think trying to be happy means you can never be sad,” I said. “Right?”
― Katherine Center, Happiness for Beginners

“I gave you Jake because you’re headstrong and accident prone, and he’s our medic and I trust him to patch you up. I gave you Jake because you’re the best map reader we’ve got, and he’s damn near blind. And I gave you Jake because you absolutely never believe in yourself—and he finds a way to believe in you every damn day.”
― Katherine Center, Happiness for Beginners

“Because you absolutely never believe in yourself—and he finds a way to believe in you every damn day.”
― Katherine Center, Happiness for Beginners

“Life is always a struggle between who you are and who you'd like to be. It's always a negotiation between how you want it and how it is. There's no changing that.”
― Katherine Center, Get Lucky

“I don't want my kids to be like me. I want them to be better than me.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“It just seems to me there’s enough pain in the world—and not nearly enough pleasure. I guess once you’ve had enough kidney stones, hot candle wax on the nipples seems less appealing.”
― Katherine Center, Happiness for Beginners

“I have to go.'

'Just be careful about your expectations..'

'I want her to apologize.'

'Sweetheart,' Jean said, 'your mother is never going to apologize... Go see her if you need to. But remember who she is. Going to your mother for understanding is like going to the hardware store for bread.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“I guess who you are always seems normal to you because you don’t know what it feels like to be anyone else.”
― Katherine Center, Happiness for Beginners

“It's the trying that heals you. That's all you have to do. Just try.”
― Katherine Center, How to Walk Away

“I would never tell you that the life you wanted couldn't have been exactly as great as you planned. But you have to live the life you have. You have to find inspiration in the struggle, and pull joy out of the hardship. [...] Because that's all we can do: Carry the sorrow when we have to, and absolutely savor the joy when we can.”
― Katherine Center, How to Walk Away

“I'm always amazed at how fast siblings can warp-speed into a state of rage. It's like they keep everything they were ever angry about growing up shoved into an overstuffed emotional closet, and at moments like these, it takes about two seconds to swing the door open and start an avalanche.”
― Katherine Center, How to Walk Away

“We're just going to have to wait for-" Then she saw us, and looked Ian over, in his flannel shirt and jeans. "The Brawny paper-towel guy.”
― Katherine Center, How to Walk Away

“When you don't know what to do for yourself, do something for somebody else.”
― Katherine Center, How to Walk Away

“Ian kept checking with me to see if I was ready, and I kept shaking my head. I got cold, in my sundress, but I still didn’t want to leave the fire.”
― Katherine Center, How to Walk Away