Sleepwalking Quotes

“...how many of the phrases that came to mind when thinking about his own life, were somehow sea-related. Her interest had ebbed. They were both drowning in their sorrow. He had sunk lower than ever before. The vocabulary of the ocean seemed tailored to loss.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“Without company, misery turns to sorrow, and sorrow turns inward, curling up in some dark, damp corner.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“After you slept with a woman, she took away with her a small hunk of you. It wasn't bad, as long as the relationship went on. It was something you didn't mind giving up, because it would always be close by. It was only when things ended that you really felt the loss.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“Are you afraid of me? I mean, I read in a book... that people are scared off by people with diseases because it reminds them of their own mortality and stuff.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“Until there is no longer the possibility of sadness, of isolation, there can be no gravity. We all float by, rootless, taking clumsy astronaut steps and calling it progress.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“It did not make Helen feel worse, though, as she had thought it might. It occupied her; it gave her a project to work on. She and Ray had shared almost nothing in years. Grief didn't count, because in a way it was nothing; there wasn't anything in it to hold on to, just wide-open empty space.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“It was too easy. Letting go also meant other things, things people never discussed. There were restrictions; everything always had to be cathartic these days.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“She had seen that look on the faces of lovers in restaurants, on the secret: a secret, meaningful glance exchanged between two people. There seemed to be a conspiracy of passion in the world.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“Does that scare you? Are you afraid that if I take away the mysterious part of you, I won’t like you anymore?”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“I must have no pride whatsoever that I put up with your coldness”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“Numbness would, it turned out. She found that through real concentration she could close out certain thoughts and focus only on the practical things. Parting her hair before the bathroom mirror, all she thought about was evenness, getting it just right. In geometry class she held her compass and swiveled it carefully over the page. A perfect arc formed, a useless bridge”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“In this room, where nurses paced the floor like night watchmen in the bleak hours, lay fragmented women.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“In this, where nurses paced the floor like night watchmen in the bleak hours, lay fragmented women.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking

“They had told each other so many things—God, it embarrassed him even to think about it. Cathy had taken away with her a good many of his secrets, his most vulnerable moments. She had taken away a hunk of his soul.”
― Meg Wolitzer, Sleepwalking