The Lost Wife Quotes

“He laughs. And in his laugh I hear bliss. I hear feet dancing, the rush of skirts twirling. The sound of children.
Is that the first sign of love?
You hear in the person you're destined to love the sound of those yet to be born.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“And I saw for the first time how, despite the isolation of our own lives, we are always connected to our ancestors; our bodies hold the memories of those who came before us, whether it is the features we inherit or a disposition that is etched into our soul.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“In my old age, I have come to believe that love is not a noun but a verb. An action. Like water, it flows to its own current. If you were to corner it in a dam, true love is so bountiful it would flow over. Even in separation, even in death, it moves and changes. It lives within memory, in the haunting of a touch, the transience of a smell, or the nuance of a sigh. It seeks to leave a trace like a fossil in the sand, a leaf burning into baking asphalt.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“If those we love visit us when we dream, those who torment us almost always visit us when we're still awake.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“I had to teach myself that love was very much like a painting. The negative space between people was just as important as the positive space we occupy. The air between our resting bodies, and the breath in our conversations, were all like the white of the canvas, and the rest our relationship- the laughter and the memories- were the brushstroke applied over time.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“You hear in the person you're destined to love the sound of those yet to be born.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“To those who believe the dead do not visit them, I say you have cataracts in your soul. I am a man of science, yet I believe in guardian angels and the haunting by ghosts.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“The mind, the heart, the womb. Those three are all threaded in a sacred dance. A woman's pelvis is like an hourglass with the capacity to tell time. It both creates and shelters life. When a mother's diet in insufficient, nutrients are pulled from her own teeth and bone. Women are built to be selfless.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“We wore that grief like one wears one's underclothes. An invisible skin, unseen to prying eyes, but knitted to us all the same. We wore it every day.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“There are two sensations of skin you will always remember in your lifetime; the first time you fall in love-and that person holds your hand-and the first time your child grasps your finger. In each of those times, you are sealed to the other for eternity.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“Your eyes are wide open. I feel as though I could step inside them and make myself at home.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“I told my daughter, the first time she fell in love, not to hold it too close. Think of yourself in a warm, summer pool, I told her, concentric circles rippling all around you. Golden beams of sunlight flooding your hair, striking your face. Inhale it. Breathe it. It will not leave you. If you place sunlight in your palms, it will turn to shadow. If you put fireflies in a jar, they will die. But if you love with wings on, you will always feel the exhilaration of being suspended in flight.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“He took a deep breath, as if he were taking the air from my own lungs and swallowing it for himself.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“I often wonder if it’s the curse of old age, to feel young in your heart while your body betrays you.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“I know only one thing. One doesn’t abandon family. One doesn’t leave them, even in the name of love.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“In my old age, I have come to believe that love is not a noun but a verb. An action. Like water, it flows to it's own current.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“En mi vejez he llegado a creer que el amor no es un sustantivo, sino un verbo, una acción. Como el agua, fluye dentro de una corriente propia. Si uno intentara atraparlo en una presa, el amor verdadero es tan vasto que no se lo podría contener. Aun a pesar de la separación, aun a pesar de la muerte, se mueve y se transforma. Vive dentro de la memoria, en lo evocador de un roce, en la brevedad de un aroma, en los matices de un suspiro. Busca dejar un rastro como un fósil en la arena, como una hoja que queda atrapada en asfalto caliente.”
― Alyson Richman, Los amantes de Praga

“Nos sonreímos el uno al otro, como si ambos supiéramos algo que ninguno de los dos tenía el valor de decir.”
― Alyson Richman, Los amantes de Praga

“Cada persona tiene una imagen o una memoria que guarda en secreto. Una que tiene que desenvolver, como un trozo de caramelo, por las noches. Si uno pasa por allí, cae en el valle de la ensoñación.”
― Alyson Richman, Los amantes de Praga

“Like poetry that is recited but never written down, more powerful because it is held solely in the mind.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“A woman’s pelvis is like an hourglass with the capacity to tell time. It both creates and shelters life. When the mother’s diet is insufficient, nutrients are pulled from her own teeth and bone. Women are built to be selfless.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“In my old age, I have come to believe that love is not a noun but a verb. An action. Like water, it flows to its own current. If you were to corner it in a dam, true love is so bountiful it would flow over. Even in separation, even in death, it moves and changes. It lives within memory, in the haunting of a touch, the transience of a smell, or the nuance of a sigh. It seeks to leave a trace like a fossil in the sand, a leaf burned into baking asphalt.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“But in order to survive in this foreign world, I had to teach myself that love was very much like a painting. The negative space between people was just as important as the positive space we occupy.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“Hasta el día de hoy la conservo encerrada en mi mente, apresada en un abrazo eterno.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“Como un poema que se recita pero jamás se escribe, es más poderoso porque únicamente se retiene en el recuerdo.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“¿Así es como se sienten los besos del hombre al que amas? Todo fuego y calor. De tonos púrpura. Índigo. El rojo azulado que corre por nuestras venas antes de tocar el aire. Quiero besarlo por siempre. Mi cuerpo, como arena debajo de él, se amolda a su forma, la presión de su peso contra el mío.”
― Alyson Richman, Los amantes de Praga

“Hay dos sensaciones de piel que siempre se recuerdan a lo largo de la vida: la primera vez que uno se enamora —y que la persona amada sostiene tu mano— y la primera vez en que un bebé recién nacido te toma de un dedo. En esos precisos momentos quedas unido al otro por el resto de la eternidad.”
― Alyson Richman, Los amantes de Praga

“Fue en esas primeras miradas, en esos primeros intercambios, que percibí no la incertidumbre del amor entre los dos, sino más bien la apremiante inevitabilidad del mismo.”
― Alyson Richman, Los amantes de Praga

“Siempre nos dijo que había dos tipos de mujer. Aquellas que estaban iluminadas por fuera y aquellas iluminadas por dentro. Las primeras necesitaban el brillo de un diamante para hacerlas resplandecer, pero en el caso de las segundas su belleza reluce a causa de la intensa luz de sus almas.”
― Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife

“En la persona a la que estás destinado a amar escuchas el sonido de los que aún no han nacido.”
― Alyson Richman, Los amantes de Praga