The Great Unexpected Quotes

“I wondered If things that might seem frightening could lose their hold over you. I wondered If we find the people we need when we need them. I wondered If we attract our future by some sort of invisible force, or If we are drawn to it by a similar force. I felt I was turning a corner and that change was afoot.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“A driver had been sent to meet us. He was gray-haired, short, and nimble and introduced himself. "I am Patrick and so is every fourth man in Ireland, and the ones in between are named Sean or Mick or Finn, and I'll be driving you.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“What's important is the ambition that results from our weakness.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“Lizzie said that if you imagined you were standing on the moon, looking down on the earth, you wouldn't be able to see the itty-bitty people racing around worrying you wouldn't see the barn falling in or the cow stuck in the pond; you wouldn't see the mean Granger kids squirting mustard on your white dress. You would see the most beautiful blue oceans and green lands, and the whole earth would look like a giant blue-and-green marble floating in the sky. Your worries would seem so small, maybe invisible.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“Mrs. Mudkin closed her eyes. "We should pray."
"I ain't praying," Crazy Cora said.
Mrs. Mudkin said, "Lord, please bless---"
"I ain't praying."
"--this land and the people who--"
"I ain't praying."
"--have toiled on this earth--"
"Stop that praying."
"I can pray if I want to."
"Then be quiet about it.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“But I thought about all the things that had to have spun into place in order for us to be alive and for us to be right there, right then. I thought about the few thing we thought we knew and the billions of things we couldn't know, all spinning, whirling our there somewhere.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“Joe, my guardian and a man of few words, once said about Lizzie, “That girl could talk the ears off a cornfield.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“Sometimes there's not much difference between a heartsick soul and a suck ole donkey.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected

“A donkey?” the poor man wailed. “What do I want with a donkey? I cannot even feed a donkey.” “No matter,” replied the donkey. “Reach into my left ear.” The poor man, though shocked that the donkey could talk, nonetheless reached into the donkey’s ear and pulled out a sack of feed. “Well, now,” the poor man said. “That’s a mighty handy ear. I wish it had food for me as well.” “Reach into my right ear,” the donkey said. And so the poor man reached into the donkey’s right ear and pulled out a loaf of bread, a pot of butter, and a meat pie. Joe went on like this, spinning out the tale, with the poor man pulling all sorts of things out of the donkey’s ears: a stool, a pillow, a blanket, and, finally, a sack of gold. I loved this story, but I always listened uneasily, fearing that something bad would be pulled from the donkey’s ears. Even after I’d heard the tale many times, always the same, I still worried that the poor man might reach in and pull out a snapping turtle or an alligator or something equally unpleasant and unexpected. Sensing my fear, Joe would say, “It’s only a story, Naomi, only a story.” He suggested that I say to myself, “I’m not in the story, I’m not in the story”—a refrain I could repeat so that I would feel less anxious. And so each time the poor man would reach into the donkey’s ears, I would tell myself, I’m not in the story, I’m not in the story, but it didn’t help because a story was only interesting if I was in the story.”
― Sharon Creech, The Great Unexpected: An Enchanting Story of Orphan Friendship, Irish Mystery, and Forgiveness for Kids