The Rent Collector Quotes

“Love Forever

If I were the trees ...
I would turn my leaves to gold and scatter them toward the sky so they would circle about your head and fall in piles at your feet...
so you might know wonder.

If I were the mountains ...
I would crumble down and lift you up so you could see all of my secret places, where the rivers flow and the animals run wild ...
so you might know freedom.

If I were the ocean ...
I would raise you onto my gentle waves and carry you across the seas to swim with the whales and the dolphins in the moonlit waters,
so you might know peace.

If I were the stars ...
I would sparkle like never before and fall from the sky as gentle rain,
so that you would always look towards heaven and know that you can reach the stars.

If I were the moon ...
I would scoop you up and sail you through the sky and show you the Earth below in all its wonder and beauty,
so you might know that all the Earth is at your command.

If I were the sun ...
I would warm and glow like never before and light the sky with orange and pink,
so you would gaze upward and always know the glory of heaven.

But I am me ...
and since I am the one who loves you, I will wrap you in my arms and kiss you and love you with all of my heart,
and this I will do until ...
the mountains crumble down ...
and the oceans dry up ...
and the stars fall from the sky ...
and the sun and moon burn out ...

And that is forever.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Words provide a voice to our deepest feelings. I tell you, words have started and stopped wars. Words have built and lost fortunes. Words have saved and taken lives. Words have won and lost great kingdoms. Even Buddha said, 'Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“The most difficult battles in life are those we fight within. - Old Chinese Proverb”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Literature has the power to change lives, minds, and hearts.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Sometimes broken things deserve to be repaired.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“But as a wise and great teacher once explained so patiently, all good stories - stories that touch your soul, stories that change your nature, stories that cause you to become a better person from their telling-these stories always contain truth.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Just when we think we have our own stories figured out, heroes arise in the most unexpected places.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“While almost everything that surrounds us in life gets old and wears out, stories, like our very souls, don't age.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“But literature is unique. To understand literature, you read it with your head, but you interpret it with your heart. The two are forced to work together-and, quite frankly, they often don't get along.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Child, unless you are opening a dictionary, you start at the book's opening page and you read the story through. If it's terribly dreadful, then just put it down and move on. What I will not tolerate is reading ahead. It's not fair to the reader or to the author. If they meant to have their books read backwards, they would surely have written them that way!”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Literature is a cake with many toys baked inside--and even if you find them all, if you don't enjoy the path that leads you to them, it will be a hollow accomplishment.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Sang Ly, we are literature-our lives, our hopes, our desires, our despairs, our passions, our strengths, our weaknesses. Stories express our longing not only to make a difference today but to see what is possible for tomorrow. Literature has been called a handbook for the art of being human.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“I have been quiet today because fear in my heart has been fighting with frustration in my brain, leaving little energy for my mouth.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Peace is a product of both patience and persistence.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“People only go to the places they have visited first in their minds.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Believing isnot enough, Sang Ly. If you want to resurrect hope, doing is the most important. Can you do these things?”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“If you are going to do wrong, at least make sure you don’t get fat from it.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“I tell Ki that I'm learning about words and stories to help our family. He says he's protecting our family with his knife. Who is right? Which is best, protecting with words or with his knife?"
She is instant, certain, and solemn, and there is no misunderstanding her meaning.
"Fight ignorance with words. Fight evil with your knife. Tell you husband, Ki, that he is right.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“One of the first lessons that I hope you grasp is that woven into meaningful literature, so tightly that it can't be separated, is a telling lesson, even in stories as short as this one."
"Always?" I ask.
"Always!" she confirms. "Good stories teach!”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Crafting a plan is easy. Taking action will always prove to be the more difficult path.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Worry in the dark can make it even darker.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“I distance myself from heaven and then complain that heaven is distant.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Two things happen when you get to be old. One, you gather experience and knowledge. You learn from your mistakes, and thereby offer wisdom to others. The second thing that happens is that you grow forgetful, ornery and senile, and when you offer advice, well, you sometimes just don't know what you're talking about. Often it's hard for everyone-including me-to know the difference.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“It's dangerous because my thoughts get away from themselves. Mixed with emotion, they pile up like the garbage that surrounds me. They stack layer upon layer, deeper and deeper, month after month- crushing, festering, smoldering. One day something is certain to combust.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Just as ants do when their nest is disturbed, we return, survey the damage, and then without hesitation immediately get to work rebuilding.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Rain in the dump makes water filthy. Rain in the garden cleanses.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.” —Buddha”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Life will not always be so hard and cruel. Our difficulties are but a moment.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Sang Ly, the desire to believe, to look forward to better days, to want them, to expect them-it seems to be ingrained in our being. Whether we like it or not, hope is written so deeply into our hearts that we just can't help ourselves, no matter how hard we try otherwise.we love the story because we are Sarann or Tattercoats or Cinderella. We all struggle with the same problems and doubts. We all long for the day when we'll get our own reward. We all harbor hope-”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector

“Literature is a cake with many toys baked inside-and even if you find them all, if you don't enjoy the path that leads you to them, it will be a hollow accomplishment. There was a playwright named Heller, American, I believe, who summed it up this way. He said, 'They knew everything about literature except how to enjoy it.”
― Camron Wright, The Rent Collector