Ordinary Time Quotes

“I wonder if this is why I love books. I can dip my toe into other lives without entirely changing my own. I can stay, because in books, I can adventure and wander, meander and dream.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

“Good stories are anywhere you are. Your quiet, ordinary life matters, and the place you're living it matters, too.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

“I went to breakfast with my dad; I wanted to know what he thought, "You're too young to make a mistake," he told me. He gave me permission to try, and that is all I am doing, even still, all these years later. Trying. Failing. Succeeding. All the above.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

“Childhood friends don't necessarily know you best. I know thos. But they do know a version of you best, and that can be such a relief in the harsh reality of adult life; sometimes we need someone who we don't need to explain ourselves to.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

“Let's take the pressure off ourselves and the people we meet. Let's allow surface to be enough. Let's play Bunco and read books and wave to one another across the grocery store and think: this is all I ever wanted.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

“She was so blissfully unaware, and I am glad. Had she known any of it, whe might have never sent the email at all. She also never could have predicted the joys, the sense of purpose and place, the kindness of customers, the treasured friendships, the utter happiness of unboxing new books and putting them on shelves.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

“I want to be more comfortable with the changed coming than I was in my youth...I want to surprise myself, because one day I will look in the mirror and be surprised, and I want to be okay with that. I want to know underneath it all, I am still me, no matter the color or style of my hair.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put

“It's not that I regret never having highlights or getting a tattoo. I truly can't think of anything I like enough to permanently put it on my body. I don't regret those things. But I do wonder if my desire to stay comfortable has outweighed my desire to grow or to change. I wonder if my quest for consistency has robbed me of fun, of silliness, of playfulness. When a friend gets a tattoo or a piercing or bangs, I am in awe. I wish I could be so brave, less precious and particular with my body.”
― Annie B. Jones, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put