The Violin Maker's Secret Quotes

“It finally struck him that it didn’t really matter what you did or didn’t do in this life. The point was just to experience it”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“exercise would certainly do him good and the time spent walking everywhere would certainly use”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“but life always teaches me that nothing is certain. We all live with uncertainty every day, yet somehow we convince ourselves that our safety is guaranteed. That life is not a fragile thing. That our breath is all that keeps us alive and once that stops…”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“If only she had known, all this time, that the way to vanquish your enemies was to conquer your doubts and fears and become who you were always meant to be.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“I was ashamed of myself when I realised life was a costume party and I attended with my real face.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“it didn’t really matter what you did or didn’t do in this life. The point was just to experience it, to witness it all through your own unique perspective. He’d read somewhere once that humans were invented so the universe could experience itself.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“the way to vanquish your enemies was to conquer your doubts and fears and become who you were always meant to be.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“He suddenly realised that he’d never moved on at all and what he’d thought was a good life was the most hollow performance he’d ever played.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Nature has such an exquisite way of reminding us how beautiful life can be, doesn’t she? If only we could remember to value the simple things. They are the true miracles.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Like birds singing in their sleep,’ she said. ‘Oh, what a beautiful thought!’ ‘They did a study at a university in Argentina, where they found that birds were silently singing in their sleep. I don’t know why they were studying something so random like that, but for whatever reason, they realised that the bird’s voice box moved during sleep. One rather whimsical scientist – a contradiction if ever there was one – said that they were dreaming of their birdsong, practising their notes.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“If you took the time to observe people, they betrayed all of their best-kept secrets.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“the”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Death had come, and now he could see the real meaning of life. It wasn’t about making a good name for yourself or earning a decent salary. It was about fun, silliness, touching other people’s lives in some way, and letting them touch yours. Letting yourself be blown about and shaped by experience.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“And now people expected things, speaking of her future as though it were a destination they were all sailing towards in a boat she herself must build.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“How many of them felt as though they were in the wrong life, struggling against their reality for a childhood dream that promised a happy ever after? How many of them were blind to the wonderful life they’d created, their gaze permanently caught in the rear-view mirror?”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Ah yes”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“How many of them felt as though they were in the wrong life”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Just a few more steps and he would be back in his comfort zone. Which was where exactly? Just outside. Always just outside. A witness to life”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Death had come”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Death had come, and now he could see the real meaning of life. It wasn’t about making a good name for yourself or earning a decent salary. It was about fun, silliness, touching other people’s lives in some way, and letting them touch yours. Letting yourself be blown about and shaped by experience. Being curious rather than scared all of the time. Living in dread of the future – that seemed to be the common thread that kept everyone tied in knots, weighted down with painful memories of the past. Yet Walter found the more his thoughts stayed in the present, the simpler everything became.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“lilies dipped in wine”.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“After Summer died”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“That her greatest achievement should be to sacrifice herself at the altar of her husband’s dreams was the myth that bound so many women into slavery. Why be an artist when you can be my muse?”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“had been the planet around which he had orbited for many years”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“two people who obviously had feelings for each other but had decided (as humans do) to over-complicate the entire endeavour with thoughts. Thoughts about the past, the future, themselves and why they were profoundly unlovable.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Her validation had always come from the outside and so when she could ascertain no hint of how she was being perceived, she wasn’t sure if something was good or bad.”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“She wondered if it was the same for everyone else. Did they too have a dividing line in their lives, clearly marking the before and after? The person they were before and the person they’d had to become to survive the aftermath? And if you couldn’t love this new version, how could you expect anyone else to?”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“Nature has such an exquisite way of reminding us how beautiful life can be”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret

“She wondered if it was the same for everyone else. Did they too have a dividing line in their lives”
― Evie Woods, The Violin Maker's Secret