Swann Quotes

“People who work in libraries, like those in bakeshops, ought to be made peaceful and happy by their surroundings, but they almost never are.”
― Carol Shields, Swann

“If Pauline should see him close his eyes, she would never be offended or suspect boredom. She is fully conscious of her powers, appreciates the importance of good food, knows that books, particularly fiction, form a valuable core of experience, and believes she can trust Cruzzi absolutely to understand and follow the intricacies of her observations.”
― Carol Shields, Swann

“A pound of joy weighs more
When grief has gone before.”
― Carol Shields, Swann

“Well, what the heck, poets are supposed to be odd, aren’t they?”
― Carol Shields, Swann

“Everything Sarah writes is what he needs to hear. Of course he knows this can be explained as a trick of love, that every word spoken by a lover becomes radiantly relevant and overlaid with gold.”
― Carol Shields, Swann

“This is a secretive age. Our secrets are our weapons. Think of South Africa, those clandestine meetings. Think of the covertness of families. Think of love. How else can we express mutiny but by the burial of our unspoken thoughts?”
― Carol Shields, Swann

“I love my thoughts, even when they take me up and down sour-smelling byways where I’d rather not venture. Whatever flickers on in my head is mine and I want it, all the blinking impulses and inclinations and connections and weirdness, and especially those bright purple flares that come streaming out of nowhere, announcing you’re at some mystic juncture or turning point and that you’d better pay attention.”
― Carol Shields, Swann