One Life Quotes

“Other people had religion to give them a connection to eternity, and good luck to them, but religion was too narrow for her, too unforgiving, too literal. Literature encompassed everything, forbade nothing, endorsed nothing. Writers, like scientists, had the greatest respect for the world as it truly was. Their job wasn't to judge but to examine, to experiment, draft after draft, century after century.”
― Kate Grenville, One Life: My Mother's Story

“You were alive for such a short time and then you went back into the great silence. The only ones who didn't vanish were the artists. While you were reading their words and looking at their pictures they were still alive, and you shared some of their life too.”
― Kate Grenville, One Life: My Mother's Story

“Standing in the dusk watching the great yellow eye of the tram light rushing towards her, she understood why some words were worth binding in leather and handing on. In the darkest hour, all the other humans who'd known dark hours were there with you. They'd been to the dark places before you, and they were with you now.”
― Kate Grenville, One Life: My Mother's Story

“I don't want any help, she said. I want someone to think ahead the way I have to and to do it without me having to ask.”
― Kate Grenville, One Life: My Mother's Story

“Then they were moving again. Frank told her it was because of Benni, the nursemaid who looked after them. Benni was half Chinese, that golden skin. Her mother was ordinary Australian, was how Benni put it. That”
― Kate Grenville, One Life: My Mother's Story