While My Eyes Were Closed Quotes

“The art of reading is to know and understand the things which go unsaid.”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“It is warmth and comfort and safety. A smell of mothers.”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“I watch a bird as it brings food to its chicks. How it looks after them, how it protects them. And then I say to myself, “You’re a better mother than me” ’ Hatidza Mehmedovic, mother of two sons murdered at Srebrenica”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“Because sometimes you need to start at the beginning in order to make sense of the end. *”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“She is not an attractive crier. Few children are. Matthew was an exception. He cried so elegantly.”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“The art of reading is to know and understand the things which go unsaid. There is as much to be learned from the spaces between, the empty lines, as there is from the words on the page. I”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“People have this ridiculous notion that we and animals are somehow on the same level. I blame Disney films. I blame them for a lot of things.”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“Everything is always painted as black or white. Life is not like that, of course. Life is about all the shades of grey in between. I”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“I’ll have to get Malcolm to put some WD40 on”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“But today, for some reason, Ella’s words sting a little. Perhaps it’s the fact that since she first conquered the route up the rope climbing frame on Monday with Mum watching, Dad, Alex and even Otis have all seen her repeat the feat. Or maybe it’s the fact that today is her last weekday of freedom. Ella starts school on Monday. And although she is excited about it now, I am well aware that when she realises she also has to go to school on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, not just the first week but every week from now on, she will be furious at being denied the chance of spending her afternoons in the park, as she has this week.”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“driver’s side. Across the road a group of teenage lads are mucking about with a shopping trolley. Bashing it against someone’s wall. If Dad was here they wouldn’t dare. Not that he’s a hard nut or anything, certainly not any more. But he’s lived here all his life and knows too many people to be messed with. I look at them again and remember another of Dad’s favourite sayings. You don’t shit on your own doorstep. ‘Oi, sling your hooks,’ I call out to them. They look over, scowl at me, then slink off with the trolley. I smile to myself. I still get a little kick out of it sometimes. Being Vince Benson’s daughter. ‘Right, let’s go,’ I say, getting into the car and fastening my seat belt. ‘What did you say to the big boys?’ Ella asks. ‘I told them to go away.’ ‘Were they being naughty?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Where will they go now?’ ‘I don’t know. But at least they won’t be bothering people in Grandma’s street.’ I glance at Ella in the rear-view mirror. She nods, apparently satisfied with that, and picks up her Frozen sticker book from the back seat. * The car park is packed. I wonder whether to wait”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed

“distance. I glance down. The pale skin has an almost iridescent quality. The blue eyes pool underneath rows of soft, long lashes. The fine, fair hair frames the face perfectly. Only the crown of daisies has somehow slipped from the silky hair. ‘No, but she’ll know where you are,’ I say, guiding her quickly down the path towards the exit at the far side of the park, the one which most people do not use. ‘Can I hide at your house and pop out and surprise Mummy when she comes to get me?’ ‘Let’s get you seen to first, shall we?’ ‘How will Mummy know where to find me? She’s never been to your house.’ ‘Mummies know everything, don’t you know that yet?’ The child smiles and nods and starts to chatter as we walk. It is not altogether intelligible chatter but she has a pleasant enough sing-song voice. I would take her hand but I am worried that would hurt her. However, she trots obediently beside me. When we get to the gap in the wall and I take hold of her forearm ready to cross the empty road outside, she looks up at me.”
― Linda Green, While My Eyes Were Closed