The Woodcutter's Wife Quotes

“I’ve never told anyone I was married because it was too painful to speak of. When sadness slips out of your heart and turns into words that come out of your mouth, it pains your ears to hear it, which just multiplies the sadness in your heart. It’s a vicious cycle. That’s why I just kept it to myself.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“want to say something to you, Thomas. I do love you, maybe not in the way you want just yet, but you are a dear, dear friend, and I at least want the chance to get to know you better and decide if I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“I don’t know if I can give it to someone else, even someone as deserving as you.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“You know, I asked myself a time or two why I was taking care of you and why I didn’t just leave. The answer I kept coming up with was because you a good woman who has lost much, and maybe God sent me here to show you some mercy.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“What we are is two humans who need each other’s help, and that makes us equals. If somebody shows up and tries to make trouble about it, I’ll”—she paused and smiled—“I’ll cut their ear off with a froe.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“John looked at her white hand and hesitated. Then he wrapped his black hand around hers and shook it.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“one more thing. On a hill behind our house are buried our four children that never lived to six months of age. And I will never bear children again. To live alone would bring me to an end. So I’ve pressed my husband time and again not to leave me.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“came up here today because I felt sorry for myself for all has happened to me, as if my life was about nothing more than me. What I forgot about was all the people who love me and need me.” Unexpected tears sprang up in her eyes as warmth”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“She decided to release her conscience’s hold on her thoughts and wondered what it would be like to lie in bed with him. Would he be as good a lover as William? Perhaps better?”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“We have to be free in more than just name. We have to be treated like free men.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“There’s been times I wished time would stop and let me take a deeper drink of a moment, but there’s been other times that I wished it would hurry and get over with.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“I love you more than the air that I breathe or the water I drink. I love you more than the ground I plow. If I was to ever lose you, my life would have no purpose. Yes, you are not the person I married, but the person I married is still inside you somewhere—I believe that with all my heart.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“You deserve better than me. Sometimes I don’t recognize who I have become, and I fear I will never be who I was. I’m sorry for that, sorry that you have to put up with me. You would be much happier without me.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“If I do go fight in the war and don’t make it back, I want you to take Mary to be your wife.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“Once again, William’s blundering words bludgeoned the areas of Mary’s heart that couldn’t seem to heal—that she had left him childless and that she would never know the joy of raising a child.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“I suppose I’m a bit of both. I was a slave on more than one plantation, once as a field hand and once as a carpenter. But my last owner bought me to work on his ship, the Plantar.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“He sniffed loudly. “That’s good because I don’t think I’d ever be satisfied with another woman after I’ve slept with the Bear Slayer.” Immediately, he howled in pain as Mary grabbed his nose and twisted it.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“Men will say, ‘My wife cooks a good ham,’ or ‘My wife can plow a garden,’ or ‘My wife makes excellent wine.’ And then I’ll step up and say, matter-of-factly, ‘My wife killed a bear.’” William broke into a dance again. “I can see their faces now. No one will have anything to say that can top that!”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“Mary slapped his hand away. “I’m still not enough for you, am I? Why must women always be measured by their ability to give birth, not just by men but by other women, too? It’s always the initial question I’m asked when I meet women for the first time—‘How many children do you have?”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“The truth is that I am cursed by God. For reasons that I don’t understand, he has decided that grief will be my constant companion and that loss will follow me everywhere I go.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“A month ago, John and I discovered two abandoned boys named Pete and Frank. One is white, and the other is a Negro. Apparently, the white boy’s parents are what we refer to as poor white trash and are nowhere to be found, neither is there any family in the area, for they are from Kentucky. Therefore I brought them here to feed and clothe them until I could figure out what to do with them. As decisions often do, this one took me to places I never expected. In this short time, I’ve grown very fond of them, and I believe they are fond of me as well”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“heart. It’s a vicious cycle.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife

“God’s job isn’t to make things easy for us. His job is to help us get through the hard stuff.”
― David Johnson, The Woodcutter's Wife