Three Things I Know Are True Quotes

“You are lucky the bad thing didn’t happen to you. It doesn’t make you better than everyone else. And it doesn’t mean it won’t get you next time.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Trust your hands and they’ll lead you where you need to go.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Sometimes there is no way to find out what you need without just asking.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“He always took the leap
over the abyss
without thinking,
and always made it across--
until now.

Let them see it all.
Let them hear what Jonah
has to say.
Let them try and blame Jonah
for being Jonah.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I do know how expensive it is to be helpless. How many things don’t count as necessary. A wheelchair ramp. A wheelchair van. Clothes, air conditioning, prayer cards.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Goodbye, Mom says, I don't think there's anything wrong with saying goodbye.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“The tragic truth is that two boys' lives were ruined by the carelessness of one man. No matter what the decision, everyone is a loser.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Clay would have a physics equation to explain why the force of the wind and the angle I held Jonah’s box blew some ashes back onto my hands.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Even when you wait and hope for the thing you think will solve everything, it doesn’t always happen the way you imagine.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“The best part of being on the river is that there’s nothing that needs to be done except staying afloat.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I know how that is— how the worst thing is right where you least expect it to be— in your lungs, in your chest, in the attic of the house right across the street.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I put the necklace on, and when we hug, Rainie’s stone of courage and my stone of the heart touch.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Mom has her headlights on. That’s a rule in Maine, Rainie told me— if you’re using your windshield wipers, you have to have your lights on.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“When he sees me, he puts a hand flat against his window. I put my hand flat to our windowpane and we stand there like two aliens communicating from separate spaceships.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I can’t wear a hat or sunglasses, but with bangs over my eyes, I don’t have to see anything I don’t want to see. And it makes it hard for anyone to see me.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I’m getting stronger by lifting Jonah— from the bed to the wheelchair from the wheelchair to the bed. His weight feels lighter and lighter as I get stronger and stronger.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Trust your hands and they’ll lead you where you need to go.
Do my hands know something I don't?
How far will they lead me and what will I find when I get there?”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Is that how it is in families? One child who stays. One child who can’t wait to go.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Music makes a bad situation better.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I speak, playing our old game— Tell Me Three Things. There is only one rule. You have to tell the truth.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I can hear the sounds but not the words. I imagine that is how Jonah hears the world now.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“My paper snowflakes are astonishing. Open all the folds and LOOK— by snipping away some of the paper I created something that is more than just a piece of paper. How can there be more when there is less?”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“That must be a bad-news rule. One person never brings the worst news alone.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“Everything has to be for my brother now. Jonah doesn’t ask for anything, but he needs everything.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“It’s not his choice anymore— hands under the covers or on top. We get to decide— Mom, the nurses, and me, his fifteen-year-old sister.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I know how that is--
how the worst thing
is right where you
least expect it to be--
in your lungs,
in your chest,
in the attic
of the house
right across the street.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“So impatient
to start his big life,
to make people laugh,
to see what would happen.

Doing anything
for a dare.

So afraid
he'd be stuck
in Maddigan, Maine,
for the rest
of his life.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“The sounds Mom made
were worse than Jonah's.
So now the nurses
call me.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True

“I have a theory about
friendship.
One friend is always nicer.
Jonah made everyone laugh.
He could talk to anyone
about anything,
but Clay was nicer.”
― Betty Culley, Three Things I Know Are True