The Butterfly Garden Quotes

“around breathing. Tell me the truth, what’s”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“Maybe Jenny and Grace weren’t so different from the butterfly… maybe they both needed to simply be who they were, stop trying to wish themselves into something else, someone else… or their color would get rubbed off… by unmet expectations, friends, family… even themselves. Maybe it was time to learn to accept who they were… time to learn to protect their color.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“You can’t catch a creature like that anymore than you can catch a person. You can only create an environment they might want to live in. The rest is up to them.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“They were of the same blood, the same family, the same world, and yet, they were so different. And yet, they were sisters. And best friends.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“her form of prayer and her mother’s were not the same. Virginia Romano recited Hail Mary’s and Our Fathers, clicking rosary beads like a typist on a keyboard. Fast. Efficient. Error-free. Jenny carried on conversations, disjointed, half-formed, soulful mutterings that left her drained.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“A shrink?” She threw Jenny a look and said, “He’s a psychologist, actually.” “Oh. A mini-shrink.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“Laura handed Jenny a list the second day that she called “An Adult’s Survival Guide in a Kid’s World.” Lesson one: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches taste better cut in triangles. Lesson two: Straws make milk disappear faster. Lesson three: Milk mustaches are cool. Even for grown-ups. Lesson four: There is a difference between regular Oreo cookies and Double Stuffed Oreo cookies. Lesson five: Fireflies are magic. Lesson six: Don’t ask a child who she’s talking to if she’s the only one in the room. Lesson seven: Check your child’s toothbrush at night to see if it’s wet. Lesson eight: Buy lots of bubbles and chalk. Lesson nine: Let your child “read” to you even if the words are made up. Lesson ten: Leave the night light on.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“If she were neater, she might not have to resort to panic searches when she misplaced important things.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden

“Butterfly Garden is especially important to me because it delves into sibling relationships and family hierarchy as children and as adults. It also deals with metamorphosis on various levels and an eventual letting go… of old beliefs, habits, rituals. Just as the butterfly sheds its cocoon to emerge in dazzling splendor, so too, if given proper nurturing and guidance, do we.”
― Mary Campisi, The Butterfly Garden