Other Birds Quotes

“There are birds, and then there are other birds. Maybe they don’t sing. Maybe they don’t fly. Maybe they don’t fit in. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be an other bird rather than just the same old thing.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“If the people around you don’t love or accept you just as you are, find new people. They’re out there.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Stories aren’t fiction. Stories are fabric. They’re the white sheets we drape over our ghosts so we can see them. —ROSCOE AVANGER, Sweet Mallow”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“We all want to think we’re worth the trouble.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Children, don't hold on to old love so hard you forget to live. Old love isn't the only love you'll ever have. And I can tell you from this side that it never really goes away, anyway.
So let go.
Whatever you're holding on to, let go.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Not everything has to be real to be true.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Stories aren't fiction. Stories are fabric. They're the white sheets we drape over our ghosts so we can see them.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“It was an odd feeling, when she really thought about it, not having anyone in the world who knew everything about you and loved you anyway.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“It had taken him all his life to understand this, but even unlikable things have worth. It was how, after all, he'd learned to life with himself.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“She says it's about the love you give, not the love you get.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“So Zoey understood that mothering was in the details you never saw. And the lack of it was the things you always noticed.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Second chances are not to be wasted. It is one of the most valuable lessons we can learn in life.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds: A Novel

“They were never interested in how I made my food, or the stories behind how I learned. Like how my mama would sing to her gravy to make it thicken, or how she showed me that bacon fat would make butter taste like a heaven no one had ever dreamed of. Or how cornmeal was better than flour because it had weight, and having weight is how you know your worth, so don't let anyone tell you different.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Don’t hold on to old love so hard you forget to live. Old love isn’t the only love you’ll ever have.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“I had henna done once at a street fair outside the bookstore where I worked in high school," Zoey said. "Vines, all down my fingers, like that. Only not as pretty as yours."
"Vines symbolize perseverance," Charlotte said. "Flowers mean joy. The sun represents eternal love. And the moon, here, is the power of change." She pointed to her knee. "Birds are supposed to be messengers between heaven and earth." She indicated a peacock on the other knee. Birds had always been her favorite to draw. Then she touched a circle on her leg at the hem of her cutoffs. "This is a mandala. It represents the universe."
Zoey looked impressed. "I had no idea it all meant something."
Charlotte put her hands back in her pockets. "In all my years, I've never encountered something that doesn't mean anything.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds: A Novel

“If the people around you don’t love you just as you are, find new people. They’re out there.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Does it ever feel to you like the best things go away too fast, and the worst things never, ever leave you alone?”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Everything around her was suddenly stitched together by unseen threads, as thin as gossamer. She'd come here wanting to feel a connection, but she'd always thought that connection would be to her mother.
Instead, it was to these people.
And it felt more substantial, more real, than she could ever have dreamed.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Zoey thought about what Charlotte and Frasier had said about some stories not needing to be told. Zoey had only thought about the loss of the story itself. But now she wondered if finding out the truth behind some stories would constitute an even greater loss, because it meant losing something you were happy believing.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Or how cornmeal was better than flour because it had weight, and having weight is how you know your worth, so don't let anyone tell you different.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“If you come, I promise not to scream your name and run into you, like I've done twice already," she said. "Think about it."
"I don't know, that's a nice way to be greeted."
"You say that now, but wait until I do it to you in public."
He stared at her before saying, "You're exactly how I imagined you."
"Thank you," she said, delighted with the idea of him imagining anything about her. But then, "Wait. Was that a compliment?"
"Yes," he said, "it was a compliment.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“We keep all our best secrets in our bedrooms, don't we?”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds: A Novel

“So it’s time for me to go now. I’m happy about it, so don’t you be sad. Because going doesn’t mean all gone. We’ll meet again one day.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“There is no bigger snoop than a writer.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“This grown-up thing isn’t for sissies.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“History is known for sugar-coating. Sometimes it’s the only thing that can make it palatable.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“When a bomb like this is dropped in the middle, it forces the person to spend the rest of their life struggling to live a life redefined, because everything they’d known as truth was suddenly false. This secret had gone on for so long that sharing it with Oliver now would only derail him.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“There were only two times in a person’s life when a family secret should be revealed—at the very beginning, or at the very end.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“She had the strangest feeling something was about to happen. God is holding His breath.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds

“Once you accumulate enough regrets in life, they cease to hurt you. They are simply one more thing you collect, like age spots or ugly figurines. You barely even see them anymore.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds