The Guest House by the Sea Quotes

“Marriages, like dreams, didn't just happen; you had to do some work to get there”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Time and uncomplicated circumstances wait for no woman. Life is for grabbing it as it comes long, believe me, I know that much for sure”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Death, or unexpected death, was cruel like that, yanking away the person you loved so brutally that it seemed as if they were forever stranded between two worlds. She could never quite let him go and yet, she knew he wasn't really here any more”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Esme was old enough and wise enough to know that while having children changed a woman, not having them had changed her too.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Well, us – human beings, women! We want to do the right thing for everyone else and it’s only really when you get to my age that you begin to see that doing the right thing means starting with yourself, with the sort of life you want to live.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Death, or unexpected death, was cruel like that, yanking away the person you loved so brutally that it seemed as if they were forever stranded between two worlds. She could never quite let him go and yet, she knew he wasn’t really here any more.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“manage”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Every day is a new day, just as it went before does not mean it has to go the same today, you can choose your own path or follow the footsteps worn out before you.’ The words seemed to sit on the still air for a long time.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“seemed like an old man and Maureen wanted adventure. All she could talk about was seeing the world and finding herself, well, I mean any fool knows that if you can’t find yourself exactly where you are, you’re not going to trip over yourself in a student hostel somewhere in the far reaches of the Australian outback, are you?”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“and do what she wanted? What would she choose then? ‘To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“We want to do the right thing for everyone else and it’s only really when you get to my age that you begin to see that doing the right thing means starting with yourself, with the sort of life you want to live.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“It’s true what they say, you know, about youth.’ ‘It’s wasted on the young?’ ‘Yes. It’s like happiness and contentment, we don’t realise how precious it is, until it’s gone,”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Easy to swim with the tide, but swimming against it can bring greater rewards?”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“think, it’s only as we get older that we see the value of having neighbours and people around us, people who care and matter to us.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“It wasn’t even about the wonky kitchen cabinet doors or the number of times over the years she’d asked him to paint the kitchen or fix the broken step on the stairs. It wasn’t about mowing the lawn every Saturday morning or the fact that they’d never gotten round to laying the patio, even though the bricks had been lined up at the side of the house for over a decade.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“being the happiest version of herself suddenly seemed to be the most frightening challenge she could imagine. But what if it was easy? What if she could suit herself and do what she wanted? What would she choose then?”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Time and uncomplicated circumstances wait for no woman. Life is for grabbing it as it comes along,”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“There is only the road you choose to take.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“Esme always understood, this house had saved her life. And she trusted that it could save others too, although she had no reason to suppose that any of her guests particularly needed saving.”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“It was after five by the time Cora arrived back in Ballycove. She'd spent a bomb and it hadn't made her one bit happier. Who on earth said retail therapy actually cured anything? She was just wrecked tired with a lot less cash in her bank account”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“All she could talk about was seeing the world and finding herself, well, I mean any fool knows that if you can't find yourself exactly where you are, you're not going to trip over yourself in a student hostel somewhere in the far reaches of the Australian outback, are you?”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“So why did she feel this heavy weight of emptiness instead, as if her marriage was some black hole and she was in danger of falling in and suffocating while life went on without her?”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“There had been many times over the years when she'd felt angry and jealous of Jeremy's wife and family; today, strangely, she just felt lonely. She could plead with him to come with her. Although, the sensible part of her knew, if he'd wanted to come, he'd have offered. And so, she couldn't ask, because that was the first rule of being a mistress - make no demands”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“He shuddered with what she supposed was anguish or, worse, maybe fear. He was losing himself and she had to constantly remind herself that it was probably a lot worse than losing your husband”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea

“It was nonsense, complete and utter nonsense. It would take more than some fancy doctor telling Esme Goldthorpe she was going blind to stop her running the Willows. It had been in her family for almost two hundred years, run by the women of generations before her. Strong women, who had died right here, just as she had been about to book in a party of five. And Esme had long since decided she would be no different; she would keep this place open, right up to the end”
― Faith Hogan, The Guest House by the Sea