Home > Author > Katherine Reay
61 " Changing, being real and becoming who you want to be, is hard work. Right "
― Katherine Reay , Dear Mr. Knightley
62 " Darcy’s got the tempestuous masculinity and brooding looks, but Knightley is a kinder, softer man with no pretense or dissimilation. "
63 " There was nothing “bright and sparkling” about this one. It was subdued, almost melancholy. Heroine Anne Elliot, perhaps my favorite of the Austen women I’d encountered, waited as circumstances and her world closed in around her. She helped where she could, got tossed about with little care—and she waited. "
― Katherine Reay , The Austen Escape
64 " People aren't always what they appear, James. The gift is accepting them as who they are, not who we want them to be. "
― Katherine Reay , The Brontë Plot
65 " Waiting was arrogant and cowardly at the same time. It said she couldn’t be satisfied, was always holding out, and was never content. Also cowardly because she was leaving an escape open, never letting anything tie her too closely to a home. And the result? Beauty wasted and lying on a cold wood floor and books with no shelves of her own to hold them. "
66 " vulnerability and hurt. A lot of things happen below the surface, don’t you think? A jab, a deflection, a hit, then pain—all hidden beneath exquisite manners and an aura of sophistication. "
67 " It felt as if that moment, no matter the outcome between life and death, it was love that mattered and the only thing that could bridge a link between the two. For Andy. For Brian. For me. There were my shallow waters. The cakes? The potpies? Those came from my heart. The clothes, the face creams, and even Feast? None of it is bad, but none of it worthy of defining me or worth of defining love. And yet those were the objects of my affection, my time, my work, and my life. "
― Katherine Reay , Lizzy and Jane
68 " Have you ever confused your senses? Something taste like another thing smells? "
69 " My dear, what in your life has ever come close to fair? That’s not how this life works. "
70 " Your options are endless if you fight. "
71 " It’s about a woman, who may be a wife. But it’s first and foremost about a woman, and it’s not an unattainable description of an idealized woman. She’s born of experience and, I like to believe, knows her worth because she knows who created her. One of my favorite things John Paul II ever said was ‘Woman transcends all expectations when her heart is faithful to God.’ All expectations. And I’ve seen it too. My mom was amazing. My sisters are strong women—two are unmarried, by the way, and this is who they are. They don’t need a husband to be this woman. I believe God can do tremendous things through you—once you stop trying to wield all the power yourself. "
― Katherine Reay , The Printed Letter Bookshop
72 " Love in action is a hard and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams. "
73 " But I made it. And for some reason, I’m not worried about my job prospects. I truly believe I will be okay. "
74 " Blood might be thicker than water, but both were thinner than money "
75 " The window dressing may change, but as Austen shows us: human nature remains the same. "
76 " Do you know what that's like? A gun held to your head? Your life doesn't flash before your eyes; it stops. Mine stopped, and there was nothing, nothing in me. I didn't exist. "
77 " But if these truths exist outside us and we do not determine them—nothing is dependent on our whims or happenstance. The truths are fixed, immutable, and eternal. We are the ones who will come and go, not truth. "
― Katherine Reay , The London House
78 " My mind drifted to my last birthday. I had concealed the day away, hoping no one would find out. I realized as the sun flashed across the room that I had done that to escape disappointment. What if someone had known but still found it unworthy of celebration? What if, in fact, I really didn't matter outside of my cooking? Each day I justified my life through purpose. "
79 " Music is math, and once you understand that . . . How can anyone not be in awe? It’s the audible expression behind the laws of the universe. It feels like the only thing, apart from God, that lives outside time. Once released, it lives on and it can make you laugh and cry, rip you apart and heal you, all within a few discrete notes strung together. And while it follows rules, expression is limitless. "
80 " Whenever I doubted the saying that hate wasn’t the opposite of love, I thought of Isabel’s father and remembered—indifference was. "