Home > Author > Whitney Otto
1 " Why are old lovers able to become friends? Two reasons. They never truly loved each other, or they love each other still. "
― Whitney Otto , How to Make an American Quilt
2 " All you have to go on is the faith of a kiss. "
3 " The worst dream of the night, when you are parted from someone you love and you do not know exactly where he is, but you know that he is in the presence of danger. You are tormented by a desire to keep the one you love safe. "
4 " While she was in transit, being unattached was exhilarating, but the moment she stopped, so did the high. "
― Whitney Otto , Eight Girls Taking Pictures
5 " Think about what binds you to your husband and he to you. Marvel at the strength of that bond, which is both abstract and concrete, spiritual and legal. "
6 " No one fights dirtier or more brutally than blood; only family knows it’s own weaknesses, the exact placement of the heart. The tragedy is that one can still live with the force of hatred, feel infuriated that once you are born to another, that kinship lasts through life and death, immutable, unchanging, no matter how great the misdeed or betrayal. Blood cannot be denied, and perhaps that’s why we fight tooth and claw, because we cannot—being only human—put asunder what God has joined together. "
7 " …she eventually forgave him, because she understood him. "
8 " The truly terrible thing about this life, was not knowing what you want, but only able to recognize what you do not want. You have to spend so much time and energy trying to find it out, time that other people spent in pursuing of their desires. "
9 " Don’t panic. If you write, you’ll be a writer. "
― Whitney Otto
10 " No one knows how another person feels in private. "
11 " The best men tell you the truth because they think you can take it; the worst men either try to preserve you in some innocent state with their false protection, or are ‘brutally honest.’ When someone tells, lets you think for yourself, experience your own emotions, he is treating you as a true equal, a friend…And the best men cook for you. "
12 " …brotherhood of the firstborn, which can be both a blessing and a curse: the overwhelming attention to the detail of their lives and development. The expectations that run too high: being the bridge between adults and children, one foot in either place and the accompanying hollow lonely feeling of being nowhere. "
13 " All this because one race did not have the decency to be ashamed of dealing in human flesh. "
14 " Later, Jenny would say she seldom knew what she would take a picture of when she picked up a camera, that she only knew once she peered through the viewfinder, as if the photograph had finally found her. "
15 " If the photographer isn't going to pay attention to the picture he is making, that if he thinks the camera is just a machine and not an avenue of expression, then he has no business asking anyone for anything, let alone their time and interest. Don't show the world, he said, invent the world. "
16 " she is admired from afar. These admirers court her in secret, in the safety of their dreams. "
17 " She remembered her fingers threaded through his hair and his kisses in places that made her long for him years later. "
18 " Once you love, you cannot take it back, cannot undo it; what you felt may have changed, shifted slightly, yet still remains love. You still feel-though very small-the not-altogether unpleasant shock of soul recognition for that person. "
19 " You have to choose your combinations careful. The right choices will enhance your quilt. The wrong choices will dull the colors and hide their original beauty. There are no rules you can follow. You have to go by instinct and you have to be brave. "
20 " I have an affection for those transitional seasons, the way they take the edge off the intense cold of winter, or heat of summer. "
