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Quotes from Water Street — Patricia Reilly Giff

born 1935 United States

← All quotes by Patricia Reilly Giff

25 quotes

"With just the sweep of a pen, Thomas, you can change the world, all of it."

Water Street (2006)

"She gives him candy. They're probably going to get married."

Water Street (2006)

"Sometimes in life you have to do the hardest things to get somewhere—to change your life."

Water Street (2006)

"No one in the world like my sister Birdie."

Water Street (2006)

"I don't think he's touched a washcloth to his face since the day he was born."

Water Street (2006)

How could she know what she wanted to do with her life? All these years she thought she'd be a healer like Mama, and now she knew it was never going to happen.

Water Street (2006)

"Is there anyone noisier in the world than Bird Mallon?"

Water Street (2006)

The girl's mouth was chapped, tight and pinched, her skin dry. Mama would say she looked woebegone, but as Bird looked at her eyes, the word she thought of was desperate.

Water Street (2006)

What was the use of writing if someone didn't read what you have to say?

Water Street (2006)

If only she could have held on to that day, held on to that moment forever, grasped it in her fists so it wouldn't escape.
If only.

Water Street (2006)

He was laughing again. What was it about Bird that made him do that?

Water Street (2006)

How quiet everything was this Sunday afternoon, how still. No horse and wagon clopped down the street, no cart; no one stood on the corner talking. It was as if they were the only ones in the world.

Water Street (2006)

Everything stopped: forks half raised, a bowl being passed. It seemed that the man was bathed in red, great swaths of it across his shirt and hands. And then Thomas realized: he was covered in blood.

Water Street (2006)

Thomas watched him for a few minutes. Pop was good-looking, muscular, and his hair was almost gold even though it was getting a little thin on top. Thomas must have taken after his mother, whoever she was.

Water Street (2006)

But that was a realworld, and he didn't have to put it down on paper. He ripped the page out of the book, tore it into shreds, and threw them behind the tree, where they settled into the weeds.

Water Street (2006)

Leave it to Annie. She knew everything.

Water Street (2006)

Writing wasn't easy for her. It wasn't like arithmetic, not like a column of numbers to be added or subtracted from the top of the blackboard to the bottom, neat and organized; or science, figuring out the why of things.

Water Street (2006)

Bird.
A good name for her. She wasn't a sparrow or a songbird, though. She stood so straight, and her face was strong.

Water Street (2006)

He wrote stories about everything he saw, and he saw a lot. He walked through the streets of Brooklyn along the water, or leaned against the store windows on Livingston Street watching people hurrying along, making up stories about this one or that one.

Water Street (2006)

He remembered everything. Maybe that was why he was such a great writer. What he remembered he'd put on paper, but it came out different, more interesting, more exciting than she'd ever been able to imagine.

Water Street (2006)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Patricia Reilly Giff (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.