Always remember, any book you haven’t read is still a new book.

— Ann Patchett

Art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means that to get to the art, you must master the craft. If you want to write, practice writing.

— Ann Patchett

...as if the world had become a giant train station in which everything was delayed until further notice.

— Ann Patchett

Bad habits were all a matter of perspective, and as long as the present was viewed through the lens of the past, anyone would say he was doing a spectacular job.

— Ann Patchett

But it is never about who has given what. That is not the way of gifts. This is not a business we are conducting.

— Ann Patchett

Coming back is the thing that enables you to see how all the dots in your life are connected, how one decision leads you another, how one twist of fate, good or bad, brings you to a door that later takes you to another door, which aided by several detours--long hallways and unforeseen stairwells--eventually puts you in the place you are now.

— Ann Patchett

Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to making art, and very possibly the key to finding any semblance of happiness in life. Every time I have set out to translate the book (or story, or hopelessly long essay) that exists in such brilliant detail on the big screen of my limbic system onto a piece of paper (which, let’s face it, was once a towering tree crowned with leaves and a home to birds). I grieve for my own lack of talent and intelligence. Every. Single. Time. Were I smarter, more gifted, I could pin down a closer facsimile of the wonders I see? I believe, more than anything, that this grief of constantly having to face down our own inadequacies is what keeps people from being writers. Forgiveness, therefore, is key. I can’t write the book I want to write, but I can and will write the book I am capable of writing. Again and again throughout the course of my life I will forgive myself.

— Ann Patchett

For the most part wisdom comes in chips rather than blocks. You have to be willing to gather them constantly, and from sources you never imagined being probable. No one chip gives you the answer for everything. No one chip stays in the same place throughout your entire life. The secret is to keep adding voices, adding ideas, and moving things around as you put together your life. If you’re lucky, putting together your life is a process that will last through every single day you’re alive.

— Ann Patchett

Gen was sleeping the sleep of the heavily drugged.

— Ann Patchett

He is fifteen and ten and five. He is an instant. Furthermore, he is flying back to her. Furthermore, he is hers again. She feels the weight of him in her chest as he comes into her arms. He is her son, her beloved child, and she takes him back.

— Ann Patchett