On Literature(01 of30)
Open Image Modal“I don't hold with shamans, witch doctors, or psychiatrists. Shakespeare, Tolstoy, or even Dickens, understood more about the human condition than ever occurred to any of you. You overrated bunch of charlatans deal with the grammar of human problems, and the writers I've mentioned with the essence.” ― Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler
On Childbirth(02 of30)
Open Image Modal“How a mother comes to love her child, her caring at all for this thing that's made her heavy, lopsided and slow, this thing that made her wish she were dead ... that's the miracle.” The Birth House by Ami McKay
On Regrets(03 of30)
Open Image Modal“The two most important phrases in the human language are 'If only' and 'Maybe someday.' Our past mistakes and our unrequited longings. The things we regret and the things we yearn for. That's what makes us who we are.” —Happiness by Will Ferguson
On Expressing Yourself In A New Language(04 of30)
Open Image Modal"I didn't know how to say 'I'm sorry,' but the big tear that went out of my eye said it for me."—From Far Away by Robert Munsch
On Creating Dynasties(05 of30)
Open Image Modal“A man without land is nobody. Remember that, Duddel.”—The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
On Celebrity(06 of30)
Open Image Modal“This is one of the cruelties of the theatre of life; we all think of ourselves as stars and rarely recognize it when we are indeed mere supporting characters or even supernumeraries.” ― Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
On Acceptance(07 of30)
Open Image Modal“Things shouldn't hinge on so very little. Sneeze and you're highway carnage. Remove one tiny stone and you're an avalanche statistic. But I guess if you can die without ever understanding how it happened then you can also live without a complete understanding of how. And in a way that's kind of relaxing.” —A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
On Returning To Lost Loves(08 of30)
Open Image Modal“When I swim now, I step into the water as though absentmindedly touching a scar.” Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton
On Decision Making(09 of30)
Open Image Modal“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” ― Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
On Fitting In(10 of30)
Open Image Modal“On the one hand, Sylvie loves the feeling of being like everybody else... on the other hand when she feels most like a freak is when shes getting away with not being one.” ― from "Sylvie" in We So Seldom Look On Love by Barbara Gowdy
On War(11 of30)
Open Image Modal“We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy.” — Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
On The Meaning Of Life(12 of30)
Open Image Modal“Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.” ― Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
On Giving(13 of30)
Open Image Modal“Charity should be blind to everything but need. Our personal feelings should not determine whose starvation is legitimate.” ― Consolation by Michael Redhill
On Privacy(14 of30)
Open Image Modal“Privacy is a privilege not granted to the aged or the young.” ― The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
On Cause And Effect(15 of30)
Open Image Modal“One stroke of lightning does not have to lead anywhere, but to the next stroke of lightning.” —Lives Of Girls And Women by Alice Munro
On Death(16 of30)
Open Image Modal“It's important to attend funerals. It is important to view the body, they say, and to see it committed to earth or fire because unless you do that, the loved one dies for you again and again.” ― Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
On Awe(17 of30)
Open Image Modal“Any given moment -- no matter how casual, how ordinary -- is poised, full of gaping life.” ― Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
On Fiction(18 of30)
Open Image Modal“The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.” ― In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
On Loss(19 of30)
Open Image Modal“Becoming a child again is what is impossible. That's what you have a legitimate reason to be upset over. Childhood is the most valuable thing that's taken away from you in life, if you think about it.” ― Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
On Appearances(20 of30)
Open Image Modal“We look so very different from the way we sound. It’s a shock, similar to hearing your own voice for the first time, when you’re forced to wonder how the rest of you comes across if you sound nothing like the way you think you sound. You feel dislodged from the old shoe of yourself.” ― Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
On Eating Meat(21 of30)
Open Image Modal“They laugh at this, the idea that one might keep herds of friendly deer or elk that walk happily to their slaughter whenever it's time for the human to eat meat. Some ask openly if there aren't consequences of a life so easy to live.” ― The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
On Important Qualities(22 of30)
Open Image Modal“Beauty comes and goes. Strength, you keep forever.”— The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
On (Canadian) Childhood(23 of30)
Open Image ModalThe winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places — the school, the church and the skating rink — but our life was on the skating rink.— The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier
On The Beauty Of Quiet(24 of30)
Open Image Modal“Conversation in its true meaning isn't all wagging the tongue; sometimes it is a deeply shared silence.” ― The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
On Prayer(25 of30)
Open Image Modal“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.” ― Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
On Growing Up(26 of30)
Open Image Modal“Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.” ― Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
On Birthdays(27 of30)
Open Image Modal“Here's to another year and let's hope it's above ground.” ― The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
On Life, In General(28 of30)
Open Image Modal“Never make a decision when you need to pee.” ― Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
On How To Live Life(29 of30)
Open Image Modal“No one has ever said that life is to be easy. Only that it is to be lived.” ― Island: Collected Stories by Alistair MacLeod
On Forgiveness(30 of30)
Open Image Modal“We say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do-we do it all the time.” ― Dear Life: Stories by Alice Munro