Tracy Chevalier Quotes

We do not need such things to help us to see God,” I countered. “We have His Word, and that isenough.

~ Tracy Chevalier

It's a rare book that wins the battle against drooping eyelids.

~ Tracy Chevalier

Warp threads are thicker than the weft, and made of a coarser wool as well. I think of them as like wives. Their work is not obvious - all you can see are the ridges they make under the colorful weft threads. But if they weren't there, there would be no tapestry. Georges would unravel without me.

~ Tracy Chevalier

It turned out plant collecting was a solitary occupation. In the past Robert had enjoyed being alone, or so he thought. Actually he had rarely been alone for long: working in hotels, in stables, on ranches and farms, and as a miner, he had always been around others. Now, out in the woods or up in the hills or out on the flat central plain, he could go for days without speaking to anyone. His throat seemed to close up and he had to keep clearing it, singing songs aloud or reciting the Latin names of plants, just to check that he still had a voice. 'Araucaria imbricata. Sequoia sempervirens. Pinus lambertiana. Abies magnifica'. He was surprised at how much he missed people..

~ Tracy Chevalier

It is not easy to let someone go, even when they have said unforgivable things to you.

~ Tracy Chevalier

It was not a house where secrets could be kept easily.

~ Tracy Chevalier

What made him most attractive was that he was attracted to her. Another’s interest can be a powerful stimulant. She could feel his eyes on her as an almost physical pressure.

~ Tracy Chevalier

If redwoods are the backbone of California, oaks are of England.

~ Tracy Chevalier

He could not tell all of the California pines apart, the gray pine from the coulter, the bushop from the knobcone and the Monterey.

~ Tracy Chevalier

Prying out a stump reminded him of how deeply a tree clung to the ground, how tenacious a hold it had on a place. Though he was not a sentimental man - he did not cry when his children died, he simply dug the graves and buried them - James was silent each time he killed a tree, thinking of its time spent in that spot. He never did this with the animals he hunted - they were food, and transient, passing through this world and out again, as people did. But trees felt permanent - until you had to cut them down.

~ Tracy Chevalier

You know I don’t listen to market gossip,” she began,“but it is hard not to hear it when my daughter’s name is mentioned.

~ Tracy Chevalier

As I get older, I use less jewelry - necklace or earrings each morning, not both; my clothes are getting more basic - fewer colours and simpler cuts; and my make-up is stripped back to basics.

~ Tracy Chevalier