Quotes about Reflection

I was born in 1920, during the influenza pandemic, and I'm going to die in 2020, during the outbreak of coronavirus. What an elegant name for such a terrible scourge.

There's a time to live and a time to die. In between there's time to remember.

I am no longer tormented by an excess of discipline, as I was before.

Irina could not imagine the courage it took to grow old without becoming too frightened; her knowledge of age

Carme told them she couldn't remember what she felt, but she realized it's hard to die, and to invite death is cowardice.

the space of a single life is brief, passing so quickly that we never get a chance to see the relationship between events; we cannot gauge the consequences of our acts, and we believe in the fiction of past, present, and future, but it may also be true that everything happens simultaneously—

You explained to me that inspiration is born of stillness, and creativity comes from movement.

In the middle of that year I had a spectacular dream, and I wrote it down to tell my mother; we always did that, even though there's nothing as boring as listening to other people's dreams. That's

Years sneak by quickly, on tip-toe, scoffing and suddenly they give us a fright in the mirror or smack us on the back. Every minute is precious and we can't waste it on misunderstanding, impatience, jealousy, pettiness, or the other silly stuff that soils relationships. In truth this formula can be applied at any age because it's always the case that our days are limited.

I'm fine here, Lenny. I'm discovering who I am without all my ornaments and accessories. It's quite a slow process, but a very useful one. Everybody ought to do the same at the end of their life. If I had any self-discipline I would beat my grandson to it and write my own memoirs. I have time, freedom, and silence, the three things I never had amidst all the noise of my earlier life. I'm preparing to die.

To love a place you must participate in the community and give back something in return for all you receive. I believe I have done that. There are many things I admire about the United States and others I would like to change, but isn't that always true? A country, like a husband, is always open to improvement.

They're not dead, Lenny. They're more alive now than ever. That's what happens with age: stories from the past come alive and stick to our skin. I'm so pleased we're going to spend the next few years together.