Some Sentences I Love #SOL23

A Collection of Sentences I Wish I Had Written

Photo by Satyabratasm on Unsplash

I have been down an Amy Hempel rabbit hole, and have been studying sentences. Sentences I read and sentences I write.

I have saved quotes all my life. They used to be taped to my closet doors when I grew up on my dead end street in Indiana. (I was not allowed to tape anything to the walls.) When I had a Franklin Planner I had a whole section in the back that had quotes from people and books I loved.

Recently, the quotes are highlighted in my Kindle and sent to me in an email from ReadWise. The other places they are kept are notebooks and my Keep app.

I have been learning to take the sentences apart that I love to see if I can figure out the mechanics of why I love them so. I am paying attention to the rhythm and the music of the sentences and how they feel in my mouth and my brain.

1. The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander

   ---

   Coffee ceremony was the most sacred home ritual there was.

2. Essentialism by Greg McKeown

   ---

   “Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work,” they said.

3. One Continuous Mistake by Gail Sher

   ---

   A good book is you. That’s why you can’t put it down.

4. Small Victories by Anne Lamott

   ---

   She took the purse with her everywhere.

5. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

   ---

   “She said, ‘It’s for making the cake that looks like a fence?’ And then she called it ‘fence-cake’ for the longest time.”

6. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

   ---

   Even after they arrested him and burned all of his manuscripts, which were all blank pages, he refused to speak.

7. The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken

   ---

   The embarrassed feeling of having been so exhausted that she’d left the door open in a rainstorm evaporated.

Do you have favorite sentences you collect? I would love to hear some of your saved words.