Ann Patchett Quotes

There comes a time when you have to shut it off, let it go, and say it's not going to happen.

Never say of anything I have lost it, only say that I have given it back.

If you ever want something badly, let it go. If it comes back to you, then it's yours forever. If it doesn't, then it was never yours to begin with.

When I finish a job, I surrender it completely. I have to, because after that, it really is out of my hands.

The joy of losing consists in this: Where there are no expectations, there is no disappointment.

But what is past my help is past my care.

Forget: Refuse to dwell; let go and loosen one's hold, particularly on memory. To forget is an active - not passive - endeavor.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away

In the end you can't always choose what to keep. You can only choose how you let it go.

What i’m saying is, my friends, one ought to be able to let go. If a path does not please us, instead of insisting on going that specific way, of making our selfishness the guide, we ought to forsake. The books we cannot write, the films we cannot shoot, the projects we cannot develop, the jobs we cannot pursue and the people who no longer love us. Being able to let go, at times, is the most beautiful of all!

Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it's the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open.

Even as I hold you, I am letting you go.

If you were wise enough to know that this life would consist mostly of letting go of things you wanted, then why not get good at the letting go, rather than the trying to have?

Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterward remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.

The only absolute attainment is absolute abandonment.

You don't have to give up to let go

Whatever life takes away from you, let it go.

How beautiful is forgetting! What relief it would be for the world to lose some of its contents.

You can only give things up once they start to let you down.

Sometimes people do you a favour when they drop out of your life.

Gather the stars if you wish it so Gather the songs and keep them. Gather the faces of women. Gather for keeping years and years. And then... Loosen your hands, let go and say good-bye. Let the stars and songs go. Let the faces and years go. Loosen your hands and say good-bye.

The best measure of a successful life is the way we turn away, we renounce, and even by the way we depart it.

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.

I've had no contact with my daughter for years. That's her choice. Anyway, you move on. If people don't want to bother with me, fine. You know, God bless them, and move on.