"When my brother called to inform me, on the morning of May 22, 2003, that our mother Caroline Oates had died suddenly of a stroke, it was a shock from which, in a way, I have yet to recover."

Loss, Grief, Memory, Healing

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"When my brother called to inform me, on the morning of May 22, 2003, that our mother Caroline Oates had died suddenly of a stroke, it was a shock from which, in a way, I have yet to recover."

Exlpore more Loss quotes

"Usually it is through loss that things come to be of value."

Steven Redhead, British Author

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"Rejection is one of the worse forms of pain. Loss is the worst. Grief haunts until you allow yourself to move on."

Angelica Hopes, Swiss Author

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"American houses...' she said, peering over her right shoulder and down the street. 'They always seem to believe that nobody ever loses anything, has lost anything. I find that very sad. Do you know what I mean?"

Zadie Smith, British Novelist

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"Sometimes losses in life are not losses at all. They are simply the evidence God provides, in order to build a story so profound, that it will cause social change."

Shannon L. Alder, American Author

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"So that's how we live our lives. No matter how deep and fatal the loss, no matter how important the thing that's stolen from us--that's snatched right out of our hands--even if we are left completely changed, with only the outer layer of skin from before, we continue to play out our lives this way, in silence. We draw ever nearer to the end of our allotted span of time, bidding it farewell as it trails off behind. Repeating, often adroitly, the endless deeds of the everyday. Leaving behind a feeling of immeasurable emptiness."

Haruki Murakami, Japanese Writer

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"The anticipation of loss is much more frightening than the actual loss as anticipation leaves room for the imagination to create that which, in all likelihood, will never transpire."

Craig D. Lounsbrough, American Author

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"Did you ever know, dear, how much you took away with you when you left? You have stripped me even of my past, even of the things we never shared."

C. S. Lewis, British Author

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"When his wife was at his side, she was also in front of him, marking out the horizon of his life. Now the horizon is empty: the view has changed."

Milan Kundera, Czechoslovakian Writer

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"There are some things in this world you rely on, like a sure bet. And when they let you down, shifting from where you've carefully placed them, it shakes your faith, right where you stand."

Sarah Dessen, American Author

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"We sat like that for a long while, and when we stood up, all my sad things were in boxes, and Beck was my father."

Maggie Stiefvater, American Author

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Explore more quotes by Joyce Carol Oates

"Our house is made of glass... and our lives are made of glass; and there is nothing we can do to protect ourselves."

Nothing

"The great menace to the life of an industry is industrial self-complacency."

Life

"The demon blood inside me burned my soul to ashes long ago.I am a monster who once dreamed he was a man. Never mistakeme again."

Self

"I'm sure all that you've heard is just the usual gossip, invented to injure feelings rather than illuminate truth."

Society

"Where we come from in America no longer signifies. It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we are."

Change

"The challenge is to resist circumstances. Any idiot can be happy in a happy place, but moral courage is required to be happy in a hellhole."

Motivation

"And I like your laugh, Sabbath; it's inaudible."

Humor

"A broken heart is something even I can't protect you from. I've been alone for so long, and believe me, all that does is provide a false sense of security. Being alone doesn't erase the deep yearning that exists in all of us. We are not solitary creatures. You have to love and open your heart. If not, what is it we are trying to save? When it swallows you whole, remember it means you've lived."

Emotion

"Primarily, 'Black Girl/White Girl' is the story of two very different, yet somehow 'fated' girls; for Genna, her 'friendship' with Minette is the most haunting of her life, though it is one-sided and ends in tragedy."

Friendship

"For what are the words with which to summarize a lifetime, so much crowded confused happiness terminated by such stark slow-motion pain?"

Philosophy