“I am a woman built upon the wreckage of myself.”

“He wouldn't give up, but if i am strict and force myself now to decide upon the precise moment in this whole story when my heart irreparably broke, it was the moment when I saw the weariness and the doubt creep into my son's small muscles as his fingers slipped, for the tenth time, from the pale oak lid.”

“That is the trouble with happiness-all of it is built on top of something that men want.”

“I planned how I would kill myself in the time of Churchill (stand under bombs), Victoria (throw myself under a horse), and Henry the Eighth (marry Henry the Eighth)- Little Bee”

“So when I say that I am a refugee, you must understand that there is no refuge.”

“I am telling you, trouble is like the ocean. It covers two thirds of the world.”

“You have seen trouble too, Sarah. You are making a mistake if you think it is unusual. I am telling you, trouble is like the ocean. It covers two thirds of the world.”