“She could never go back and make some of the details pretty. All she could do was move forward and make the whole beautiful.”

“She told me once that when she was with me she felt like the beautiful woman she never thought she'd be. I can't imagine what could ever make her think she wasn't beautiful enough to anyone, least of all me. She's the beautiful one. The most beautiful one in the world to me.”

“...She felt that nothing could kill her hope now, nothing. She was seventy-five and she was going to make some changes in her life.”

“They weren't coming back and I could never re-create what we had, but I could move forward.”

“To be strong, and beautiful, and go round making music all the time. Yes, she could do that, and with a very earnest prayer Polly asked for the strength of an upright soul, the beauty of a tender heart, the power to make her life a sweet and stirring song, helpful while it lasted, remembered when it died.”

“But she knew that no matter what beauty lay behind, it must remain there. No one could go forward with a load of aching memories.”