Quotes From "How To Make An American Quilt" By Whitney Otto

The worst dream of the night, when you are parted from someone you love and you do not know exactly where he is, but you know that he is in the presence of danger. You are tormented by a desire to keep the one you love safe. Whitney Otto

Think about what binds you to your husband and he to you. Marvel at the strength of that bond, which is both abstract and concrete, spiritual and legal. Whitney Otto

No one fights dirtier or more brutally than blood; only family knows it’s own weaknesses, the exact placement of the heart. The tragedy is that one can still live with the force of hatred, feel infuriated that once you are born to another, that kinship lasts through life and death, immutable, unchanging, no matter how great the misdeed or betrayal. Blood cannot be denied, and perhaps that’s why we fight tooth and claw, because we cannot–being only human–put asunder what God has joined together. Whitney Otto

Read "The Story of O." Convince yourself that it was in fact written by a woman or someone who thinks like a woman. Whitney Otto

…she eventually forgave him, because she understood him. Whitney Otto

The truly terrible thing about this life, was not knowing what you want, but only able to recognize what you do not want. You have to spend so much time and energy trying to find it out, time that other people spent in pursuing of their desires. Whitney Otto

No one knows how another person feels in private. Whitney Otto

The best men tell you the truth because they think you can take it; the worst men either try to preserve you in some innocent state with their false protection, or are ‘brutally honest.’ When someone tells, lets you think for yourself, experience your own emotions, he is treating you as a true equal, a friend… And the best men cook for you. Whitney Otto

…brotherhood of the firstborn, which can be both a blessing and a curse: the overwhelming attention to the detail of their lives and development. The expectations that run too high: being the bridge between adults and children, one foot in either place and the accompanying hollow lonely feeling of being nowhere. Whitney Otto

All this because one race did not have the decency to be ashamed of dealing in human flesh. Whitney Otto