Julie Cantrell Quotes

“Maybe God doesn't care if we get all dressed up and sit in the pew every Sunday, as Diana believes. Instead, maybe God comes to us through men like Sloth, watching over us as we make our own decisions. Maybe God has always been with me. Opening doors, leading me to opportunities, letting me choose my own path, and loving me even when I chose the wrong one. Never giving up on me. Knowing all along that I am on a journey. That I must find my own way to Him. Maybe River was rights. Maybe God does still believe in me.”

— Julie Cantrell

“I do two things," she told me. "I remind myself that it's not all about me. And I focus on the good. There's always a way to find some good.”

— Julie Cantrell

“For years, I have searched and searched for this God. This feeling of complete love and acceptance. He was always out of reach. But here, where food is scare, money is tight, heat is heavy and tensions should run high, God is everywhere. Just as during the night around the gypsy fire, I am mesmerized by watching people who are truly happy. At peace. Kind. Grateful.”

— Julie Cantrell

Any fool can choose the boy who sends her heart into a flurry. But there's a big deep divide between desire and devotion. You better not choose the boy who makes you dizzy. No, ma'am. You have to choose the one who is steady. Stable. Safe. Choose the one who loves you, through and through, for who you really are. The one who wouldn't change a single thing about you, even if he could.

— Julie Cantrell

“[He] has always believed in me. Even when I didn't believe in myself. Even when I was at my worst, he saw only the best in me, and he was determined for me to see it too. Now I know for certain that Mabel was right. There's nothing in the world like having someone love you for who you really are. Looking at your heavy baggage and leaning down to whisper in your ear, You're perfect.”

— Julie Cantrell

“Choices matter. Every single one of them.”

— Julie Cantrell

When it rains God be wantin' us to sit still and take notice.

— Julie Cantrell

“Ain't nothing more important than loving your mama. Even if you can't understand her. Love her. That's all you gotta do.”

— Julie Cantrell

“I know there is a thin silver line between the sane and the insane, and even in that realm of madness, there are degrees of reason, fluttering moments of clarity and truth. Maybe the world can't handle the their truth. Maybe we are too weak. Maybe, like Sloth used to say, It's the blind who see the most.”

— Julie Cantrell

“I'm tired of her diving deep into nothing and leaving me on the surface. Waiting for her to come back up for air.”

— Julie Cantrell

“My world speeds up. After years of moving along in slow motion, I am suddenly surging through the moments. He touches me, and like flame to dry grass, I am consumed.”

— Julie Cantrell

“Love is the child of freedom, never that of domination.”

— Julie Cantrell

“It's one thing to stand in line for free bread or to ask for help paying the rent," she explained. "But there is nothing worse than the shame of being unloved.”

— Julie Cantrell

“[H]is gentle horses graze on fertile grasses and tempt me to ride off in search of answers to what if and what's out there and why not. Where everything around me hints there is more to offer but tells me time and again ... not for me.”

— Julie Cantrell

“Always can find someone who have more pain, more hurt than you. Always can find someone who need help. And you always have something to give. Even when you think you have nothing.”

— Julie Cantrell

“Forgive? It's not easy, Millicent. But I must forgive. Even if he never say he sorry. I do my part. Leave Boone's part to God. That not for me to control. So, not for me to worry about.”

— Julie Cantrell