Sue Monk Kidd > Quotes

“Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“If you need something from somebody always give that person a way to hand it to you.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“Knowing can be a curse on a person's life. I'd traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn't know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can't ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“I have noticed that if you look carefully at people's eyes the first five seconds they look at you, the truth of their feelings will shine through for just an instant before it flickers away.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“After you get stung, you can't get unstung
no matter how much you whine about it.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“Nobody around here had ever seen a lady beekeeper till her. She liked to tell everybody that women made the best beekeepers, 'cause they have a special ability built into them to love creatures that sting. It comes from years of loving children and husbands.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“I hadn't been out to the hives before, so to start off she gave me a lesson in what she called 'bee yard etiquette'. She reminded me that the world was really one bee yard, and the same rules work fine in both places. Don't be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Still, don't be an idiot; wear long sleeves and pants. Don't swat. Don't even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates while whistling melts a bee's temper. Act like you know what you're doing, even if you don't. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“When it's time to die, go ahead and die, and when it's time to live, live. Don't sort-of-maybe live, but live like you're going all out, like you're not afraid.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“some things don't matter much. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now, that matters. The whole problem with people is...they know what matters, but they don't choose it...The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

“The most significant gifts are the ones most easily overlooked. Small, everyday blessings: woods, health, music, laughter, memories, books, family, friends, second chances, warm fireplaces, and all the footprints scattered throughout our days.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

“We are so limited, you have to use the same word for loving Rosaleen as you do for loving Coke with peanuts. Isn't that a shame we don't have many more ways to say it?”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“People, in general, would rather die than forgive. It's that hard.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

“There is nothing perfect...only life.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“You can go other places, all right - you can live on the other side of the world, but you can't ever leave home”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Mermaid Chair

“All my life I've thought I needed someone to complete me, now I know I need to belong to myself.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Mermaid Chair

“Sunset is the saddest light there is.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“Drifting off to sleep, I thought about her. How nobody is perfect. How you just have to close your eyes and breathe out and let the puzzle of the human heart be what it is.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“There's nothing like a song about lost love to remind you how everything precious can slip from the hinges where you've hung it so careful.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don't even know it.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“You gotta imagine what's never been.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“To remain silent in the face of evil is itself a form of evil.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Invention of Wings

“It shocks me how I wish for...what is lost and cannot come back.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story

“It's your time to live, don't mess it up.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“The body knows things a long time before the mind catches up to them. I was wondering what my body knew that I didn't.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“In a weird way I must have loved my little collection of hurts and wounds. They provided me with some real nice sympathy, with the feeling I was exceptional...What a special case I was.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees