Silas House

 “I had always found comfort in the leaves, in their silence. They were like a parchment that holds words of wisdom. Simply holding them in my hand gave me some of the peace a tree possesses. To be like that-to just be-that's the most noble thing of all.”

― Silas House, A Parchment of Leaves

“Sometimes just being still is the best thing you can do for yourself.”
― Silas House, Eli the Good

“I've never understood why people run to get out of the rain in the summertime... People will drive miles and miles to go jump in a cool swimming hole, but when it rains, they scatter.”
― Silas House, Eli the Good

“Since that night I have come to understand that sometimes the best families of all are those we create ourselves, the people we choose to be with.”
― Silas House, Eli the Good

“I always tell my writing students that every good piece of writing begins with both a mystery and a love story. And that every single sentence must be a poem. And that economy is the key to all good writing. And that every character has to have a secret.”
― Silas House

“You are so good. So good, you’re always feeling so much. And sometimes it feels like you’re gonna bust wide open from all the feeling, doesn’t it? People like you are the best in the world, but you sure do suffer for it.”
― Silas House

1

“Any two people can set and jaw all day long, but it takes two people right for each other to set together and just be quiet.”
― Silas House, A Parchment of Leaves

“Maybe all the secrets of life were written on the surface of leaves, waiting to be translated. If I touched them long enough, I might be given some information no one else had.”
― Silas House, A Parchment of Leaves

“In New York, the buildings are like mountains in some ways, but they are only alive because of the people living in them. Real mountains are alive all over.”
― Silas House, Same Sun Here

“Every morning I was renewed, though. Air and light healed me, over and over. I got to where I depended on it. When I was feeling my worst, I would step out into the yard and put my hands on the branches of the little redbud. It made me feel like I was saying a prayer, to do this. I know that sounds like foolishness, but that little tree was like an altar for me. I stood there in the cold of early winter, wishing for the redbud to bear leaves so that I might put my face against them.”

“Whole scenes of your life slip away forever if you don't put them down in ink.”
― Silas House, Eli the Good