Norman Ollestad Quotes & Sayings

My dad had previously spoken about 'fighting through things to get to the good stuff' or some such concept, and as he shook the salt water out of his curly brown hair, he talked more about people 'giving up and missing out on fantastic moments'. — Norman Ollestad

He had a way of coaxing me to greater and greater heights, promising a burst of exhilaration as long as I could bear the fear. It felt like the definition of true love. And I didn't see how I could ever find it again. — Norman Ollestad

I needed something else, some kind of juice.
He gave me a hooked-eyebrow glance and took a showy swig of the water.
Mmm, he said, smacking his lips. Water-juice. It's fantastic. — Norman Ollestad

There is more to life than just surviving it. Inside each turbulence there is a calm
a sliver of light buried in the darkness. — Norman Ollestad

It's a nice fantasy life, she said when I was done. Well, I'm living it, so it's more than a fantasy. What about love? She took off her bandanna, loosing her blond waves. Don't you have someone you love? Why would I go do something like that? — Norman Ollestad

Beautiful things were sometimes mixed up with treacherous things, they could even happen at the same time, or one could lead to the other, I thought. — Norman Ollestad

I reframed the situation — Norman Ollestad

Most rebellions and revolutions end up with the oppressed group coming to power and inflicting the same evils they endured on some new group that they are now oppressing, I argued. Violence, hoarding power and resources, that's the basic human M.O. — Norman Ollestad

There was no denying that in our short time together Lena had struck hard and deep, carving out a space in my heart alongside my father - she was my first surrender to someone other than him. Like a fever reaching down every limb and muddling my mind, the ache of abandonment weakened my grip on the steering wheel and fuzzed the lanes of the highway. Loving my father was something innate - there when I was born, like the sun - but loving Lena took a leap of faith, and now that I'd lost her there were no bloodlines or primal bonds to harness the free fall. — Norman Ollestad

I felt tears welling up behind my eyes and tried to blink them back. — Norman Ollestad