Quotes & Sayings About Nana's

Live until you die." spoken by Nana Antonia in Steve Burt's story "Nana Antonia's Christmas Wish" in Family Circle Magazine. The story is also found as "Christmas Eve 12 Plus 97" in Steve' book, A Christmas Dozen. — Steve Burt

Throughout my reading life, I've enjoyed many memorable meals-if only fictionally. The oysters at dinner near the beginning of Anna Karenina, the dinner Nana throws for her overflowing guests in Zola's Nana, the walk through Les Halles for breakfast in Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, and nearly every meal in Monique Truong's The Book of Salt. — Alexander Chee

When the future you see is worse than the present, one begins to worry. And, oh, I speak of Ghanaian politicians. The tadpoles are out-jumping the toads. — Nana Awere Damoah

I grew up listening in awe to stories of their wartime adventures. My granny, Joan, was a journalist and wrote amazing letters to my grandpa when he was a prisoner of war, while my nana, Mary, was a Land Girl, then a Wren. They were so independent, resilient and glamorous. — Laura Carmichael

They say that only very good friends quarrel. But at the end of the day a quarrel is a fight between two people's egos. Since people cannot understand each other by just being honest. May be its impossible to live your whole life without getting hurt but don't hurt the people close to you. — Ai Yazawa

The things that stress me out haven't changed.
But I don't wanna lose anything.
So I thought that at least I would change.
I'm lucky ... that I'm afraid of losing something. — Ai Yazawa

I'm not trying to - What do teenagers say nowadays?" he asked my grandmother."Get all up in her biznez," Nana said.Without cracking a smile."That's right," he replied. "We're not trying to get all up in your biznez, Ali. — Gena Showalter

Does she say tough cookies?" "Well, no," I confess. "Nana swears like a sailor, actually. Last Christmas she dropped a motherfucker bomb at the dinner table, and my dad nearly choked on his turkey. — Elle Kennedy

The scariest time of my life was when I knew my Nana was dying. It was horrible, as there's nothing I could do to stop it. I grew up living with my Mum, brother and Nana (my mum's mum), so it felt like I lost a parent rather than a grandparent. It makes you realise the fragility of life. — Nikki Sanderson

For us who choose our dreams over our love the only thing we can do for love is perhaps to release the lock around our necks. Through that, the pain may vanish. — Ai Yazawa

It's nice to look good, but the most important thing is to be you. — Nana Mouskouri

All of a sudden, in the good-natured child, the woman stood revealed, a disturbing woman with all the impulsive madness of her sex, opening the gates of the unknown world of desire. Nana was still smiling, but with the deadly smile of a man-eater. — Emile Zola

Nana ... how come being happy and making your dreams come true are two different things? Even now, I still don't know why ... — Ai Yazawa

In Sikaman, deadlines are on wheels. — Nana Awere Damoah

I want to be spoiled like a child. Cry to my heart's content. But I can only suppress my feelings.. — Ai Yazawa

She can hear me?" "She probably can. I think so." I put his hand on Nana's and my hand on top of his. "Go ahead." "Hi, Nana!" he said as if Nana were hard of hearing, and it was difficult not to laugh. "Inside-the-house voice, buddy," Bree said. "But good enthusiasm there. I'll bet Nana heard you. — James Patterson

How you looked was not important. It was what you did and how you did it. Decide to do it and then do it the best way you can. — Nana Mouskouri

That fiend! Mr. Darling would cry, and Nana's bark was the echo of it, but Mrs. Darling never upbraided Peter; there was something in the right-hand corner of her mouth that wanted her not to call Peter names. — J.M. Barrie

Thus Wendy and John and Michael found the window open for them after all, which of course was more than they deserved. They alighted on the floor, quite unashamed of themselves; and the youngest one had already forgotten his home. 'John,' he said, looking around him doubtfully, 'I think I have been here before.' 'Of course you have, you silly. There is your old bed.' 'So it is,' Michael said, but not with much conviction. 'I say,' cried John, 'the kennel!' and he dashed across to look into it. 'Perhaps Nana is inside it,' Wendy said. But John whistled. 'Hullo,' he said, 'there's a man inside it.' 'It's father!' exclaimed Wendy. — J.M. Barrie

I do believe that if you haven't learnt about sadness, you cannot appreciate happiness. — Nana Mouskouri

I have been so lucky to receive so much love from those who enjoy my music, that I feel I have to give as much of it as I can back to children. — Nana Mouskouri

Admittedly, there was a lot she still didn't know about him, but she did know this: He completed her in a way that she'd never thought possible. Knowledge isn't everything, she told herself, and she knew then that, in Nana's words, he was the toast to her butter. — Nicholas Sparks

Many of us don't dream; more dangerously, many of us don't spend quality time thinking. We worry, yes, but we do not think. We don't project ourselves into the future. We don't utilize imagination. For many who do dream, what is lacking is the translation of the dream into reality and the tenacity to hold on to the dream when the going gets tough. — Nana Awere Damoah

Having the courage to speak one's mind is as important as knowing when the time is right to do so. — Nana Awere Damoah

That moment I felt a bit like crying. I don't really know why. Nana's hand felt so warm that it even warmed my heart. — Ai Yazawa

It's been a year and nine month since we broke up. It's almost the second spring since then. When I turn 20 in March, I'm going to buy myself a much deserved present. A one way ticket to Tokyo. As for luggage, all I need is my guitar and my smokes. - Nana — Ai Yazawa

When I was five, my mother and sister sat me up on the kitchen counter and explained the facts of life: the Easter Bunny didn't exist, Elijah was God's invisible friend, with any luck Nana would die soon and If I ever saw a unicorn, I should kill it or catch it for cash. — Sloane Crosley

Ah. Alicia, see? Didn't I tell you that's what she needed to begin with? Maybe a little schtupping and it would make the cancer go away. It works with pimples.'
'Nana! — Wendy Wunder

You were not really in the area," she says now. "You look just like your father used to look when he lied to me." I laugh. "How's that?" "Like you've swallowed a lemon. Once, when your father was maybe five, he stole my nail polish remover. When I asked him about it, he lied. Eventually I found it in his sock drawer and told him so. He became hysterical. Turned out he read the label and thought it would make me - someone Polish - disappear. He hid it before it could do its job." Nana smiles. "I loved that boy, — Jodi Picoult

I hate babies with trendy names like Tiffany and Britney and Heather and Noah and Blake and Justin. I'm sick of Olivia and Chloe and Eva and Madison. I hope Aiden and Jayden and Braden and Graden all suffer minor head injuries while reading Dr. Seuss. Enough already with the cutesy-poo baby names. What happened to John and Dave and Sue? Babies with trendy names grow up to be adults with ridiculous names. "This is our CEO, Micah." "You know what, Micah? I want my money back. I'm closing my portfolio. I'm going with Michael. He's a grown-up." One day all of these trendy-named children will grow up and become parents and then grandparents, and it's all wrong. Grandma Tori? Zayda Jared? Nana Savannah? — Joan Rivers

Nana's French knickers were surely a symbol of liberty and abandonment, worn only by women who didn't care for conventional frills or superficial nametags. Those french knickers were flags blowing in the wind, like a statement of victory. — Diana Janney

Sometimes I worry that we're too happy, but then a visit to Nana's house brings things into focus. We're happy because we want to be, because we're pouring our energy and emotion into each other in the best possible way. My — Elle Kennedy

There's no use asking Mom and Dad to talk to Nana about her punishment. They won't stand up to her. They never do. This is why I decide I am not going to speak to Nana or Papa or my parents. What Leila and I did was wrong. But now I have been put in the middle of something else entirely. Something about Adam and the adults and things that happened before I was born, maybe even before Adam and Uncle Hayden and Mom were born.
~pgs 144-145; Hattie on adulthood — Ann M. Martin

Cam lifted the back of the U-Haul door to find Perry holding up a pair of Nana's enormous, silky white underpants.
'Whoops,' said Cam. 'You'll have to make do.' And she shut the door, ignoring Perry's continued pounding on the side of the trailer.
'I packed some cute stuff for her, too,' Asher said regretfully. — Wendy Wunder

Whenever you talk to nana on one of her birthdays - her real name, by the way, is Antoinette Frances Holzworth DeMaio, though she's better known as Tebby - she'll tell you how old she is, quickly followed by 'Ain't that revoltin'? Da woyums should have me by now. I should be playnt-ed. Why ain't I playnt-ed yet?' 'Because the Lord doesn't like complainers,' my mom will say. — Megyn Kelly

If you can't stop feeling guilty about Nana support Nana's dreams and wish her success. — Ai Yazawa

What's wrong with the world," Nana explained, "is that people stopped listening to their hearts ...
"Not everybody stopped listening," she continued, "but enough people did to make a difference. We've go so much in this life that all we know how to do is want more. So we concentrate on the wrong things
things we can see
as being the measure of a person. We think if we can win something big or buy something snazzy it'll make us more than we are. Our hearts know that's not true, but the eyes are powerful. It's easier to fix on what we can see than listen to the still, small voice of a whispering heart."
Nana turned her eyes on me like a vet looking for fleas: "A heart will say amazing things if it's given half a chance. — Joan Bauer

If my tears spilled spontaneously at that moment it's because I immediately understood that what was happening, like in a dream, was the treat you had prepared for me I felt your friendship much stronger than if you had thanked me a million times that what pleased and touched me. — Ai Yazawa

Even now, sometimes on street corners ... when I meet someone, I see your shadow. I'm sure that even now, you're still wearing that man's cologne ... so you can sleep, even alone ... — Ai Yazawa

Scarlett's nana used to say the world of Caraval was Master Legend's playground. No words were spoken that he didn't hear. Not even a whisper could escape his ears, no shadow went unseen by his eyes. No one ever saw Legend---or if they did, they didn't know it was him---but Legend saw all during Caraval. — Stephanie Garber

To love someone, why do you need society's approval and permission? — Ai Yazawa

She [Nana] listened to his [Steiner's] propositions, turning them down every time with a shake of the head and that provocative laughter which is peculiar to full-bodied blondes. — Emile Zola

My parents weren't married. It wasn't like my dad up and left. I maintained a steady relationship with my grandparents. My dad's mother is my nana, and I'm closer to her than almost anybody in this world. — Alicia Keys

Many things happened in my life, and I thought that they changed me. But in the end, nothing has changed since I was seventeen. If I could keep today's happiness I wouldn't worry about tomorrow. — Ai Yazawa

It's different and bold. It stands out amongst a blank world of black, white, and gray. Orange is the early morning sun stretching across the sky and the color of a burning ember standing tall in the middle of a beach bonfire. It's leaves in the fall, carrots in Nana's vegetable soup on a cold winter day, tulips in the spring, and the ladybugs in the middle of the grassy park on a hot summer afternoon. Orange is life. It's unexpected but beautiful. — Aly Martinez

Nana never remarried, but not for lack of offers. She was resolute: it was one thing to be a young man's darling, she said, but she wasn't going to be an old man's slave. — Kate Morton

But even when the moon looks like it's waning ... it's actually never changing shape. Don't ever forget that. — Ai Yazawa

A few seconds later, her reply came in.
WTF an A! I blinked, sure I was misreading. But no, the letters didn't change.
Me: Nana, do U know what WTF means??
Her: Of course silly, it means well, that's fantastic. — Gena Showalter

He'd sit and listen to Nana's Jesus stories all day, but when she turned to the Old Testament prophets, Louis Valentine's little face would darken. He said, I hate it when God is mean! — Donald McCaig

Luck is personal; we all have our own. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but it's yours, and it follows you wherever you go...And luck can change, because as my nana always insisted, luck was a state of mind. — Lynne Matson

Nana Oosaki, about Shin: I wonder if he's really eighteen. He looks sixteen. I'm sure he lied about his age ...
Nana Komatsu: See! You were complaining but you still read the application!
Shin: The studio's free! Great! <3
Nana Komatsu, thinking: So cute!
Nana Oosaki: I hope he's not in primary school ... children today are advanced. — Ai Yazawa

Junko: Why don't you find a guy who's a fan of Trapnest, and go to the concert with him?
Kyousuke:Yeah! Do that, Nana. You'll find yourself a boyfriend, and you'll even be able to see the concert! Then you'll be killing two birds with one stone.
Nana Komatsu: I don't want a boyfriend. I'll never fall in love again.
*SILENCE*
Nana Komatsu, thinking: Plus, I've got Nana <3
Junko and Kyousuke, thinking: What will we do? If you take love away from Nana, there's nothing left! — Ai Yazawa

Hey, Nana ...
people's feelings change easily ...
what you see is a house of cards ...
nothing's sure,
and nothing lasts forever. — Ai Yazawa

She's my retirement gift, the platinum watch for being a mother." " This fortunate position - the one you couldn't apply for - is one you can't lose either. It's yours for life: this will always be your daughter's daughter. These two will always be yours, and you, theirs. I'll always be her Nana. — Roxana Robinson

She turned back to Sophie. "First things first: are your parents alive?" "Yes," she said, blinking in surprise, not sure where this was going. "Good. And you talk to your mother?" "Yes, almost every day." Dora glanced sideways at Scatty. "You hear that? Almost every day." She took one of Sophie's hands in hers and patted the back of it. "Maybe you should be teaching Scathach a thing or two. And have you a grandmother?" "My Nana, yes, my father's mother. I usually call her on Fridays," she added, realizing with a guilty start that today was Friday and that Nana Newman would be expecting a call. "Every Friday," the Witch of Endor said significantly, and looked at — Michael Scott

In addition to suffering her husband's scathing portrayal of a shrewish wife and mother, Nana Victoria had to sit not more than two seats away from the transsexual wrestler!) — John Irving

Get used to that, Nana. He has a way of appearing out of thin air.'
'Oh my. Asher. Hm. Hm. Hm. Turn around. He's beautiful, Campbell. Are you schtupping my granddaughter?' she asked him.
'No, ma'am.'
'Well, I give you my permission.'
And just liked that, Cam's love life was ruined forever. If and when she ever 'schtupped' Asher, she'd have to do everything she could not to think of her grandmotehr. — Wendy Wunder

Love is always a battle. — S.W. Frank

People say love can be developed, but in the end only person you love is themselves. that's why you choose to love someone who can please you the most. - Takumi — Ai Yazawa

Hey Nana, do you remember the first time we met? I beleive in things like fate.
So I think it was fate. — Ai Yazawa

Trapnest means "The Trapped Den" Once we enter it, we can't get out by our own means I thought that that name could only come from a man who love having power over other. — Ai Yazawa

I at least wanted to appear strong and elegant in your eyes just like a manga heroine who's too perfect to be real - Nana
The only person who will ever be my hero is you, Nana - Hachi — Ai Yazawa

Marry someone who can grow with you and who can allow you to grow. — Nana Awere Damoah

The children were overwhelmingly morbid. Not a single adult asked me where butterflies go when they die, but this question was more popular than pixie sticks with the under-four-foot set. I cursed parents for not preparing their children. When I was five, my mother and sister sat me up on the kitchen counter and explained the facts of life: the Easter Bunny didn't exist, Elijah was God's invisible friend, with any luck Nana would die soon, and if I ever saw a unicorn, I should kill it or catch it for cash. I turned out okay. — Sloane Crosley

Looking around today, I see a lot of young people who act as if they have all the time in the world, and older persons who think this attitude is alright. It is unfortunate that there are young citizens who still believe life begins at forty and that life before forty is non-scoring, and older citizens who still insist that unless you are old, you have nothing to offer, equating age with wisdom. — Nana Awere Damoah

Getting carried away is stupid, it won't get me anywhere.
-Nana Komatsu — Ai Yazawa

My nana was an actress, my mom was an actress, and my sister, too. So because I was surrounded by it, it really came naturally. — Chris Pine

Why ... are you always so ... reasonable about everything? How can you always be so strong?"
"Before ... I was never like this. The only reason ... was you. It's because I met you. Yano, you made me strong. — Yuuki Obata

Look, you were in the wrong, got it? You were a 100 percent at fault!! But I might have been just a little bit wrong too, so I guess I'll be the better person and apologize - though only a little. Sorry. But only a little bit...a really teeny bit. — Nana Haruta

I know it looks vaguely unsanitary and potentially scandalous, Nana, but I promise that Izzy and I are only pursuing noble...pursuits. We've even got a chaperone! Izzy, who was that woman who went into the cave?'
I blanked, not sure how to describe Maya. I settled on, "My...also my Nana. — Rachel Hawkins

Nana acts like a stray cat, wild, free, and proud ... But inside her heart, she houses a wound. Dense as I am, i thought that. This trait of hers was a part of her charm as well..but she never realized how much pain it brought her ... -Nana Komatsu — Ai Yazawa

You know Hachi, your life depends only on ourselves. I'm still convinced about this ... But I've also learned to accept that people ... don't all become as strong, and it made me kinder than before. — Ai Yazawa

The point of writing my name to you is that I see who you are, you see who I am ... and that's what it's about. — Nana Visitor

For my convalescence, I had to exercise my voice only with vowels. It is a medical rule after a long loss of voice. — Nana Mouskouri

Our beliefs about our abilities and the capabilities we have are usually the limiting reactants in the chain reaction of our lives. — Nana Awere Damoah

If you won't push someone up, the least you can do is not to pull him down. — Nana Awere Damoah

I don't get what my signature is supposed to mean if we haven't had some kind of exchange. — Nana Visitor

Loss taught me the priceless value of friends. I would have lost it but for my friends. — Nana Awere Damoah

On a freezing night like this, someone, please warm him up for me- Nana — Ai Yazawa

If you're that obsessed with someone, why would you kill her?
Humans are full of contradictions. — Ai Yazawa

Oh, boy. Now you see what you've done, Monica Lewinsky, you stupid, stupid tart, I thought. Because of you, I have to explain to my Nana, while she's in a hospital bed with an enlarged gallbladder, what oral sex is. Do you see the damage you've caused? Do you see where your sinful path has led? — Laurie Notaro

I always try to see things with children's eyes. Are they happy? Sad? What do they need? Everywhere I went, I realized that children are society's victims ... We have a duty to speak to political leaders, to influence people to give these children a better future. — Nana Mouskouri

I might cry tomorrow, but I may be smiling the day after. That's enough. That's the way life is. If I don't lose hope - tomorrow will come.Tomorrow will come if we don't lose hope ... I learned that from Nana.But rainy days still make my cheeks wet with tears, even now. It was pouring, on that rainy day. — Ai Yazawa

Pops: How about you finish this sentence for me, Jason? When a girl says no she means ...
Justin, looking desperately at me: No?
Nana: Are you sure?
Justin, shifting uncomfortably: I'm sure. No means no.
Nana: Well look at you. You got one right. Now here's another, even tougher sentence for you to finish. Premarital sex is ...
Me: Nana! I'm so sorry Justin.
Nana: Unlike Pops, I'm not moving on. Justin?
Pops: His name is Jason.
Justin:Uh ... uh ...
Pops: While you think about that, why don't you tell me how you feel about drinking and driving?
Justin: I'm totally against it, I swear!
Nana: Methinks he protests too much. — Gena Showalter

Before he could answer, the front door flew open and a little girl ran out, skidding to a halt inches from them. "Daddy?" The concern in the tiny child's eyes melted Shay's heart.
"Josie," Shay whispered.
Josie propped her fists on her hips, and she cocked her head to the side. "How do you know my name?"
"Joselynn, be nice and go get your nana."
Her lower lip trembled, but she turned and ran back inside. — Lia Davis

Vivienne Westwood, The Sex Pistols, Seven Stars, coffee with milk and strawberry cake. And Ren flowers.
Nana's favorite things never change.
It was so cool for someone like me who keeps on changing their mind. — Ai Yazawa

When I need a hit of caffeine ... I'll pay S1.00 for coffee. But I'd much rather sip tea at a fancy cafe. I need to live in a hip place. I want to wear cool clothes. I want to see the latest films. I have to have the best cell phone. I want a driver's license. I wanna see the world!
So I need a job. I have to get it together.
I don't mind working for all that stuff. — Ai Yazawa

I would love to have seen a male-female relationship that had nothing to do with falling in love, I'd love to prove, even on TV - even if it's not true! - that men and women can be friends without any kind of involvement. — Nana Visitor

Ermaline has entered the room noiselessly and is whispering to Nana. When she leaves, Nana and Papa start talking about friends of Mom's who are in the middle of a scandalous divorce. Mom and Dad keep glancing at Adam, and Nana keeps asking Mom and Dad questions, pulling their attention back to the conversation. I have seen this before. It's Nana's highly effective and very annoying way of not mentioning the elephant in the living room. But why does she have to think of Adam as an elephant? Why can't he just be their son?
~pgs 40-42; Hattie on adults — Ann M. Martin

Tears water our eyes.

"Remember," mom soothes, "like the beautiful blooms beneath the weeds, Nana is still Nana underneath. — Kathryn Harrison

I love you as only a lover can. Less depressed, less obsessed, I am better than ever able to love your hair, which has blond lights in it, and your remarkable eyes, the blue of my Nana's chipped china. I love the smell of your skin, impossible to describe except to say it's a confluence of many pungent things, and I love your chest with the disks of your nipples, and your thighs striated with sweat, and your back and your breath while you are above me. — Lauren Slater

My Nana Westbrook, true as a saint's prayer, always used to say the Devil was a woman thought up by the Good Lord Himself to test a man's mettle and drag him down to Hell if he came up short and, Lordy, I sure as hell kept my granny's wise words to heart, God rest her soul, never once dipping my stick in a place where it might get snapped. — Ojo Blacke

If Nana thinks you're trying to scam her, she'll tell you, and if she thinks you ruined her life by discontinuing Arnold's Thin bread, she'll let you know that, too. I guess when you spend eighty-seven years swallowing other people's bullshit, there comes a time when you gotta spit some back. — Laurie Notaro

Hey Nana,
If Cinderella's glass slipper fits so perfectly, I wonder why it fell off along the way? I can't help but think that it was on purpose, to attract the prince's affections. No matter what I do, I'll still have the fate of a girl who just keeps getting hurt, wondering if she can be happy in this pointless, one man show? — Ai Yazawa

Doesn't surprise me," Nana snorted. "I wouldn't put anything past your late husband."
"He's not dead, Nana."
Nana sighed. "Hope springs eternal. — Nicholas Sparks

Every time I get happy
the Nana-hex comes through.
Birds turn into plumber's tools,
a sonnet turns into a dirty joke,
a wind turns into a tracheotomy,
a boat turns into a corpse ... — Anne Sexton

I glance at Mom. She looks pained. I know she doesn't care what I wear to lunch, but she doesn't want to contradict her mother. Actually, that's not quite true. Mom will go against Nana's wisheds where big enormous things are concerned, like who she marries and what kind of house she lives in. But when it comes to these smaller things- my appearance at lunch when Nana comes over- Mom often gives in. I do not understand this. I think these little things are supposed to be peace offerings, but for what? For running a boardinghouse or for something else, some adult thing I am not part of?
~pgs 20-21; Hattie on growing up and mothers — Ann M. Martin

Nana always said the rain was Nature's way of adding sparkle to the outdoors. — Evangeline Duran Fuentes

The flow of time cleanses the past and heals the wounds in people's hearts. But there are wounds we cant speak of. — Ai Yazawa

His Nana's prayers were moving toward his mother like little butterflies of thoughts wrapped in the most beautiful colors. Each prayer looked like a mini-rainbow. — H. L. Balcomb