Paula McLain

Copy Image

I preferred to look at the sea, which said nothing and never made you feel alone

Copy Image

Sometimes when you're hurting, it helps to throw yourself at something that will take your weight

Copy Image

We can only go to the limits of ourselves. Anything more and we give too much away. Then we're not good for anyone

Copy Image

In Paris, you couldn’t really turn around without seeing the result of lovers’ bad decisions. An artist given to sexual excess was almost a cliché, but no one seemed to mind. As long as you were making something good or interesting or sensational, you could have as many lovers as you wanted and ruin them all

Copy Image

When he craved contact, he stopped in to visit the Cézannes and Monets at the Musée du Luxembourg, believing they had already done what he was striving for—distilling places and people and objects to their essential qualities