love pierced through my heart, and let the blood taint my soul.每次當我給孩子們唱這首歌時，我那死去的愛情就成了一根尖銳的刺，一次次地穿透我的心髒，讓血液浸染了我的靈魂。
When I look back, I’ve got the funny feeling that I have lived long enough, and I’ve loved and hated enough. All I wished to have was a peaceful life in the countryside with my children, and hoped that they could lead a better life than I ever had.當我回首往事，我會產生一種奇怪的感覺，好像我已經活得夠久的了，我已經愛得夠多，也恨得夠多了。我唯望平靜地活著，在鄉村帶著我的孩子們，期冀著他們的人生可以比我好。
I want Melinda to be a pretty little fool, end up with a man who loves her more than she loves him so that she won’t love any man deep enough to hurt her. I hope Charles turns out to be a brave and careless lad, and could understand something that I wasn’t able to comprehend---let it go when you can’t have it. You could still be happy.我希望梅琳達成為一個美麗的小傻瓜，去找一個愛她勝於她愛他的男人，這樣她就不會為情所傷。我希望查爾斯變成一個勇敢而粗心的小夥子，懂得一些我不曾明白的道理——當你得不到一些東西的時候，就隨它去吧。你還是可以活得很幸福。
Love is good. But don’t let it go too far, or its flame would consume you.愛情是個好東西，但是一旦過了頭，它的火焰就會吞噬你自己。
Becca once asked me: “Do you love Mr. Stuart at all”貝卡有一回問過我：“你到底愛不愛斯圖亞特先生？”
I asked plainly: “Yes, I do. Any way, I love him enough to endure the rest of my god-forsaken life with
him.”我平淡地回答：“愛。反正，我對他的愛足夠我跟他湊合在一起，忍受完我這被上帝遺棄的下半輩子了。”
作者有話要說：
☆、永不凋零的山茶花
1955年，埃莉諾和梅琳達已經都去霍格沃茲上學了。埃莉諾二年級，梅琳達一年級。和她們的父親一樣，她們都在格蘭芬多學院。
開學那天，我和弗朗西斯把兩個女孩子送到國王十字車站。站台上彌漫著白色的蒸汽，我們揮著手，直到那紅色的列車消失在拐彎處。