53 quotes found
“Their friendship was like a wilted bunch of flowers that she insisted on topping up with water. Why not let it die instead? It was unrealistic to expect a friendship to last forever”
“You start out wanting to change the world through language, and end up thinking it's enough to tell a few good jokes.”
“Keep the change," he smiled. Was there ever a more empowering phrase than "Keep the change"?”
“Sometimes, when its going badly, she wonders if what she believes to be a love of the written word is really just a fetish for stationery. The true writer, the born writer, will scribble words on s...”
“Self-pitying, self-righteous, self-important, all the selfs except self-confident, the quality that she always needed the most.”
“Cuddling was for great aunts and teddy bears. Cuddling gave him cramp.”
“And is that what love looks like -- all wet mouths and your skirt rucked up?""Sometimes it is.”
“Maybe they're in love.""And is that what love looks like - all wet mouths and your skirt rucked up?""Sometines it is.”
“I'm just not going to do it so that we can say that we've done it. And I'm not going to do it if the first thing you say afterwards is 'please don't tell anyone' or 'let's forget it ever happened'....”
“There seemed no reason why she shouldn't try writing something in between, but she was discovering once again that reading and writing were not the same - you couldn't just soak it up and then sque...”
“All his words and actions would now be fit for his daughters ears and eyes. Life would be lived as if under [her] constant scrutiny. He would never do anything that might cause her pain or anxiety ...”
“You can live your whole life not realising that what you're looking for is right in front of you.”
“And there it is again, the look. There's no doubt about it, if Sylvie had a receipt, she would have taken him back by now; this one's gone wrong. It's not what I wanted.”
“He hadn't been this nervous since the last disastrous night at the improv, and he firmly told himself to calm down as he blotted at the tablecloth, glancing upwards to see Emma wriggling out of her...”
“He swatted at her with his book. "Shut up and read, will you?"He lay back down and closed his eyes. Emma glanced over to check that he was smiling, and smiled too.”
“Who's he seeing now then?""No idea. They're like funfair goldfish; no point giving them names, they never last that long.”
“You should visit the Palatine. It's at the top of that hill . . .""I know where the Palatine is, Dexter, I was visiting Rome before you were born.""Yes, who was emperor back then?”
“There is a point in the future where even the worst disaster starts to settle into an anecdote.”
“Okay, well I think the programme is like being screamed at for an hour by a drunk with a strobe-light, but like I said--”
“It would be inappropiate, undignified, at 38, to conduct friendships or love affairs with the ardour or intensity of a 22 year old. Falling in love like that? Writing poetry? Crying at pop songs? D...”
