Quotes by Fredrik Backman

“Men are what they are because of what they do, not what they say.”

“She goes silent. Ashamed of herself as mothers are when they realize they have passed that point in life when they want more from their daughters than their daughters want from them.”

“A few years turned into more years, and more years turned into all years. Years have a habit of behaving like that.”

“To teach her that not all monsters are in the beginning, and not all monsters look like monsters. Some carry their monstrosity inside.”

“Everyone has a thousand wishes before a tragedy, but just one afterward.”

“He had never heard anything quite as amazing as that voice. She talked as if she was continuously on the verge of breaking into giggles. And when she giggled she sounded the way Ove imagined champa...”

“He is wearing a rugby shirt with numbers and a little man on a horse on his chest. Kent has told Elsa that this sort of shirt costs more than a thousand kronor, and Granny always used to say that t...”

“Ove gives the box a skeptical glance, as if it's a highly dubious sort of box, a box that rides a scooter and wears tracksuit pants and just called Ove "my friend" before offering to sell him a watch.”

“I just mean ... damn ... this might sound a bit crazy, but sometimes you can't help wondering if we don't take all this a bit too seriously. If we aren't putting too much pressure on the juniors. T...”

“Winners have a tendency to be forgiven in this town.”

“You only need one ray of light to chase all the shadows away.”

“Because a time comes in every man's life when he decides what sort of man he's going to be: the kind who lets other people walk all over him, or not.”

“It doesn't take long to persuade each other to stop seeing a person as a person. And when enough people are quiet for long enough, a handful of voices can give the impression that everyone is screa...”

“Everything is complicated if no one explains it to you.”

“In Miamas, fairy tales are still produced around the clock, lovingly handmade one by one, and only the very, very finest of them are exported. Most are only told once and then they fall flat on the...”

“Shes fifteen, above the age of consent, and hes seventeen, but hes still the boy in every conversation. Shes the young woman.Words are not small things.”

“She is told all the things she shouldnt have done: She shouldnt have waited so long before going to the police. She shouldnt have gotten rid of the clothes she was wearing. Shouldnt have showered. ...”

“For the perpetrator, rape lasts just a matter of minutes. For the victim, it never stops.”

“Ana was a tornado. A jagged, hundred-sided peg in a community where everyone was supposed to fit into round holes.”

“Grow up and be different and dont let anyone tell you not to be different, because all superheroes are different.”