Matthew Parsons > Matthew's Quotes

“Sometimes the people you loved left you halfway through a story. Sometimes they left you without a goodbye. And, sometimes, they stayed around in little ways. In the memory of a musical. In the smell of their perfume. In the sound of the rain, and the itch for adventure, and the yearning for that liminal space between one airport terminal and the next. I hated her for leaving, and I loved her for staying as long as she could. And I would never wish this pain on anyone.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“Sometimes, only through a story can a truth be heard.”
― Axie Oh, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

“I don't think love can be bought or earned or even prayed for. It must be freely given.”
― Axie Oh, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

“That's just like a human to think the world revolves around you, to think the rivers are for you, the sky, the sea is for you. You are just one of many parts of the world, and in my opinion, the one that blights them all.”
― Axie Oh, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

“Not all storytellers are grandmothers, but all grandmothers are storytellers.”
― Axie Oh, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

“You only need one ray of light to chase all the shadows away,”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“She just smiled, said that she loved books more than anything, and started telling him excitedly what each of the ones in her lap was about. And Ove realised that he wanted to hear her talking about the things she loved for the rest of his life.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“He went through life with his hands firmly shoved into his pockets. She danced.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“You miss the strangest things when you lose someone. Little things. Smiles. The way she turned over in her sleep. Even repainting a room for her.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“We fear it, yet most of us fear more than anything that it may take someone other than ourselves. For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“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 champagne bubbles would have sounded if they were capable of laughter.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“But if anyone had asked, he would have told them that he never lived before he met her. And not after either.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“It's been six months since she died. But Ove still inspects the whole house twice a day to feel the radiators and check that she hasn't sneakily turned up the heating.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“Of all the imaginable things he most misses about her, the thing he really wishes he could do again is hold her hand in his.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“You're the funniest thing she knows. That's why she always draws you in color.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“I just wanted to know what it felt like to be someone you look at.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“He misses her so much that sometimes he can’t bear existing in his own body.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“Something inside a man goes to pieces when he has to bury the only person who ever understood him. There is no time to heal that sort of wound.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“That was love, wasn't it? It wasn't just a quick drop -- it was falling, over and over again, for your person. It was falling as they became new people. It was learning how to exist with every new breath. It was uncertain and it was undeniably hard, and it wasn't something you could plan for.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“Isn't it strange how the world works sometimes? It's never a matter of time, but a matter of timing.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“You only live once. And if you do it right, once is all you need.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“Sometimes the people you love don’t leave you with goodbyes—they just leave.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“I didn't need to be fixed. I just needed...to be reminded that I was human.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“Your life changed because of
some French fries?"
"The things you least expect usually do.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“Sometimes I think," she said slowly, "that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn't make it past noon.”
― Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun,”
― Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

“Courage is the root of change—and change is what we’re chemically designed to do.”
― Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

“No surprise. Idiots make it into every company. They tend to interview well.”
― Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry

“If you ever fall in love, you’ll be a person who was in love for the rest of your life.”
― Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time