J.t.geissinger Quotes

Funny thing, isn’t it, hindsight? It’s memory, but with new understanding tacked on, so that the past means something different than it did before.

I never lost you. Who do you think has been ringing the doorbell this whole time?

I don’t know what kind of women you’re used to, but my mother didn’t raise a worker bee. She raised a queen.” I stare at him without smiling. “And I don’t give away the honey for free.

When a woman says no, she doesn’t mean yes. She doesn’t mean maybe. She doesn’t mean please try to talk me out of it because I really don’t mean it, but I just want you to work a little harder. She means no. N. O. Now get out of my way.

Life is pain and everyone dies, but true love lives forever.

Being nice is the worst thing a woman can be. Nice means you have to swallow your own feelings and focus on everyone else's. Nice means you don't speak up when you're wronged. Nice means being a people pleaser and a conciliator and worrying yourself to death over others' opinions. Nice means never getting what you really want.... Authentic. Genuine. Live your truth. Let others live theirs. Don't kiss anyone's ass, but don't be an asshole, either.

You’re the chaos. You’re the storm. You’re the one creating the high winds and choppy seas you have to navigate. You’re the source of everything that’s happening. In other words, you’re the one with the power.

I might be an introvert, but I’ve got a temper, and I hold a grudge like nobody’s business.

Loneliness and solitude are two totally different things. All the times I’ve been loneliest have been in a crowd.

People say time heals all wounds, but those people are assholes. Wounds like mine don’t heal. I’ve just learned to control the bleeding.

Kayla, be careful with me.” Surprised by that, I ask, “What do you mean?” “I know you think I’m strong. But the problem with strong things is that they’re brittle. They can’t bend under stress. They just break.

I learned that love means nothing unless it’s acted upon. Love isn’t real without intent. It’s a verb. It isn’t passive.

It’s not true love if you don’t want to kick his teeth in every once in a while.

There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there.

I was giving you space. Didn’t think it would turn into distance.

Dying isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s just the only thing I won’t live through.

a real friend is someone who stabs you in the front.

Just feel me. Just feel me and breathe.

You are not controlling the storm, and you are not lost in it. You are the storm.

Even small dragons can still breathe fire.

The worst thing in life is to give yourself away in exchange for nothing.

Suddenly I'm filled with anger. "You know what? A wise woman once said, 'Fuck this shit' and lived happily ever after.

Fucking hell, you’re sweet. You’re so goddamn sweet, I just want to sink my teeth into every inch of you.

Don’t let the worst things that happen to you be the benchmark for your self-respect.

Hell is a state of mind, my dear. Reality is simply what we believe it to be. Each of us makes our own truths, even ghosts.

Men say they love a strong woman, right up until they meet one.

Love is solid. Constant. If you’re not careful, you might mistake it for bein’ boring because it’s so reliable.

Love isn’t butterflies, boo. It isn’t weak knees. It’s a pride of lions. It’s a pack of wolves. It’s ‘I’ve got your back even if it costs me my own life,

Love? Hardly. If you were on a life support machine, I’d unplug it to charge my phone.

Hey, bunny,” he says softly, his eyes shining with adoration. “Did you miss me?

Hate will devour you. Anger, no matter how righteous it feels, is a straight, short path to hell.

love means nothing unless it’s acted upon. Love isn’t real without intent. It’s a verb. It isn’t passive. But most of all, love means sacrifice. Whatever love asks of you must be given, no matter the price.

What we call memory is the intersection between imagination and fact. Memories are the stories we tell ourselves about the important events in our lives. In the telling, some details get lost, others embellished, until truth is closer to fiction.

That kiss was hotter than a housewife reading Fifty Shades of Grey at the Magic Mike premiere.

I’d rather have the ugly truth than a beautiful lie.

Let it be. Accept that you have warring factions inside you. If you’re living by your core values, all the second-guessing is just noise you can give yourself permission to ignore.

I’ll wait forever if I have to.” That’s it. There’s nothing else, except a signature scratched below the words. Dante.

How do you always know where to find me ? ' His voice achingly gentle, he says, 'The same way a compass knows how to find true north.

I pause, examining his expression. “Why are you so quiet?” “I don’t plan murder out loud.

This casual summer fling has the potential to burn the whole city down and leave a path of smoking ruins in its wake.

I’m not weird. I’m limited edition.

Meeting you is a gift, and it will always be a gift, no matter how long we have together. So what I promised still stands: I’m yours until September. If you still want me.

You probably can’t even have an orgasm with a real penis anymore because you’ve been hammering your vagina with all those power tools. Your cooch is a construction zone.

People make the mistake of thinking that experiencing an emotion means you have to do something about it. In fact, you don’t have to do anything with your emotions at all. You can simply acknowledge them as they arrive – oh, look, that old bitch Envy is back again – then go about your business. It’s the clinging to emotion that causes suffering … A wiser choice is to let it go and breathe.

Real romantics never go for the cliché because passion is so utterly individual.

Take a deep breath and remember who the fuck you are.

Wait. I forgot. She’s not a woman. She’s a raging banshee who eats men’s sanity for supper.

I love you the way I love the smell of old books.

I throw my hands in the air. “I’m not invincible!” “So that deal you made with the devil for the power to kill with run-on sentences didn’t include immortality?

And I can’t lose her. If ever I do, I’ll burn the whole world to the ground before following her into the dark.

It’s not inexplicable. I like you the way Newton liked gravity.” “I don’t know what you mean.” “Once he found it, everything else in the universe made sense.

And exactly what is it you think I need, Aidan?” “To forget everything so you can remember who you are again.

Life is unfairly hard for introverts. Something as common as interacting with another breathing human can knock us off kilter for days. In fact, I'm not sure socialising has even one tangible benefit. If I didn't have to work for a living, I'd never leave my apartment

You own me, Sloane. Every corner of my worthless black soul. Every piece of my corrupt black heart. You own it all, and you always will. I’m your slave, not the other way around. Never forget it.

The myth of true love is one of the greatest self-deceptions ever embraced by the female sex. It’s right up there with the ridiculous notion that money can’t buy happiness and size doesn’t matter.

How naïve we are when we’re young. How easily we trust that the sun will keep rising and setting, warming our days. And what a terrible blow it is to discover it isn’t the sun that makes things bright, but the people who love us, so that when they’re gone, everything is plunged into darkness.

A true friendship isn’t based on what you think you can get out of it. It’s based on respecting someone enough to let him be who he really is. A true friend is someone who says “I’m here for you” and proves it.

Let me in. Let me take care of you. Give me your trust, and I’ll give you the world. I’ll give you anything you ask for.

Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

Never gonna forget a single day, baby. Good and bad, they all add up to the story of us. I'm gonna take everyone one and cherish it, come what may.

Ah, lassie. If it were anyone else but family who made you cry like this, they’d already be in an ambulance.

Oh, chere," said Moma softly. "Dying isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me. It's just the only thing I won't live through.

The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live

I don’t have baggage so much as cargo. It takes a certain kind of self-confidence to take me on.

a quote from Henry David Thoreau: “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

When someone dies, you start counting all the ways you failed them.

It’s not that I hate people, I just feel better when they’re not around.

Life is too short to miss out on anything, even if it's pain.

A woman worth her salt should be the hardest thing a man has to work for in his life, because then she’s a prize, not a gift,” she’d told me. “Anything you get for free is worth exactly what you paid for it: nothing.

I’m sorry I said that thing about burying the knife in your skull. I didn’t mean it.” “You did.” “Okay, that’s true. But I would’ve regretted it if I did. I would’ve cried really hard at your funeral.

Love involves a lot of forgiveness. People aren’t perfect. Falling in love is easy, but staying in love is a choice. You have to decide if the ups and downs are worth sticking out because there will be plenty of them. There will be pain.

I make the best use of what’s in my power, and take the rest as it happens.

Fate is just the sum of all our bad decisions

Lawd, that dress she’s wearin’ is so tight you can almost see her religion.

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

Some of the prettiest faces hide the meanest hearts, and smooth talk is no substitute for good character. The only way to judge a person is by his deeds.

Whatever it is you’re doin’, you better be sure. Take your time. Figure it out. But be sure. You owe it to yourself.

Food is fuel, but it’s also comfort. The trouble happens when it becomes more comfort than fuel. But that’s what hugs are for.

If I was never knocked down, I’d never have discovered the strength it took to stand back up. And to keep getting up after every future kick, knowing that I could.

His dark eyes flash up to meet mine. He says hotly, “Simple is better on you. Perfection doesn’t need any embellishment.

Please be quiet. My inner demons are demanding that I kill you, and I want to hear what they have to say.

We’re not introverts. We’re misanthropes. Big difference.

Pain is the cost of love. And the deeper your love goes, so too goes the pain. You can never have one without the other.

The path to paradise begins in hell. ~ The Divine Comedy

my top five core values are non-conformity, self-reliance, kindness, honesty, and courage.” “Top five of how many total?” “Twelve.” I can’t see his smile, but I can feel it. “Let’s have the rest.” “Curiosity. Freedom. Persistence. Learning. Humor. Gratitude. Solitude.

The average woman exhibits more courage before lunch every day than a soldier does his entire career. The bravery of women is what built the entire world. You men just like to take credit for it.

She swallows and looks down at her hands clenched in her lap. “I don’t like this story.” “Should I jump to the ending? Spoiler alert: the hero saves her.” Tabby looks over at me, her eyes shining like gems in the dark. “A real hero would teach the princess how to save herself.

People can be arseholes. Sometimes those arseholes are family. It sucks, but it doesn’t mean you have to take on their bullshit. Your mother’s BS is about her, not you. You’re perfect just the way you are, lass.

I’m spinning, lost in a haze of pleasure, lost under the magic we make together, two perfect strangers who’ve found something rare. We’ve unearthed a treasure most people dig for their entire lives and never find.

It’s incredible how many different people one body can hold. We all walk around with a thousand strangers inside us, slumbering quietly until someone else wakes them up. Like the jolt of electricity that reanimated Frankenstein’s monster, all it takes for our sleeping giants to jump to life is a single spark.

I’m gonna fuck you now. It’s gonna be fast and hard because I’ve waited too long for this, but we’ll go again right after, and then I’ll take it slow.

No one can offer you proof of reality, not even Einstein himself. But just because it can’t be proven doesn’t mean the sun won’t rise tomorrow. It will.

Wrong. Trust is a decision. You can make it between breaths.

I should’ve known. The hotter a man is, the faster you should run away from him. A beautiful man is a bottomless pit your self-worth can disappear into and never be seen again.

Love is warm and deep and comfortable, just right, so you float in it peacefully without ever being scalded or frozen, like a perfect, relaxing bubble bath.

If I decided to be a serial killer and went on a murderous rampage with a kitchen knife, she’d find some way to be supportive. She’d probably buy me a set of monogrammed cleavers.

It’s worth it. No matter how bad it can get, no matter if it all falls apart in the end, it’s worth every minute.

Don’t judge a book by its cover, lover boy. I know I look like the girl next door, but inside, I’m more like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

I’m gonna devour you, little bunny rabbit, piece by tasty piece. I’m going to eat. You. Up.

Accept that you have warring factions inside you. If you’re living by your core values, all the second-guessing is just noise you can give yourself permission to ignore.

Our bones have a wisdom that our hearts will always follow, regardless of the roads down which our rational minds think we should head.

Suffering is the great equalizer of humankind.

I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but…no. I don’t need to get to know you better first. Everything I need to know is what happens to me when I look into your eyes.

My mama always told me there are few things a good hug can't cure, and those things are what bourbon's for.

‏Gazing down at me with adoring eyes, he whispers, “Ya tebya lyublyu. I love you. Ty nuzhnah mne. I need you. Ty moya. You’re mine.

What do you think I should do?" "I have two words for you. The first word starts with 'Fuck,' and the second starts with 'Him.

Nothing can hurt you as much as you’ve already been hurt. You’ve survived the worst thing you could imagine. It’s time to start living your life again.

Is this going to be a thing?” I ask, my arms wound around his broad shoulders. “You carrying me around like a sack of potatoes?” “It makes me feel macho bein’ able to lift all this weight—ow!

In a voice like velvet, he says, “I want to taste every inch of you. I want to hear you scream my name. I want to make you come so hard, you forget your own. I don’t have time to fuck around—excuse the pun—with the kind of wooing I’d usually do to win you, so that’s why I’m being so blunt.

I really don’t understand men. Dealing with men is like dealing with a hostile alien species who crash-landed on the planet and decided our language and customs are too silly to be bothered with, and henceforth we should be treated with mild disdain and/or as objects of occasional sexual release before being ignored as inferior beings again.

Life is short. You don’t get a do-over. Kiss who you need to kiss, love who you need to love, tell anyone who disrespects you to go fuck themselves. Let your heart lead you where it wants to. Don’t ever make a decision based on fear. In fact, if it scares you, that’s the thing you should run fastest toward, because that’s where real life is. In the scary parts. In the messy parts. In the parts that aren’t so pretty. Dive in and take a swim in all the pain and beauty that life has to offer, so that at the end of it, you don’t have any regrets. “We only come this way once. Our obligation for receiving the miraculous gift of life is to truly, fully live it.

Jackson turned his left hand up and gazed down at the simple black tattoo on the inside of his wrist. He was silent for a long time, then looked up and met my eyes. He said, "You're an avid reader. You know the meaning of semicolon." I frowned. "It's when the author could have ended a sentence but chose not to." "Exactly." "I don't understand." Jackson looked deep into my eyes. His smile might have been the saddest thing I'd ever seen. He said softly, "I'm the author, and the sentence is my life.

The note is stuck directly under the line I ridiculed during dinner: “Now, feel. I am thee and thou art me and all of one is the other. And feel now. Thou hast no heart but mine.

Then come sit on my lap and let me finger fuck you while I feed you dinner.

amazing how men assume any emotion a woman is feeling must somehow be directly related to them.

Because she’s indestructible, like Styrofoam peanuts.

Tell me what you’re thinking, baby.” “I’m thinking we’re a couple of lunatics.” That makes him chuckle. “Aye. But my crazy matches your crazy. That’s why it works.

So I like dangerous alpha males with big-dick energy. Don’t judge.

I’m so fucking helplessly charmed I might as well attach some strings and a pair of handles to my back, give them to her, and let her make me dance.

Holy fucking yellow submarines, this woman is my kryptonite.

We’re all dying, baby. It’s just a matter of when.

a man has to choose me or lose me. I’m not a backup plan.

Everything eventually ends. We all eventually die. That's why every day we have is so special. The fact that we only have limited amount of time is what makes life precious.

the thing that breaks you is the only thing that can put you back together.

I hate to break it to you, Egozilla, but God isn’t like Tinkerbell. He doesn’t need you to believe in him to exist. Now get your cantankerous behind out of this car and follow me.

If you don't get a dick up in that hot pocket soon, it's gonna grow over. You'll never be able to have sex again.

Kings have to move the pawns at their disposal. It’s just what kings do. As for the pawns, well, they might not have a king’s power, but they can still make themselves useful.

Two things you should know about me: one, I always get what I want. And two, I always plan ten steps ahead to get it.

My point is that when it comes to hot men, your vadge can’t be trusted. If Satan had tats and a strong jaw, you’d fuck him.

Shaking my head, I say, “I feel sorry for his mother. She should’ve swallowed instead.

Fake it ’til you make it, bitch.

Carbs are proof that God loves us, don’t you think?

Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, do good.

It's easy to forget that everybody else has problems when you're so caught up in your own

Say it again, baby.” I take a breath and blow it out. Every cell in my body is singing. “I’m yours, Kage. Even when I hate you, I love you. Whatever happens, we’ll work it out.

You’re insane!” “We’ve already established that you’re the crazy one. I’m the monster, remember?

I’ve never met a woman I wanted to strangle, protect, scream at, cherish, fight with, and fuck, all at the same time.

Yours until the sun flames out and all life on earth is extinguished,

Love is war, darlin’. Only thing in life worth sheddin’ blood over.

It must be such a relief to be so unburdened by logic.

I always thought love was a pair of shackles, but I was wrong. Love was the opened door of a cage.

His voice goes rough. “Because once you’re in my bed, you’re mine. And that’s it. Once I have you, I’ll never let you go. Not even if you ask me to.” We stare at each other. After a moment, I say, “Wow. We haven’t even had our first date yet.

Then he says gruffly, “Please don’t freeze me out. Be angry all you want, but don’t shut down on me. I need you right now. I won’t be able to think straight if you don’t communicate with me.

I’m shit with good-byes and we’re not talking anyway, so I’m skipping that part and staying at a hotel tonight. My offer was serious. It still is. My door will always be open for you. Yours until the sun flames out and all life on earth is extinguished, Prancer Included with the note is a first-class ticket to Scotland.

These kisses of his…they’re demanding and possessive. They’re hungry and deep. They’re the kisses of a man who wants more of a woman—who wants everything—and isn’t going to stop until he gets it.

When I remain silent, he prompts, “Why aren’t you saying anything?” “I’m too busy patting myself on the back for how well I’m adjusting to being married to a psychopath. I’m not even crying or anything.

A healthy body is a gift. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t treat it like some cheap one-night stand. Treat it like the love of your life. Treat it with respect and tenderness, but most of all, gratitude.

I read somewhere that grief is more than an emotion. It’s a physical experience, too. All kinds of nasty stress chemicals get released into the bloodstream when a person is grieving. Fatigue, nausea, headaches, dizziness, food aversion, insomnia… The list of side-effects is long.

I’ll kill anyone who ever disrespects you. I’ll kill anyone who even looks at you the wrong way. If anyone so much as annoys you, I’ll put a bullet in his skull and throw his body into the Charles River. You never have to fight your own battles again, viper, understood? I’ll fucking destroy any dumb motherfucker who ever dares to even make you frown.

She was my religion. My north and south, my heaven and earth, the axis of rightness around which everything had suddenly aligned. For the first time in mi life, all my polarized parts worked as one, humming happily along in harmony with the univers, finally understanding their place.

I’ve learned that no matter how well you think you know yourself, you can still be surprised. You can’t control what moves you. The only thing in your control is the choice over whether or not you surrender to it.

A woman worth her salt should be the hardest thing a man has to work for in his life, because then she's a prize, not a gift," she told me. "Anything you get for free is worth exactly what you paid for it: nothing.

I hear some rustling on the other end of the line, like he’s moving around. Then he exhales. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough time.” “Oh god. Please don’t feel sorry for me. I hate pity more than anything else in the world.” “It’s not pity. It’s empathy.” “I’m not sure they’re so different.” “They are. One is condescending. The other is understanding what someone’s going through because you’ve been there. And you wouldn’t wish that kind of suffering on anyone else. And you wish you could make it better.

The heart wants what it wants,” Cam says, watching me steadily. “But sometimes what you think is love is just a beautiful form of self-destruction. The worst thing in life is to give yourself away in exchange for nothing.

I watch him go through the preflight checks with a deep sense of awe. I thought he was pretty macho before, but this… Well, this wins the macho war. My ovaries are screaming in glee like a bunch of playground kids on sugar highs.

Maybe I don’t have to be perfect. Maybe having one person who thinks I am is enough. Maybe his belief in me can be the seed that takes root in the stubborn, self-loathing dirt of my mind and grows into a garden of self-acceptance.

Yes. The principle. I only have a few of them, but they’re airtight. One is that I don’t cause other people’s suffering if I can help it. Another is that I own my shit. I don’t blame anyone else but me for what goes wrong in my life.

Why is it that when a woman’s been through a lot, she’s expected to handle it gracefully with fake smiles and a stiff backbone, but when a man’s been through a lot, he’s given full license to storm around like a giant baby throwing a tantrum?

Because real life isn’t a fairy tale, darling, and making a relationship last is hard. Love involves a lot of forgiveness. People aren’t perfect. Falling in love is easy, but staying in love is a choice. You have to decide if the ups and downs are worth sticking out because there will be plenty of them. There will be pain.

I do have old-fashioned, inflexible ideas about gender roles. But trust me when I say that they’re all to your benefit. Now, will you let me open the door to the bloody bookshop for you, or will your wee feminist ego insist we arm wrestle over it?

Okay. You go first. Do you really think I look like a camel?’ “No. I think you look like Rockefeller Center at Christmas, Japan in cherry blossom season, and the thousand vivid shades of green in the wild moors of Northern Ireland, all rolled into one.

Why is your nose so red? Snort coke much? “Okay, Sunshine, it’s on,” I mutter, then type. Charming. That’s called walking-in-cold-wind nose. However, if I knew I’d be bumping into you, I’d definitely have turned to drugs to help me through the trauma.

Whatever love asks of you must be given, no matter the price. And I’d gladly give what love asked of me a thousand times over. Even if I had to do it every day until the end of eternity, I’d slice open my own veins with a razor blade and happily bleed myself dry.

Here are the rules.” Rules. For me? Hilarious. But I’m pretending to be cooperative, so I sit patiently and listen instead of laughing in his face. “One: I don’t tolerate disobedience. If I give you an order, you follow it.” Magic Eight Ball says: outlook not so good.

Be ready to tell me everything you want me to do to you in bed.

He has no idea what’s happening. Honestly, there’s nothing more adorable than a befuddled man. Especially when they’re huge and armed.

You give me hope for manity.” “What the hell is manity?” “The male part of humanity.

If I fall into you, promise you’ll catch me.

Be careful what you wish for, baby. And if I ever say I love you, be afraid. Because my love isn’t soft. It isn’t pretty. It’s the monster hiding under your bed in the dark.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Trust me, if murder was legal, I’d have killed dozens of people by now.

I know I was an idiot, but I swear I’ve changed.” My brows lifted. “Really? Got a brain transplant, did you?

Men aren’t like us, baby. They’re dumb as doughnut holes when it comes to love.

Life is too short to look for perfection.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. ~ Ernest Hemingway

I can’t wait to see his face. I also can’t wait to set it on fire and put it out with a hammer.

I thought love was supposed to be weak knees and butterflies in your stomach and a terrible longing that could never be quenched." Eeny shook her head, chuckled, came over and embraced me. "No, child", she said gently, patting my back. "That's romance. Romance is build on doubt. Love is solid. Constant. If you're not careful, you might mistake it for bein' boring because it's so reliable. Love is warm and deep and comfortable, just right, so you float in peacefully without ever being scalded or frozen, like a perfect, relaxing bubble bath.

Because I wanna get to know her. Because I think she's beautiful, interestin', and sexy as fuck, and that laugh of hers knocks me on my ass. And I think she wants me, too only she's afraid.

There are a million shades of gray between good and evil, love. Am I on the darker end of the spectrum? Yes. Am I a bad man who does good things or a good man who does bad things? Both. But you made this monster your slave. All of what I am, good and bad, light and dark, belongs to you.

Love isn’t born of the flesh. It’s born of the spirit, and so can transcend the bonds of flesh, and life, and time. The poet Rumi said, ‘Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes around in another form.

There’s no need to be nervous around me. I’m the least unpredictable man you’ve ever met. What I want from you won’t change if you say the wrong thing. It won’t change if you gain weight or cut your hair or decide to go vegan. It won’t change even if you say you never want to see me again and we go our separate ways. I’d honor that request, but it wouldn’t make me stop wanting you. But you should know…

How do you tell someone it’s surprisingly easy to surrender to horror once you accept there’s no way out? Survival is simply the art of suffering gracefully when we’re up against forces out of our control. I lost my fear of dying because I expected it every minute of every day. Tomorrows only exist in our minds.

And another thing. Learn to stop saying ‘Sorry,’ and say ‘Don’t interrupt me.’ Learn to say ‘No’ and ‘None of your business.’ Learn to be unapologetic for who you are and what you like and the opinions you hold. I

Life isn’t always unfair, Mariana. Lots of bad shit happens, but good things happen, too, and you need to be able to recognize the good when it comes along. You need to be able to accept it and deal with it, same as you deal with the bad. Love is as real as hate. You know how to survive. But that’s not the same as living.

Do not stand at my grave and weep  I am not there. I do not sleep.  I am a thousand winds that blow.  I am the diamond glints on snow.  I am the sunlight on ripened grain.  I am the gentle autumn rain.  When you awaken in the morning's hush  I am the swift uplifting rush  Of quiet birds in circled flight.  I am the soft stars that shine at night.  Do not stand at my grave and cry;  I am not there. I did not die. ~ Mary Elizabeth Frye

But the thing people don’t realize is that the past is a living, breathing entity that exists apart from our wishes or best intentions. It’s not gone, and it’s certainly not invisible. Its fingerprints are smeared all over every moment of the present, its weight drags on every second of the future, its consequences echo down every hallway of our lives. We can no more rid ourselves of the past than we could stop the earth from spinning.

If there’s one thing that Love in the Time of Cholera taught me, it’s that true love always wins in the end, even if it takes fifty fucking years and enough heartache and tragedy that it can be accurately compared to a plague.

I know she wouldn’t like it, but the possessiveness I feel for her tells me unequivocally how serious I am. She’s mine. I mean, I know she’s not mine mine, I’m a liberated guy, she’s her own person, nobody owns anyone, that’s not what I’m saying. Oh fuck it, who am I kidding? I’m saying she’s mine and I’ll pound any motherfucker who tries to get between us.

Your body isn’t a thing to be looked at and judged against some standard of perfection that doesn’t even really exist. It’s the vessel that takes you through life, allowin’ you to experience all the beautiful things life has to offer. Food. Sex. Sunsets. Music. Hugs. Laughter. A healthy body is a gift. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t treat it like some cheap one-night stand. Treat it like the love of your life. Treat it with respect and tenderness, but most of all, gratitude.

The noise I made when I collided with his chest was something so unladylike my mama would’ve pitched a hissy fit if she’d heard it. It was part grunt, part groan, and part something that sounded like it shot out of my butthole on a hot burst of air, excuse my French.

I am so tired of people feeling sorry for themselves. Sorry for their shitty parents, sorry for their shitty friends, and their shitty jobs, and all the shitty things that happen every day in life to everyone, but somehow everyone seems to think their particular brand of shitty is the shittiest of them all. But you know what? There’s always someone else who’s got it a thousand times shittier than you.

I wish you knew how perfect you are. How different and perfect. I’ve never met anyone like you. Whenever we’re together, I feel like a new man. A better man. Like everything bad that’s ever happened to me doesn’t matter anymore because your sweet smile takes it all away.

The number of fucks you should give about what men think of how you look is zero, lass. Every choice you make about your appearance should be about what makes you feel good, not what makes some random lad—or your mother—think you’re cute. Don’t set aside your preferences for anyone.

I am so tired of people feeling sorry for themselves. Sorry for their shitty parents, sorry for their shitty friends, and their shitty jobs, and all the shitty things that happen every day in life to everyone, but somehow everyone seems to think their particular brand of shitty is the shittiest of them all. But you know what? There’s always someone else who’s got it a thousand times shittier than you. So suck it up and quit your bellyaching and try focusing on someone else. It might make your problems seem a little bit better in comparison. Or if not, at least it will make you less of an asshole!

We're all just here for a blip in time, riding on a rock that's flying through space at a million miles a day in a galaxy that has a hundred billion stars. Me, Jay Z, the president, a goldfish... in the end there's not much difference, chère. We come and go. We live and die. If we're lucky, we love and are loved.

Your past is your own business. But you’re asking a lot if you expect me to take every strange thing you say on faith. Mystery is great. Mystery I can take, because mysteries eventually get solved. But secrets?” I shook my head. “I’m not so good with those. If we’re going to get closer, you’re going to have to let me in. That’s part of the deal.” Seeing

Cam says, “Look at me, lass. Look at this body.” He throws out his arms, juts out his chin, and puffs out his chest. “You think I got this perfect physique by starvin’ myself? You think I became the world’s most famous, beloved athlete by tryin’ to be skinny?” “I’m sorry, could you repeat the question? Your ego is blocking my ears.” “The human body is a complex machine. A temple, as they say. You have to treat it like one!” “Yeah, well, my temple is more like an abandoned ruin the jungle has taken over and a herd of billy goats is living in.

One of the first shrinks I went to after Cass died told me that the brain has a hardwired need to find correlations, to make sense of nonsensical data by making connections between unrelated things. Humans have evolved a universal tendency to seek patterns in random information, hence the existence of fortune-tellers and dream interpreters and people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast. But the cold, hard truth is that there are no connections between anything. Life—all of existence—is totally random. Your lucky lottery numbers aren’t really lucky, because there’s no such thing as luck. The black cat that crosses your path isn’t a bad omen, it’s just a cat out for a walk. An eclipse doesn’t mean that the gods are angry, just as a bus narrowly missing you as you cross the street doesn’t mean there’s a guardian angel looking out for you. There are no gods. There are no angels. Superstitions aren’t real, and no amount of wishing, praying, or rationalizing can change the fact that life is just one long sequence of random events that ultimately have no meaning. I really hated that shrink.

My throat raw with emotion, I said, “I thought love was supposed to be weak knees and butterflies in your stomach and a terrible longing that could never be quenched.” Eeny shook her head, chuckled, came over and embraced me. “No, child,” she said gently, patting my back. “That’s romance. Romance is built on doubt. Love is solid. Constant. If you’re not careful, you might mistake it for bein’ boring because it’s so reliable. Love is warm and deep and comfortable, just right, so you float in it peacefully without ever being scalded or frozen, like a perfect, relaxing bubble bath. “But it’s also fierce and strong and demands all the best parts of you, the parts that are giving and honest and true. Love makes you a better person. It makes you want to be a better person. You know it’s love when you feel comfortable just as you are, when you feel seen and understood, when you know you could tell all your darkest truths and they’d be accepted without judgement.” Eeny pulled away and gently smoothed a hand over my hair. “Love isn’t butterflies, boo. It isn’t weak knees. It’s a pride of lions. It’s a pack of wolves. It’s ‘I’ve got your back even if it costs me my own life,’ because unlike romance that fizzles at the first sign of trouble, love will fight to the death. When it’s love, you’ll go to war to avenge even the slightest offense. And you’ll be justified. “Because of all the marvelous and terrible things we can experience in this life, love is the only one that will last beyond it.

My throat raw with emotion, I said, “I thought love was supposed to be weak knees and butterflies in your stomach and a terrible longing that could never be quenched.” Eeny shook her head, chuckled, came over and embraced me. “No, child,” she said gently, patting my back. “That’s romance. Romance is built on doubt. Love is solid. Constant. If you’re not careful, you might mistake it for bein’ boring because it’s so reliable. Love is warm and deep and comfortable, just right, so you float in it peacefully without ever being scalded or frozen, like a perfect, relaxing bubble bath. “But it’s also fierce and strong and demands all the best parts of you, the parts that are giving and honest and true. Love makes you a better person. It makes you want to be a better person. You know it’s love when you feel comfortable just as you are, when you feel seen and understood, when you know you could tell all your darkest truths and they’d be accepted without judgement.” Eeny pulled away and gently smoothed a hand over my hair. “Love isn’t butterflies, boo. It isn’t weak knees. It’s a pride of lions. It’s a pack of wolves. It’s ‘I’ve got your back even if it costs me my own life,’ because unlike romance that fizzles at the first sign of trouble, love will fight to the death. When it’s love, you’ll go to war to avenge even the slightest offense. And you’ll be justified. “Because of all the marvelous and terrible things we can experience in this life, love is the only one that will last beyond it.