Nana Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Nana. Here they are! All 100 of them:

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Being alone and being lonely are two different things.
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Ai Yazawa
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In this world, not everything will be won by justice. If you want to win, you have to learn how to cheat. (Nana)
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Ai Yazawa
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Hey, Nana... people's feelings change easily... what you see is a house of cards... nothing's sure, and nothing lasts forever.
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Ai Yazawa
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But even when the moon looks like it's waning...it's actually never changing shape. Don't ever forget that.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 14)
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Don't just give up, Hachiko. Life is about getting knocked down over and over, but still getting up each time. If you keep getting up, you win.
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Ai Yazawa
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People are only what they think of themselves.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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Hey Nana, If Cinderella's glass slipper fits so perfectly, I wonder why it fell off along the way? I can't help but think that it was on purpose, to attract the prince's affections. No matter what I do, I'll still have the fate of a girl who just keeps getting hurt, wondering if she can be happy in this pointless, one man show?
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Ai Yazawa
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The dreams we are chasing and the reality that is chasing us are always parallel; they never meet.
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Ai Yazawa
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Forgetting about our mistakes and our wounds isn't enough to make them disappear.
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Ai Yazawa
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Nana... How come being happy and making your dreams come true are two different things? Even now, I still don't know why...
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Ai Yazawa
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If relationships were hard, mariage was even harder... it seemed like most couples struggled. It went with the territory. What did Nana always say? Stick two different people with two different sets of expectations under one roof and it ain't always going to be shrimp and grits on Easter.
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Nicholas Sparks (The Lucky One)
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Mariam lay on the couch, hands tucked between her knees, watched the whirlpool of snow twisting and spinning outside the window. She remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. As a reminder of how people like us suffer, she'd said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us.
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Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
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Nana always said that books made better friends than people anyway. Books will take you anywhere if you let them, she used to say, and I think she was right.
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Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie)
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Hey Nana, do you remember the first time we met? I beleive in things like fate. So I think it was fate.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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Why must one talk? Often one shouldn't talk, but live in silence. The more one talks, the less the words mean. (Nana Kleinfrankenheim, Vivre Sa Vie)
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Jean-Luc Godard (La Nouvelle Vague (Spanish Edition))
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To love someone, why do you need society's approval and permission?
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Ai Yazawa
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I always thought that life was about standing your ground, no matter how strong the current was. But going with the flow isn't so bad after all. As long as it takes you forward.
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Ai Yazawa
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The longer we live, the more weight we carry in our hearts.
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Ai Yazawa
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What people consider precious is different for everybody.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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I am pissed off at your insensitive inability to understand why I'm pissed off in the first place.
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Ai Yazawa
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If you're that obsessed with someone, why would you kill her? Humans are full of contradictions.
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Ai Yazawa
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I was happy anywhere I could see the ocean.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 18)
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Nana, apa kau tahu, di mana tempat paling baik untuk kita? Jawabannya adalah di sisi satu sama lain.
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Orizuka (17 Years of Love Song)
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Vivienne Westwood, The Sex Pistols, Seven Stars, coffee with milk and strawberry cake. And Ren flowers. Nana's favorite things never change. It was so cool for someone like me who keeps on changing their mind.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 2)
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I don't think avoiding conflict is not caring. ~Shin
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 12)
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I’m not trying toβ€”What do teenagers say nowadays?” he asked my grandmother.β€œGet all up in her biznez,” Nana said.Without cracking a smile.β€œThat’s right,” he replied. β€œWe’re not trying to get all up in your biznez, Ali.
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Gena Showalter (Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1))
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The things that stress me out haven't changed. But I don't wanna lose anything. So I thought that at least I would change. I'm lucky...that I'm afraid of losing something.
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Ai Yazawa
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My story will be over soon. But it’s not something to be sad about. Remembering those who went ahead. Remembering those who will follow after. And someday, we will meet all those people again, out beyond the horizon
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Hiro Arikawa (Nana Du KΓ½)
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People like hurting each other but loving is not a waste.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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Look at me, Mariam.' Reluctantly, Mariam did. Nana said, 'Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.
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Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
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People can't be just tied together. They have to connect. Otherwise, they'll find themselves bound hand and foot.
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Ai Yazawa
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We are all farsighted, we give importance to those things that are far from us, while neglecting the things that are close to us... only to realize their value later when they are out-of-reach again...
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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You know Nana, I searched and searched, but could never find the key that unlocked the way. And now that I've stopped looking, I've finally found it. Maybe the door will open for me.
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Ai Yazawa
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Suddenly, I don't know what to say. It happens often to me. I know what I want to say, I think about whether it is what I mean, but when the moment comes to speak, I can't say it. - Nana Kleinfrankenheim, Vivre Sa Vie.
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Jean-Luc Godard
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People can have lovers, they can have friends, they can be together. But when you think about it, you'll see that originally... we're alone.
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Ai Yazawa
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Hey, Hachi People always say that you only discover how precious something is after you lose it--- but I think, you only really recognize it... when you see it a second time face to face. -Nana Osaki
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Ai Yazawa
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I want to be spoiled like a child. Cry to my heart's content. But I can only suppress my feelings...
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Ai Yazawa
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Say, Nana... You look like stray cat, wild and proud. But I can see the wound in your heart. At the time I just thought it was cool. I never realized how hurt you were.
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Ai Yazawa
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Doesn't surprise me," Nana snorted. "I wouldn't put anything past your late husband." "He's not dead, Nana." Nana sighed. "Hope springs eternal.
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Nicholas Sparks (The Lucky One)
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Nana used to say whenever you start feeling like the world is taking a bite out of you, bite back by counting your blessings.
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C.C. Hunter (Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls, #5))
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You were a stray cat, strutting so free and full of pride. But I could see your open wound. And without really thinking I just chalked it up to another cool thing about you. I never realized how much you hurt.
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Ai Yazawa
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They say that only very good friends quarrel. But at the end of the day a quarrel is a fight between two people’s egos. Since people cannot understand each other by just being honest. May be its impossible to live your whole life without getting hurt but don’t hurt the people close to you.
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Ai Yazawa
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Does she say tough cookies?” β€œWell, no,” I confess. β€œNana swears like a sailor, actually. Last Christmas she dropped a motherfucker bomb at the dinner table, and my dad nearly choked on his turkey.
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Elle Kennedy (The Deal (Off-Campus, #1))
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Admittedly, there was a lot she still didn't know about him, but she did know this: He completed her in a way that she'd never thought possible. Knowledge isn't everything, she told herself, and she knew then that, in Nana's words, he was the toast to her butter.
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Nicholas Sparks
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So you have to accept facts as fact.
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Ai Yazawa
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That fiend!" Mr. Darling would cry, and Nana's bark was the echo of it, but Mrs. Darling never upbraided Peter; there was something in the right-hand corner of her mouth that wanted her not to call Peter names.
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J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)
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Pops: How about you finish this sentence for me, Jason? When a girl says no she means... Justin, looking desperately at me: No? Nana: Are you sure? Justin, shifting uncomfortably: I'm sure. No means no. Nana: Well look at you. You got one right. Now here's another, even tougher sentence for you to finish. Premarital sex is... Me: Nana! I'm so sorry Justin. Nana: Unlike Pops, I'm not moving on. Justin? Pops: His name is Jason. Justin:Uh....uh.... Pops: While you think about that, why don't you tell me how you feel about drinking and driving? Justin: I'm totally against it, I swear! Nana: Methinks he protests too much.
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Gena Showalter (Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1))
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I feel the same way about all my friends. To me, the exact relationship between me and someone else doesn't matter much.But people want to label everything...so I guess I seem indifferent in that way. ---Yasu
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 17)
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I wasn't really able to love someone but I couldn't help but want to be loved.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 4)
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I’m lucky that I’m afraid of losing something.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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Many things happened in my life, and I thought that they changed me. But in the end, nothing has changed since I was seventeen. If I could keep today’s happiness I wouldn’t worry about tomorrow.Β 
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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If you don't fight for him, you lose! Fight for him! ~Nana Osaki
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 12)
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Oh my. He's English. "Er. Does Mer live here?" Seriously, I don't know any American girl who can resist an English accent. The boy clears his throat. "Meredith Chevalier? Tall girl? Big, curly hair?" Then he looks at me like I'm crazy or half deaf, like my Nana Oliphant. Nanna just smiles and shakes her head whenever I ask, "What kind of salad dressing would you like?" or "Where did you put Granddad's false teeth?" "I'm sorry." He takes the smallest step away from me. "You were going to bed." "Yes! Meredith lives here. I've just spent two hours with her." I announce this proudly like my little brother, Seany, whenever he finds something disgusting in the yard. "I'm Anna! I'm new here!" Oh, [Gosh]. What. Is with. The scary enthusiasm? My cheeks catch fire, and it's all so humiliating. The beautiful boy gives an amused grin. His teeth are lovely - straight on top and crooked on the bottom, with a touch of overbite. I'm a sucker for smiles like this, due to my own lack of orthodontia. I have a gap between my front teeth the size of a raisin. "Γ‰tienne," he says. "I live one floor up." "I live here." I point dumbly at my room while my mind whirs: French name, English accent, American school. Anna confused. He raps twice on Meredith's door. "Well. I'll see you around then, Anna." Eh-t-yen says my name like this: Ah-na.
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Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1))
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Even if you fulfill your hearts desire, by sacrificing something important, you may not necessarily be happy. Happiness doesn’t come in one form, it determined by your own heart.
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Ai Yazawa
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Having someone you love say "Thank you" is more rewarding than just having them say "I love you.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 20)
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The table was her stage. The mobile phone was the microphone. And the new moon was the spotlight. That kind of magic only Nana could make it happen.
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Ai Yazawa
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In just that short amount of time, Nana’s addiction had become the sun around which all of our lives revolved. I didn’t want to stare directly at it.
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Yaa Gyasi (Transcendent Kingdom)
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I wanted to have a good relationship. One that's romantic and dramatic, like in the movies. But I finally became a woman at 17 and learned that men aren't really that simple.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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The flow of time cleanses the past and heals the wounds in people's hearts. But there are wounds we cant speak of.
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Ai Yazawa
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That moment I felt a bit like crying. I don't really know why. Nana's hand felt so warm that it even warmed my heart.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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I at least wanted to appear strong and elegant in your eyes just like a manga heroine who’s too perfect to be real - Nana The only person who will ever be my hero is you, Nana - Hachi
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Ai Yazawa
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People’s feelings are easily swayed. The things reflected in people’s eyes are full of deception. Nothing is as it appears.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 14)
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Why... is human desire so unsatisfying?
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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The more my dream are fulfilled the quicklier they become realities losing their shine.
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Ai Yazawa
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Laugh at love and love will make you cry.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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Tell me, Nana, If for example we had been a love couple, Would a hug have been enough to wash away my sadness? Or then; does every single being carry this loneliness, like a burden? I wans't intending to monopolizing you I just wanted you to need me.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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Even now, sometimes on street corners... when I meet someone, I see your shadow. I'm sure that even now, you're still wearing that man's cologne... so you can sleep, even alone...
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Ai Yazawa
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At that time I told myself that I didn't want to fall in love ever again. But that night while praying for your happiness Nana, I thought that despite all the wounds and all the pains it could cause I wanted to dream again, and love someone with all my heart.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 5)
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I have the right to be hated.(Takumi)
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Ai Yazawa
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You know Hachi, your life depends only on ourselves. I’m still convinced about this… But I’ve also learned to accept that people… don’t all become as strong, and it made me kinder than before.
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Ai Yazawa
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Sometimes I worry that we’re too happy, but then a visit to Nana’s house brings things into focus. We’re happy because we want to be, because we’re pouring our energy and emotion into each other in the best possible way. My
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Elle Kennedy (The Goal (Off-Campus, #4))
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Are you living everyday so that even if the end were to come you’d have to regrets?
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Ai Yazawa
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For us who choose our dreams over our love the only thing we can do for love is perhaps to release the lock around our necks. Through that, the pain may vanish.
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Ai Yazawa
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Remember that just because something is, doesn’t mean it can’t change, and just because you haven’t seen something before, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
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Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Chain-Gang All-Stars)
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Sometimes isn’t it better to have some time and space to ourselves? We will have new perception of things.
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Ai Yazawa
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Right now I am working to polish the shards of my dreams.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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We live together, but I am not Noriko's cat. Forever and ever I am your cat, Satoru. That's why I can't become Noriko's.
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Hiro Arikawa (Nana Du KΓ½)
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When dawn comes, that memory gradually distances...Tonight, I will bring it to sleep with me, so that will not be taken away by the waves of the night...
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Ai Yazawa
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We have to watch Nana's life slipping away from her like a forgotten word. I thought I understood what's happening to her, but this isn't like being robbed a penny at a time. Memories aren't currency to spend; they're us. Age isn't stealing from my grandmother; it's slowly unwinding her.
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Shaun David Hutchinson (We Are the Ants)
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It takes a lot of strength to hold onto and care for the things we love, so why is it that god seems to have made humans unable to conjure up that degree of power and love?
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Ai Yazawa
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We didn't say good bye. But we knew it would be the end if we were apart. There was no reason to call or write letters. As it would have been meaningless, if we couldn't hold each other tight.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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She remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up into the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke silently on the people below - As a reminder of how women like us suffer, she'd said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us
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Khaled Hosseini
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I thought about how the world can be anything and how said it is that it's this.
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Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Chain-Gang All-Stars)
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Just don't keep me in the dark about things. Otherwise, why am I with you?
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 20)
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I’ll die if you go. The Jinn will come, and I’ll have one of my fits. You’ll see, I’ll swallow my tongue and die. Don’t leave me, Mariam jo. Please stay. I’ll die if you go.
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Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
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If my tears spilled spontaneously at that moment it’s because I immediately understood that what was happening, like in a dream, was the treat you had prepared for me I felt your friendship much stronger than if you had thanked me a million times that what pleased and touched me.
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Ai Yazawa
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The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it. "What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" "Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." "Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" "It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." "I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled. "The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.
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Margery Williams Bianco (The Velveteen Rabbit)
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Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours; so, of course, they had a nurse. As they were poor, owing to the amount of milk the children drank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her. She had always thought children important, however, and the Darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington Gardens, where she spent most of her spare time peeping into perambulators, and was much hated by careless nursemaids, whom she followed to their homes and complained of to their mistresses. She proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse.
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J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)
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I’m all you have in this world Mariam, and when I’m gone you’ll have nothing. You ARE nothing!
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Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
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She was my sacred angel that I could never violate. Reira was my sanctuary. I needed something solid like that in this dirty, disappointing world.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 18)
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A ruined man fell from her hands like a ripe fruit, to lie rotting on the ground.
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Γ‰mile Zola (Nana)
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If I ever fall in love again, I would like it if it were a slightly cold guy. Someone who won't constantly mind about my childish needs but who, the day after the quarrel, for example would offer me a flower accompanied by a sweet note That's kind of guy I need.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 5)
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The loneliness caused by not hearing Ren's voice... I felt it deep in the night. I felt it deeper than anyone else. Even now at times I look back. In this ordinary life without Ren, I think my life with him was like a dream. Especially on a snowy night like this. On a night as cold as this. Someone keep this guy warm for me, please.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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The children were overwhelmingly morbid. Not a single adult asked me where butterflies go when they die, but this question was more popular than pixie sticks with the under-four-foot set. I cursed parents for not preparing their children. When I was five, my mother and sister sat me up on the kitchen counter and explained the facts of life: the Easter Bunny didn't exist, Elijah was God's invisible friend, with any luck Nana would die soon, and if I ever saw a unicorn, I should kill it or catch it for cash. I turned out okay.
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Sloane Crosley (I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays)
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First I put on what I thought of as my β€˜artistic’ outfit, a green smock dress with huge amber beads stitched into it. I imagined the kind of people who went to concerts might be quite arty and flamboyant. Will and Nathan both stared at me as I entered the living room. β€˜No,’ said Will, flatly. β€˜That looks like something my mum would wear,’ said Nathan. β€˜You never told me your mum was Nana Mouskouri,’ Will said.
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Jojo Moyes (Me Before You (Me Before You, #1))
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Tell me, Satoru. What's out there beyond this field? A lot of wonderful things, I'm thinking. I wonder if I'll be able to go on a trip with you again. Satoru grins, and picks me up, so I can see the far-off-horizon from his eye level. Ah - we saw so many things, didn't we?
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Hiro Arikawa (Nana Du KΓ½)
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The feeling that was born that night, how could i describe it?Words like love or lust just don't seem right. I may call it jealousy, or may be anxiety and moreover, need. Even now I'm anxious at times because when I am with Ren, everything around feels like a dream. That was how Ren turned my boring life into an illusion, and that was too much for no matter how hard i tried, it seemed I could never catch him.
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Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
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What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. β€œDoes it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?” β€œReal isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. β€œIt’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” β€œDoes it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. β€œSometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. β€œWhen you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.” β€œDoes it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, β€œor bit by bit?” β€œIt doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. β€œYou become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.
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Margery Williams Bianco (The Velveteen Rabbit)
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Pops: Plans for the future? Justin: Not sure yet. Pops: Well, why not? You don't got much longer in school, boy. Now's the time to figure things out, not later. Didn't anyone ever tel you that you can't spell later without the word late? Justin: I promise you, I'm doing my best to figure things out. Pops: "Doing my best" is a phrase failures use. Why don't you buy a man card and finish figuring? Me: Pops! That's so rude. Justin, I'm so sorry. Pops: What? How is a valid question rude? But all right, fine, I'll move on since baby boy can't take the heat. How about you finish this sentence for me, Jason? When a girl says no, she means... Justin, looking desperately at me: No? Nana: Are you not sure? Justin, shifting uncomfortably: I'm sure. No means no. Nana: Well, look at you. You got no right. Now here's another, even tougher sentence for you to finish. Premarital sex is... Me: Nana! I'm so sorry, Justin. Nana: Unlike Pops, I'm not moving on, Justin? Pops: His name is Jason. Justin: Uh...uh... Pops: While you think about that, why don't you tell me how you feel about drinking and driving? Justin: I'm totatlly against it, I swear! Nana: Methinks he protests too much.
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Gena Showalter (Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1))
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Anytime I talk about my work informally, I inevitably encounter someone who wants to know why addicts become addicts. They use words like β€œwill” and β€œchoice,” and they end by saying, β€œDon’t you think there’s more to it than the brain?” They are skeptical of the rhetoric of addiction as disease, something akin to high blood pressure or diabetes, and I get that. What they’re really saying is that they may have partied in high school and college but look at them now. Look how strong-willed they are, how many good choices they’ve made. They want reassurances. They want to believe that they have been loved enough and have raised their children well enough that the things that I research will never, ever touch their own lives. I understand this impulse. I, too, have spent years creating my little moat of good deeds in an attempt to protect the castle of myself. I don’t want to be dismissed the way that Nana was once dismissed. I know that it’s easier to say Their kind does seem to have a taste for drugs, easier to write all addicts off as bad and weak-willed people, than it is to look closely at the nature of their suffering. I do it too, sometimes. I judge. I walk around with my chest puffed out, making sure hat everyone knows about my Harvard and Stanford degrees, as if those things encapsulate me, and when I do so, I give in to the same facile, lazy thinking that characterizes those who think of addicts as horrible people. It’s just that I’m standing on the other side of the moat. What I can say for certain is that there is no case study in the world that could capture the whole animal of my brother, that could show how smart and kind and generous he was, how much he wanted to get better, how much he wanted to live. Forget for a moment what he looked like on paper, and instead see him as he was in all of his glory, in all of his beauty. It’s true that for years before he died, I would look at his face and think, What a pity, what a waste. But the waste was my own, the waste was what I missed out on whenever I looked at him and saw just his addiction.
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Yaa Gyasi (Transcendent Kingdom)