“I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish he lived in the wardrobe on a coat hanger. Whenever I wanted, I could get him out and he'd look at me the way boys do in films, as if I'm beautiful.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I love you. I love you. I send this message through my fingers and into his, up his arm and into his heart. Hear me. I love you. And I'm sorry to leave you.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I love you. It hurts more than anything ever has, but I do. So don't you dare tell me I don't. Don't you ever say it again!”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Bye, Tess. haunt me if you like. I don't mind.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Adam strokes my head, my face, he kisses my tears.
We are blessed.
Let them all go.
The sound of a bird flying low across the garden. Then nothing. Nothing. A cloud passes. Nothing again. Light falls through the window, falls onto me, into me.
Moments.
All gathering towards this one.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Keep breathing. Just keep doing it. It's easy. In and out.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Every few years we disappear, Zoey. All our cells are replaced by others. Not a single bit of me is the same as when I was last in this room.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“We said we'd be friends.'
He looks confused. 'Yeah.'
I don't want to be.'
There's space between us, and in that space there's darkness. I take another step, so close that we share a breath. The same one. In and out.
Tess,' he says. I know it's a warning, but I don't care.
What's the worst thing that can happen?'
It'll hurt,' he says.
It already hurts.'
He nods very slowly. And it's like there's a hole in time, as if everything stops and in this one minute, where we look at each other so close, is spread out between us. As he leans towards me, I feel a strange warmth filtering through me. I forget that my brain is full of every sad face at every window I've ever passed.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Moments.
All gathering towards this one.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I made a fatal error thinking he could save me.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Hold my hand. Don't let go.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Then she says, ‘I love you.’ Like three drops of blood falling onto snow.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“We make patterns, we share moments. Sometimes, I think I'm the only one to see it.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I've always wanted to be a cat. Warm and domesticated when you want to be, wild when you don't.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I want to die in my own way. It's my illness, my death, my choice. This is what saying yes means.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Instructions for Adam
Look after no one except yourself. Go to university and make lots of friends and get drunk. Forget your door keyes. Laugh. Eat pot-noodles for breakfast. Miss lectures. Be irresponsible.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“when I was four I almost fell down the shaft of a tin mine and when I was five the car rolled over on the motorway and when I was seven we went on holiday and the gas ring blew out in the caravan and nobody noticed
I've been dying all my life”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Cal says that humans are made from the nuclear ash of dead stars. He says that when I die, I'll return to dust, glitter,rain. If thats true, I want to be buried right here under this tree. Its roots will reach into the soft mess of my body and suck me dry. I'll be re-formed as apple blossom. I'll drift down in the spring like confetti and cling to my family's shoes. They'll carry me in their pockets to help them sleep. What dreams will they have then?”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Every seven years our bodies change, every cell. Every seven years, we disappear.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I'm me and you're you, and all of them out there are them. And we're all so different and equally unimportant.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“We make patterns, we share moments.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I want the people I love to get up and speak about me, and even if you cry it'll be OK. I want you to say honest things.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“All I know is that I have two choices – stay wrapped in blankets and get on with dying, or get the list back together and get on with living.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“She'll understand what I already know - that death surrounds us all. And it tastes like metal between your teeth.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“Afterwards, go to a pub for lunch. I've got $260 in my savings account and I really want you to use it for that. Really, I mean it--lunch is on me. Make sure you have pudding--sticky toffee, chocolate fudge cake, ice-cream sundae, something really bad for you. Get drunk too if you like (but don't scare Cal). Spend all the money.
And after that, when days have gone by, keep an eye out for me. I might write on the steam in the mirror when you're having a bath, or play with the leaves on the apple tree when you're out in the garden. I might slip into a dream.
Visit my grave when you can, but don't kick yourself if you can't, or if you move house and it's suddenly too far away. It looks pretty there in the summer (check out the website). You could bring a picnic and sit with me. I'd like that.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“It's utterly beautiful not to know my own edges.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
“I said I wouldn't leave her.”
― Jenny Downham, quote from Before I Die
Jenny Downham
Born place: London, The United Kingdom
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“Do you need someone to talk to?" she said gently.
"Oh. Thank you. No, no, I'm fine."
He touched his face – he'd been crying harder than he'd realized.
"You sure? You don't look fine."
"No, really. I've just . . . I've just had a very intense emotional experience." He held out one of his iPod headphones, as if that would explain it. "On here."
"You're crying about music?"
The woman looked at him as if he were some kind of pervert.
"Well," said Duncan. "I'm not crying about it. I'm not sure that's the right preposition."
She shook her head and walked off.”
― Nick Hornby, quote from Juliet, Naked
“She looked up at him, wondering when it was that this man, her brother, had become so wise. If he'd yelled one more word, spent one more minute speaking to her in that mocking voice, she would have broke. She would have broke, or she would have hardened, but either way, something between them would have been ruined.
But here he was, Anthony of all people, who was arrogant and proud and every inch the arch nobleman he'd been born to be, kneeling at her side, placing his hand on hers, and speaking with a kindness that nearly broke her heart.”
― Julia Quinn, quote from To Sir Phillip, With Love
“Clearly it was time to consider rescheduling that optometrist appointment I'd missed last fall.”
― Kelley Armstrong, quote from Personal Demon
“There is a whole other world with an entirely different version of me, a me that is not pretty, a me that no boys want, a me she would never talk to.”
― Amy Reed, quote from Beautiful
“Tech simulations,” I said, the realization hitting me in the gut. “Jake, you’re so dead! You tricked me with that purple pill!”
“But now you know you can’t control the elements,” he said.
Like that made me feel better. “I hope you have a will!”
“Blame Jag,” he responded.
“Oh, I do,” I snapped. “Trust me, he’s going to die too.” I imagined the way he’d smile when he saw me. He wouldn’t even see my fist coming.”
― Elana Johnson, quote from Possession
Are We Smart Enough...
A Great Reckoning
The Stuff of Thought...
The Fold
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