Quotes from Don't Let Me Go

“[Grace talking to Billy.] "It's like people who want to feel only happy but not sad," she said. "It never works. You either feel things or you don't. You don't get to pick and choose. At least, I don't think so.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“The people with the least to give always give the most. Haven’t you noticed that?”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“You want to be OK right now, so you trade that for having a good life in the long run. It’s a bad trade, but people do it all the time. That’s all addiction really is. It’s trading away the future so you can feel OK right now.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“It’s just words. How can words be dangerous?”
“You have a lot to learn about the world, baby girl. Nothing is more dangerous than words.”
“That’s stupid. What about a gun? A gun can kill you dead.”
“Only your body,” Billy said. “It can’t kill your soul. Words can kill your soul.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Accepting things. That’s what the talk was about. About how insane it is to try to pretend something isn’t a certain way, or that you can make it another way, just because you don’t like it.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“That’s all addiction really is. It’s trading away the future so you can feel OK right now.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“See, this is why I was by myself all those years. Because as soon as you let people in, they start depending on you. And then, if you can’t be everything they think you should be, you’ve let them down. It’s easier not to have anybody around at all.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“it gets to be an addiction. You want to be OK right now, so you trade that for having a good life in the long run. It’s a bad trade, but people do it all the time. That’s all addiction really is. It’s trading away the future so you can feel OK right now.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Hard work can sometimes substitute for natural ability, but natural ability almost never makes up for not being willing to do the work.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“[Rayleen talking to Billy.] "Grace is thriving here, and I dare anybody to challenge that. Anybody who has a problem with that can come take it up with me."
"Thank God," Billy said, "because I really hate it when people come take things up with ME.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Like I told you before, it gets to be an addiction. You want to be OK right now, so you trade that for having a good life in the long run. It’s a bad trade, but people do it all the time. That’s all addiction really is. It’s trading away the future so you can feel OK right now.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“That’s stupid. What about a gun? A gun can kill you dead.” “Only your body,” Billy said. “It can’t kill your soul. Words can kill your soul.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“It’s like people who want to feel only happy but not sad,” she said. “It never works. You either feel things or you don’t. You don’t get to pick and choose. At least, I don’t think so.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Hmm,” he said. “Like the world is big again. No. Not again. Like I only thought it had gotten small while I was inside, but now I see it was big the whole time, just waiting out there. Waiting for me to come back.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“This was the other thing Grace had noticed about grown-ups. In addition to being afraid of each other, it was hard to wring any information out of them. At least, if it was information about them. If it was about what kids ought to do, then they were nothing but words.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Addict logic,” Yolanda said, not missing a beat. “Life viewed through resentment.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“You have a lot to learn about the world, baby girl. Nothing is more dangerous than words.” “That’s stupid. What about a gun? A gun can kill you dead.” “Only your body,” Billy said. “It can’t kill your soul. Words can kill your soul.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Just because I don’t think normally doesn’t mean I don’t know normal thinking when I hear it.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Don’t waste any energy on anything but what’s in front of you.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Nothing is more dangerous than words. Words can kill your soul.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“like a mask, and in his other hand he held an open can of”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“It’s just that this might be the last train to happy. And you want to make sure to get on it.” Felipe”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Shades of me, he thought. Did other people react so violently to the overwhelm of their emotion? News to him. He’d lived his life quite sure he was the only one. Billy”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“It’s like people who want to feel only happy but not sad,” she said. “It never works. You either feel things or you don’t. You don’t get to pick and choose. At least, I don’t think so.” Billy”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“How can it be good to know nothing?” “It’s not. But if you know nothing, it’s good to know that you know nothing.” “Oh,” Grace said. “Yeah, I guess.” “Because as long as you think you know everything, nothing changes.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Accepting things. That’s what the talk was about. About how insane it is to try to pretend something isn’t a certain way, or that you can make it another way, just because you don’t like it. And how that seems to be the one thing that makes addicts use drugs, and pretty much ruins everybody’s lives. This thing about refusing to just accept the way things are when you can’t change them anyway.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“But when I was inside, I was always OK. So I just started staying inside. Like I told you before, it gets to be an addiction.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“Esta bien,” Clara called back. They sat in silence a while longer. “You seem pretty relaxed,” she said to Billy. “Pretty”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

“You want to be OK right now, so you trade that for having a good life in the long run. It’s a bad trade, but people do it all the time. That’s all addiction really is. It’s trading away the future so you can feel OK right now. That’s what your mom is doing. And that’s what got me. There’s really quite a lot of it going around.” Billy”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, quote from Don't Let Me Go

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“It’s funny, but when I talk about this business of my father and Valentina with my women friends, they’re absolutely appalled. They see a vulnerable old man who’s being exploited. Yet all the men I talk to—without any exception, Mike” (I wag my finger) “they respond with these wry knowing smiles, these little admiring chuckles. Oh, what a lad he is. What an achievement, pulling this much younger bird. Best of luck to him. Let him have his bit of fun.”
“You must admit, it’s done him good.”
“I don’t admit anything.”
(It’s much less satisfying arguing with Mike than with Vera or Pappa. He’s always so irritatingly reasonable.)
“Are you sure you’re not just being a bit puritanical?”
“Of course I’m not!” (So what if I am?) “It’s because he’s my father—I just want him to be grown up.”
“He is being grown up, in his way.”
“No he’s not, he’s being a lad. An eighty-four-year-old lad. You’re all being lads together. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. What a great pair of knockers. For goodness’ sake!” My voice has risen to a shriek.
“But you can see it’s doing him good, this new relationship. It’s breathed new life into him. Just goes to show that you’re never too old for love.”
“You mean for sex.”
“Well, maybe that as well. Your Dad is just hoping to fulfil every man’s dream—to lie in the arms of a beautiful younger woman.”
“Every man’s dream?”
That night Mike and I sleep in separate beds.”
― Marina Lewycka, quote from A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

“He is momentarily filled with a kind of pity for his son. What a task lies ahead of him: to learn literally everything.”
― Maggie O'Farrell, quote from The Hand That First Held Mine

“And i was buck-naked. Which probably would have made for an interesting night, but the last time i'd checked i was neither a porn star or a prostitute.”
― Kristin Walker, quote from A Match Made in High School

“Calcutta's the only city I know where you are actively encouraged to stop strangers at random for a quick chat.”
― Tahir Shah, quote from Sorcerer's Apprentice

“I knew even then, the first time that I saw you, that I loved you.”
― Jack Whyte, quote from Uther

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