Quotes from Love Anthony

“Take what you've learned and love someone again.

Find someone to love and love without condition.

This is why we're all here.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“And you, Mom. I loved you. You've asked if i felt and understood that you loved me. of course I did. And you know this. I loved your love because it kept me safe and happy and wanted, and it existed beyond words and hugs and eyes.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“Don't aim for perfect. Aim for complete. Perfection is an unattainable illusion.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“It's the closest place to nowhere that she can think of. And nowhere is exactly where she wants to be today.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“The spectrum is long and wide, and we're all on it. Once you believe this, it becomes easy to see how we're all connected.

p306 Author's notes”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“We have pills for headaches. We have antidepressants for sadness. We had God for believers. We have nothing for autism.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“He said not to worry. But it's there. The worry. I can't help it. It's like telling me not to have brown eyes. I have brown eyes. I'm worried.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“She still loves the feel of a new book. While she appreciates the convenience of those thin, slick e-readers, they don't give her the three-dimensional sensory experience that comes with a real book.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“She felt almost spellbound by him, as if he were a magnet pulling her to him.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“Most people love with a guarded heart, only if certain things happen or don’t happen, only to a point. If the person we love hurts us, betrays us, abandons us, disappoints us, if the person becomes hard to love, we often stop loving. We protect our delicate hearts. We close off, retreat, withhold, disconnect, and withdraw. We might even hate. Most people love conditionally. Most people are never asked to love with a whole and open heart. They only love partway. They get by. Autism was my gift to you. My autism didn’t let me hug and kiss you, it didn’t allow me to look into your eyes, it didn’t let me say aloud the words you so desperately wanted to hear with your ears. But you loved me anyway. You’re thinking, Of course I did. Anyone would have. This isn’t true. Loving me with a full and accepting heart, loving all of me, required you to grow. Despite your heartache and disappointment, your fears and frustration and sorrow, despite all I couldn’t show you in return, you loved me. You loved me unconditionally. You haven’t experienced this kind of love with Dad or your parents or your sister or anyone else before. But now, you know what unconditional love is. I know my death has hurt you, and you’ve needed time alone to heal. You’re ready now. You’ll still miss me. I miss you, too. But you’re ready. Take what you’ve learned and love someone again. Find someone to love and love without condition. This is why we’re all here.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“Why couldn’t they do that? Why couldn’t they hold on to each other and block out the world? Why couldn’t they surrender to what they couldn’t control? Why weren’t they brave enough to celebrate a life that included autism? She wanted to, and she thinks she eventually got there, but it took her too long. Just as she was ready to dance, the music stopped playing.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“But reading her journals has helped her to remember more than that morning. There was more to Anthony’s life than his death. And there was more to Anthony than his autism. So much more. She can think about Anthony now and not be consumed by autism or grief.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“This is why mothers have more babies. We forget about the pain and discomfort and wild inconvenience of pregnancy and childbirth so we can feel that heavenly feeling of holding a warm baby snuggled and content against our chests again. It's like nothing else in this world.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“Time's a funny thing, bending, warping, stretching, and compressing, all depending on perspective.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“My brain is made up of different rooms. Each room is for doing a different thing. For example, I have an Eyes Room for seeing things and an Ears Room for hearing things. I have a Hands Room, a Memory Room (it’s like my father’s office, full of drawers and folders and boxes with papers), a New Things Room, a Numbers Room (my favorite), and a Horror Room (I wish this room would be broken, but it works just fine). The rooms don’t touch each other. There are long, looping hallways in between each room. If I’m thinking about something that happened yesterday (like when I knocked over the white coffee mug), I’m in my Memory Room. But if I want to watch a Barney video on the TV, I have to leave the Memory Room and go into Eyes and sometimes Ears. Sometimes when I’m in the hallways traveling to a different room, I get lost and confused and caught In Between and feel like I’m nowhere. This is when my brain feels like maybe it’s a little bit broken, but I know I just have to find my way into one of the rooms and shut the door. But if too much is happening at once, I can get into trouble. If I’m counting the square tiles on the kitchen floor (180), I’m in my Numbers Room, but if my mother starts talking to me, I have to go into my Ears Room to hear her. But I want to stay in Numbers because I’m counting, and I like to count, but my mother keeps talking, and her sound is getting louder, and I feel pressure to leave Numbers and go inside my Ears Room. So I go into the hallway, but then she grabs my hand, and this surprises me and forces me into Hands, which isn’t where I wanted to go, and she’s talking to me but I can’t hear what she’s saying because I’m in my Hands Room and not in Ears. If she lets go of my hand, I can go into Ears. She’s saying, Look at me. But if I look at her, I have to leave Ears and go into Eyes, and then I won’t be able to hear what she’s saying. So I don’t know what to do, and I’m wandering the halls, and I can’t make a decision on where to go, and I’m In Between, and that’s when I get into trouble.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

“The spectrum is long and wide, and we’re all on it. Once you believe this, it becomes easy to see how we’re all connected.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Love Anthony

Video

About the author

Popular quotes

“Estoy tan enamorado de ti, y te necesito. Te necesito cada día. Tú eres mi fuerza y mi luz y, sin ti, no soy nada".”
― Sandi Lynn, quote from Forever Us

“- Фин. Мистър Бог не ни обича - тук се поколеба.- Не ни обича, разбираш ли? Само хората могат да обичат. Аз обичам Боси, но тя мен не. Аз обичам дребосъците, но те мен не. Аз те обичам Фин. И ти ме обичаш. Това беше удар под кръста. По дяволите, помислих си. Защо трябваше това да се случи? Сега е загубила доверието си, сигурността. Но се лъжех. Нищо не беше загубено. Анна вървеше с увереността на сомнамбул по въже.
- Той не ме обича като теб, а другояче, милиони пъти по-голямо е.
Явно бях помръднал. Тя се протегна, седна на петите си и се ухили. После се примъкна по-близо до мен. Дали знаеше за онази мъничка болка, която ме беше докоснала? С точността на хирург разряза раната, причинена ми от една искрица ненужна ревност.
- Фин, ти ме обичаш повече от всеки друг. И аз те обичам повече от всеки друг. Но с Мистър Бог е различно. Виждаш ли, Фин, хората обичат отвън навътре и могат да целуват отвън. Мистър Бог обаче те обича отвътре и може там да те целува. Затова е различно. Мистър Бог не е като нас. Само ние сме малко като него. Но не много. Анна беше превърнала оловото в злато. Всички мъдри дефиниции на понятието "Бог" бяха напълно излишни. Милосърдието, любовта и справедливостта бяха само патерици, с които си служехме, за да опишем неописуемото. Анна нямаше нужда от тях.
- Виждаш ли, Фин, Мистър Бог е различен, защото може да довършва нещата, а ние не можем. Аз изобщо никога не мога да престана да те обичам. Ще съм умряла милиони години, преди да престана да те обичам. Но Мистър Бог може да престане, когато поиска, разбираш ли? Затова е различен.
Доста силен удар ми беше нанесла. Първо трябваше да обмисля всичко това, но Анна не ми спести нищо и не ми даде време. Просто продължи да ме обстрелва с тежката артилерия.
- Фин, защо хората правят войни и се убиват?
Простенах, започнах да заеквам. Беше малко множко наведнъж...
- Фин, как се казва, когато искам да кажа, че мисля различно от теб?
Няколко минути изпробвахме различни думи, докато най-накрая открихме тази, която търсеше: мнение.
- Фин, това е разликата. всичко хора имат различни мнения, само Мистър Бог не. Той има всички мнения наведнъж.
В този миг имах едно единствено желание: да се махна от нея, да се махна оттук. Една дълга разходка би свършила работа. Какво искаше това дете, какво беше направила? Бог можеше да довършва нещата, аз не. Е, добре, но какво означаваше всичко това? Струваше ми се, сякаш беше освободила идеята "Бог" от нейните ограничения. Неговото царство беше вечността и Анна разбираше всичко това. Хората имаха ограничен брой мнения, но Бог застъпваше всичките мнения и затова всяко едно от тях беше точно толкова правилно, колкото и всички останали. Дали искаше да каже това? Попитах я и тя доволно кимна. След това избухна в смях.
- Хихи, сега и ти го знаеш, хихи - смееше се тя. - Обаче има и още една разлика. Мистър Бог познава всички неща и всички хора отвътре. А ние ги познаваме само отвън. Затова не можем да говорим отвън за Мистър Бог. Това не е правилно.
Така продължи още четвърт час. Още аргументи, още обяснения. След това ме целуна по носа и каза:
- Не е ли страхотно? Помниш ли книгата за 4те измерения...?
- Да, защо?
- Хихи, сега знам, къде е четвъртото измерение. То е вътре в мен.
Чашата преля. Събрах си целия авторитет и я заплаших:
- Стига толкова. Късно е. Лягай си. Ако не заспиш мигновено, ще те напердаша.
Тя заквича, погледна ме и се ухили. След това се настани в прегръдките ми.
- Ти никога не правиш такива неща - каза, докато заспиваше.”
― Fynn, quote from Mister God, This is Anna

“She did not like seeing her loved ones like this, bent over with sorrow; everything in her wanted to cry out, to thrash and scream at the sight of it. But she knew that great grief came from great love, and that their grief was an honor to her. And she did love them so very much.”
― Anne Ursu, quote from The Shadow Thieves

“I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done in life, any choice that I’ve made. But I’m consumed with regret for the things I didn’t do, the choices I didn’t make, the things I didn’t say. We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to. “What if…” “If only…” “I wonder what would have…” You will never, never know, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days.”
― Trevor Noah, quote from Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

“Without pandering to your presumed desire to identify with the hero of a story, they made you feel that what mattered to the writer had consequence for you, too.”
― Tobias Wolff, quote from Old School

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.