Quotes from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That's what everyone wants. Not 24/7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche...or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can't hide. Every single successful song of the past fifty years can be traced back to 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That’s what everyone wants. Not 24-7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche or a blow job or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have a feeling that they can’t hide.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“The way you're singing in your sleep
The way you look before you leap
The strange illusions that you keep
You don't know
But I'm noticing

The way your touch turns into arcs
The way you slide into the dark
The beating of my open heart
You don't know
But I'm noticing”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I'm thinking I would like to dance in the rain with this person. I would like to lie next to him in the dark and watch him breathe and watch him sleep and wonder what he's dreaming about and not get an inferiority complex if the dreams aren't about me.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“She's cinematic and I'm a fucking sitcom.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I mean, I don’t know how the world broke. And I don’t know if there’s a God who can help us fix it. But the fact that the world is broken - I absolutely believe that. Just look around us. Every minute - every single second - there are a million things you could be thinking about. A million things you could be worrying about. Our world - don’t you just feel we’re becoming more fragmented? I used to think that when I got older, the world would make so much more sense. But you know what? The older I get, the more confusing it is to me. The more complicated it is. Harder. You’d think we’d be getting better at it. But there’s just more and more chaos. The pieces - they’re everywhere. And nobody knows what to do about it. I find myself grasping, Nick. You know that feeling? That feeling when you just want the right thing to fall into the right place, not only because it’s right, but because it would mean that such a thing is still possible? I want to believe that.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Singing in the rain. I'm singing in the rain. And it's such a fucking glorious feeling. An unexpected downpour and I am just giving myself into it. Because what the fuck else can you do? Run for cover? Shriek and curse? No--when the rain falls you just let it fall and you grin like a madman and you dance with it because if you can make yourself happy in the rain, then you're doing pretty alright in life.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Fuck this.
Fuck this wondering. Fuck this trying and trying. Fuck this belief that two people can become one ideal. Fuck this helplessness. Fuck this waiting for something to happen that probably won't ever happen.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“There’s no such thing as ready,” she says. “There’s only willing.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now I'm seeing we don't live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It's an infinite playlist.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Singing in the rain. I'm singing in the rain. And it's such a fucking glorious feeling.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Because the song is us and the song is her and this time I’m going to use her name. Norah, Norah, Norah - no rhymes really. Just truth.

I shouldn’t want the song to end. I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now I’m seeing we don’t live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It’s an infinite playlist.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“We are the ones who take this thing called music and line it up with this thing called time. We are the ticking, we are the pulsing, we are underneath every part of this moment. And by making the moment our own, we are rendering it timeless. There is no audience. There are no instruments. There are only bodies and thoughts and murmurs and looks. It's the concert rush to end all concert rushes, because this is what matters. When the heart races, this is what it's racing towards.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“But I guess you don't see the planets when you're staring at the sun. You just get blinded.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Maybe that's it, [...] [w]ith what you were talking about before. The world being broken. Maybe it isn't that we're supposed to find the pieces and put them back together. Maybe we're the pieces." [...] "Maybe [...] what we're supposed to do is come together. That's how we stop the breaking.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Answer all the questions that I'm too afraid to ask”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Tikkun olam.”

Exactly. Basically, it says that the world has been broken into pieces. All this chaos, all this discord. And our job - everyone’s job - is to try to put the pieces back together. To make things whole again.”

And you believe that?”

I guess I do. I mean, I don’t know how the world broke. And I don’t know if there’s a God who can help us fix it. But the fact that the world is broken - I absolutely believe that. Just look around us. Every minute - every single second - there are a million things you could be thinking about. A million things you could be worrying about. Our world - don’t you feel we’re becoming more and more fragmented? I used to think that when I got older, the world would make so much more sense. But you know what? The older I get, the more confusing it is to me. The more complicated it is. Harder. You’d think we’d be getting better at it. But there’s just more and more chaos. The pieces - they’re everywhere. And nobody knows what to do about it. I find myself grasping, Nick. You know that feeling? That feeling when you just want the right thing to fall into the right place, not only because it’s right, but because it will mean that such a thing is still possible? I want to believe in that.”

Do you really think it’s getting worse? I mean, aren’t we better off than we were twenty years ago? Or a hundred?”

We’re better off. But I don’t know if the world’s better off. I don’t know if the two are the same thing.”

You’re right.”

Excuse me?”

I said, ‘You’re right.’”

But nobody ever says, ‘You’re right.’ Just like that.”

Really?”

Really.”

…Then it hits me.

Maybe we’re the pieces,”

What?”

Maybe that’s it. With what you were talking about before. The world being broken. Maybe it isn’t that we’re supposed to find the pieces and put them back together. Maybe we’re the pieces. Maybe, what we’re supposed to do is come together. That’s how we stop the breaking.”

Tikkun olam.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“And I find myself saying, “It wasn’t really about her.” And finding it’s true.

What do you mean?” Norah asks.

It was about the feeling, you know? She caused it in me, but it wasn’t about her. It was about my reaction, what I wanted to feel and then convinced myself that I felt, because I wanted it that bad. That illusion. It was love because I created it as love.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I want to kiss her without counting the seconds. I want to hold her so long that I get to know her skin. I want, I want, I want.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I mean, I think I am basically a cool girl, but I am also a pain in the ass.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“When is a night over? Is it the start of sunrise or the end of it? Is it when you finally go to sleep or simply realize that you have to? When the club closes or when you everyone leaves?
"It's over when you decide it's over," she says. "When you call it a night. The rest is just a matter of where the sun is in the sky.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I've given him more mixed signals than a dyslexic Morse code operator.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“...because if you can make yourself happy in the rain then you're doing pretty alright in life.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Why do we even bother? Why do we make ourselves so open to such easy damage? Is it all loneliness? Is it all fear? Or is it just to experience those narcotic moments of belonging with someone else?”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I didn't let her go. She went. It's not my fault.
She did it.
She could undo it.
This is feeling so fucking famliar.
Why do we even bother? Why do we make ourselves so open to such easy damage? Is it all loneliness? Is it all fear? Of is it just to experience those narcotic moments of belonging with someone else?”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Wold domination is exhausting and cliche. People ought to just focus on being individual responsible citizens of the earth instead of assholes.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“When is the night over? Is it the start of sunrise or the end of it? Is it when you finally go to sleep or simply when you realize that you have to?”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Because when a guy's a jerk or an asshole, it's easier because you know exactly where you stand.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Let me give you some free advice. She's a runner for sure- she'll run away every time without saying a word. But here's the thing- you are not a runner. And deep down, I don't think Norah wants to run, either. She's just feels like she has to. Partly because she's a tiresome spoiled-brat smartass with no fashion sense. And partly because she's a fucking human being.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I move my feet, turn away from her, try to pretend she's not there, which is the biggest fucking joke I've ever not laughed at.”
― Rachel Cohn, quote from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

About the author

Popular quotes

“Burnett fidgeted. She had never seen Burnett like this. He looked like a kid who needed to go to the bathroom.”
― C.C. Hunter, quote from Chosen at Nightfall

“i'm just glad i'm not in the swim team this summer”
― Jeff Kinney, quote from Dog Days

“He knew me as one knows the seasons, knows the tide.”
― Hannah Kent, quote from Burial Rites

“What we have here is good and if you’d get over your thoughts that it isn’t gonna last, you’d realise how much better it’s gonna get if you’d just relax.”
― Kristen Ashley, quote from Rock Chick

“I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Uncle Jonathan to worry about prostitution being too much for my feminine persuasion, yet think nothing of me seeing a body spliced open before I’d even had my luncheon.”
― Kerri Maniscalco, quote from Stalking Jack the Ripper

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.