“You could have all the crazy thoughts you wanted, as long as you smiled and kept them to yourself.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“Who cares what other people think? Don't let the opinions of others define you.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“I had learned how to leave a place behind without leaving a piece of myself along with it, but more important, I had taught myself how to be detached. I never joined teams or clubs, and I doubted my picture appeared in a single yearbook.
I was, in a way, a ghost: no one could prove I had ever existed once I physically left a location.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“I wanted someone to gaze at me that way, someone to share a truly incredible moment with. I wondered how long I would have to wait.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“I was never normal, but I liked to pretend that I was. It usually took a few months before everyone else caught on.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“As we headed toward the living room, I couldn’t help feeling dread. It was as if I was being led to my own beheading.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“Too cold,” I mumbled. A second later, I felt a warm sensation, almost as if someone was lowering a blanket onto me. “Charlotte.” It was just a whisper, faint and far away.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“I froze, my hand on the wall, and listened. Someone was definitely upstairs. I reached into my pocket for my cell phone and took a step back toward the front door. I kept my eyes on the stairs and my hand on the cell phone. A light flashed across the hallway”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“Do you see those white shapes?” he asked. I sucked in my breath. “What is it?” Mom shook her head. “We’re not sure yet. But, Charlotte, whatever they are, it appears that they followed us here.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“My legs felt shaky and I gripped the back of Dad’s chair. The still images on the screen stared back at me. “Do you know what caused it?” I asked. No one said anything. I looked at Mom. “What triggered it?” “You did,” she said gently. “We think you’re the trigger.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“I see her,” a man’s voice whispered. A chill spread through me. Shane played it again. Never had three little words terrified me so much. I see her.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
“It was strangely simple the way that one thing suddenly defined you to other people.”
― Mara Purnhagen, quote from Past Midnight
Mara Purnhagen
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“One derives great moral strength from a cup of coffee," I said.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“I have neither one nor the other, and that has been going on for so long now that I have stopped wondering whether it is hate or love which gives us the strength to continue this life of lies, which provides the formidable energy that allows us to go on suffering, and hoping.”
― Georges Perec, quote from Life A User's Manual
“From surfeit to loss is a short line.”
― Carol Shields, quote from The Stone Diaries
“Sure it will hurt. But so what? Pain is just a state of mind. You can think your way out of anything, even pain.”
― Rodman Philbrick, quote from Freak the Mighty
“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
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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.
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