“A radio was playing quietly. Nobody was listening. It was there to drown out the silence.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“It was as if she would never be whole until the secrets of the past were exposed.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“Within our working lives, and perhaps even amongst friends, we see deceptions played out before our eyes: people who pretend to be happy when they are aching with sadness, or to like each other when they feel nothing but contempt. Perhaps these are actions of self-preservation, driven by a will to hide our pain from a wider audience. Within a relationship, though, pretence is indeed both unreasonable and illogical. Admit to being the person you really are. Never play that deadly game of charades.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“For some people, life is like that. They filter out the positive and focus on the negative. They make assumptions about what somebody else is thinking, and believe only in the worst possible outcome.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“forgiveness is not something we do for other people—we do it for ourselves. So forgive yourself for being a victim. Look positively to the here and now. Put the past behind you and think of it as somewhere you once visited, and possibly didn’t like very much. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Buddha”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“Friedrich Nietzsche said, ‘I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“When it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“How easy it is to blame the present on the past, and allow history to shape the future. How many of us justify our current behaviour by reference to events long gone? Is this true within your relationship? Are you allowing past mistakes to dictate your destiny? If pain has been inflicted by a loved one, you may search for reasons and explanations that simply can’t be found. You pick away at the scar that is trying to heal, and cause the blood to flow again. You seek reassurances that you may never truly believe. The scar becomes ragged and ugly to all who can see it, and you become the walking wounded, waiting to be hurt again. Accept that your history has changed you. Rejoice in your survival. Let the wounds heal to form a stronger, more resilient you, and remember that forgiveness is not something we do for other people—we do it for ourselves. So forgive yourself for being a victim. Look positively to the here and now. Put the past behind you and think of it as somewhere you once visited, and possibly didn’t like very much. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Buddha”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“lie; secrets and deceit will ultimately undermine a relationship’s stability, durability, and longevity. Friedrich”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“now. Put the past behind you and think of it as somewhere you once visited, and possibly didn’t like very much. “Do”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“you can’t carry on arguing about it, can you?”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“What is your reaction when your loved one walks through the door? Has the sun come out, or do you hear distant rumbles of thunder? Does cold ice settle around your heart, knowing that the road ahead is going to be fraught with slippery patches, or can you lean back and enjoy the sunshine? Think of your heart and your soul as the weather, and listen to what they’re telling you. You are entitled to feel the heat of the sun’s rays, but getting to that warm place may mean you have to survive some rainy days first.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“When he’d bought this cottage, he hadn’t realised how it would feel”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“Gary had the sort of haircut that required constant brushing back with the fingers, or even—God help us—the occasional flick of the head like a shy girl on her first date.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“straight back. I smile when I see it’s from Chloe.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“thing that I know how to do,”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“of not telling me, because my sister’s welfare comes way above”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“Accept that your history has changed you. Rejoice in your survival. Let the wounds heal to form a stronger, more resilient you, and remember that forgiveness is not something we do for other people—we do it for ourselves.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“Think of your heart and your soul as the weather, and listen to what they’re telling you. You are entitled to feel the heat of the sun’s rays, but getting to that warm place may mean you have to survive some rainy days first.”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“When it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.” Gilbert K. Chesterton”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“was getting impatient. It didn’t usually take this long to get them gagging for it. He’d been put off on Saturday night and told that it was all”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“Honesty and trust go hand in hand. Once a lie has been told, deception practised, or truth omitted, trust is destroyed. Some say that love is giving someone the power to break your heart, but trusting them not to. So without trust, what happens to love? Never”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
“Many years ago I saw a short film sequence of a little girl. She was wearing a pretty dress as she skipped down a narrow cobbled lane. The people around smiled fondly as she passed. The grainy, black-and-white image did nothing to detract from the happy scene, and the light, summery music gave a feeling of well-being. The audience’s attention was focused entirely on the child. Then the identical film was shown again, but this time with sinister music playing. There was a gasp from the audience. For the first time, every person in the room noticed an unsmiling man standing at the mouth of a dark alley, smoking a cigarette and watching the girl. In spite of already knowing the ending, there was a sigh of relief when the child was reunited with her mother. Same film. Different music. For some people, life is like that. They filter out the positive and focus on the negative. They make assumptions about what somebody else is thinking, and believe only in the worst possible outcome. They are listening to a sinister tune. Is this you? If so, change the music, and focus on the positive. Listen to a happy tune, and see if the man skulking in the doorway disappears from view. “Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” William James”
― Rachel Abbott, quote from The Back Road
Rachel Abbott
Born place: in Manchester, The United Kingdom
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“Harper decidió odiarlo un poquito menos. Pero sólo un poquito.”
― Amanda Hocking, quote from Wake
“Ursan flourished the knife, threatening me. "Talk, or I'll start cutting off body parts."
"Yours? Or mine?" I kept my voice steady despite my insides twisting into goo. "It's an important distinction.”
― Maria V. Snyder, quote from Scent of Magic
“kinds of disguises and dance to all sorts of tunes to make myself Harry’s addiction. If he had not been fatally flawed, early corrupted by the brutality of his school, I should never have been able to keep him from Celia. I knew I was a hundred times more beautiful than she, a hundred times stronger. But I could not always remember that, when I saw the quiet strength she drew on when she believed she was morally right. And I could not be certain that every man would prefer me, when I remembered how Harry had looked at her with such love when we came back from France. I would never forgive Celia for that summer. Even though it was the summer when I cared nothing for Harry but rode and danced day and night with John, I would not forget that Celia had taken my lover from me without even making an effort at conquest. And now my husband bent to kiss her hand as if she were a queen in a romance and he some plighted knight. I might give a little puff of irritation at this scene played out before my very window. Or I might measure the weakness in John and think how I could use it. But use it I would. Even if I had felt nothing else for John I should have punished him for turning his eyes to Celia. Whether I wanted him or not was irrelevant. I did not want my husband loving anyone else. For dinner that afternoon I dressed with extra care. I had remodelled the black velvet gown that I had worn for the winter after Papa’s death. The Chichester modiste knew her job and the deep plush folds fitted around my breasts and waist like a tight sheath, flaring out in lovely rumpled folds over the panniers at my hips. The underskirt was of black silk and whispered against the thick velvet as I walked. I made sure Lucy powdered my hair well, and set in it some black ribbon. Finally, I took off my pearl necklace and tied a black ribbon around my throat. With the coming of winter, my golden skin colour was fading to cream, and against the black of the gown I looked pale and lovely. But my eyes glowed green, dark-lashed and heavy-lidded, and I nipped my lips to make them red as I opened the parlour door. Harry and John were standing by the fireplace. John was as far away from Harry as he could be and still feel the fire. Harry was warming his plump buttocks with his jacket caught up, and drinking sherry. John, I saw in my first sharp glance, was sipping at lemonade. I had been right. Celia was trying to save my husband. And he was hoping to get his unsteady feet back on the road to health. Harry gaped openly when he saw me, and John put a hand on the mantelpiece as if one smile from me might destroy him. ‘My word, Beatrice, you’re looking very lovely tonight,’ said Harry, coming forward”
― Philippa Gregory, quote from Wideacre
“For a moment, or a second, the pinched expressions of the cynical, world-weary, throat-cutting, miserable bastards we've all had to become disappears, when we're confronted with something as simple as a plate of food.”
― Anthony Bourdain, quote from Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
“Interesting thing, these fellows never seem to get the idea of perspective-'
The Bursar thought, or received the thought: that's because perspective is a lie. If I know a pond is round then why should I draw it oval? I will draw it round because round is true. Why should my brush lie to you just because my eye lies to me?”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from The Last Continent
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