Quotes from The Hand That First Held Mine

Maggie O'Farrell ·  341 pages

Rating: (11.5K votes)


“You young people are always so obsessed with truth. The truth is often overrated.”
― Maggie O'Farrell, quote from The Hand That First Held Mine


“Listen. The trees in this story are stirring, trembling, readjusting themselves. A breeze is coming in gusts off the sea, and it is almost as if the trees know, in their restlessness, in their head-tossing impatience, that something is about to happen.”
― Maggie O'Farrell, quote from The Hand That First Held Mine


“And we forget because we must.”
― Maggie O'Farrell, quote from The Hand That First Held Mine


“There on the landing sits the typewriter. It is clogged with dust, the ribbon dried and flimsy. Looking at it gives Felix a feeling close to vertigo. He realises he can replicate in his head the exact sound it used to make. The clac-clac-a-clac of the metal letters hitting the paper, the ribbon raising itself each time to make the impression. The machine-gun fire of it, when the work was going well. The stops and pauses when it wasn't, to allow for a sigh, a draw on a cigarette. The ding every time the carriage reached its limit. The whirr as the page was snatched out, then the rolling ratcheting as a new one was wound in.”
― Maggie O'Farrell, quote from The Hand That First Held Mine


“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



About the author

Maggie O'Farrell
Born place: Coleraine, Ireland
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University
澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University
澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University
澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University
澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University
澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University
澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University
澳洲毕业证澳洲学历文凭原版制作Q/微981497266办理MU毕业证莫纳什大学Monash毕业证成绩单真实学历学位认证Monash University”
― Jeff Kinney, quote from Old School


“Listen to your heart, Erica. There’s nothing but noise in this world, and that’s got to be the one steady voice in our lives. If your heart says yes, nothing else matters.”
― Meredith Wild, quote from Hardline


“Perhaps I expected to look in and find a giant canary, stretched out on a carpet of dust, songless, capable of only heart murmurs for talk.”
― Ray Bradbury, quote from Death Is a Lonely Business


“You're captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live. … You are captives—and you have made a captive of the world itself. That's what's at stake, isn't it?—your captivity and the captivity of the world.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from Ismael


“Sorry, Ivo... sorry,” she mumbled repeatedly. I let her cry in my arms for a while and I hated it. I never thought caring for someone could hurt me this much. “Go get your phone, faster! Take a video of me.”

I reluctantly pulled out my phone and started recording a video. “From the moment I first saw you, I knew you were the one with whom I wanted to share my life,” she started.

I tried to focus and steady myself.

“Because of you, I laugh, I smile, and I dare to dream again. I look forward with great joy to spending the rest of my life with you, caring for you, being there for you in all life has for us. Through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of the future, I promise to be faithful to you. I love you with my whole heart. I have never trusted anyone the way I trust you. Sometimes I even doubt myself but I know I will never doubt you because you are my true love. I know deep down inside that, you will never break my heart or let me down in any way. I love you, Ivo, I will always be yours forever. Please always remember that,” she finished, crying uncontrollably.

My heart was beating so fast, I was sweating and my hands were shaking. It took me a moment to absorb what she just pledged. I felt my heart pounding with joy, but it was breaking at the same time.

I stared at her for a while, she took a deep breath before looking at me in the eyes again.

“When my mind stops remembering, I want you to show me this video to remind me how much I love you, Ivo.”

Her eyes perked up. Her smile lit up the entire room and she hugged me tight.

“Brandy, you will never know just how much I love you, but I will spend the rest of my days trying to show you.You, only you matter to me. No matter what, there will never be another for me. I love you, don’t you ever forget that.”.”
― Ysa Arcangel, quote from Forever Night Stand


Interesting books

Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams
(5.7K)
Welcome to Rosie Hop...
by Jenny Colgan
The Upside of Unrequited
(26K)
The Upside of Unrequ...
by Becky Albertalli
Norvegų giria
(240.6K)
Norvegų giria
by Haruki Murakami
A Year of Marvellous Ways
(4.7K)
A Year of Marvellous...
by Sarah Winman
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam
(18.3K)
No god but God: The...
by Reza Aslan
Blue Nights
(19.2K)
Blue Nights
by Joan Didion

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.