Quotes from The Long Goodbye

Meghan O'Rourke ·  306 pages

Rating: (2.7K votes)


“Sometimes you don't even know what you want until you find out you can't have it.”
― Meghan O'Rourke, quote from The Long Goodbye


“Nothing prepared me for the loss of my mother. Even knowing that she would die did not prepare me. A mother, after all, is your entry into the world. She is the shell in which you divide and become a life. Waking up in a world without her is like waking up in a world without sky: unimaginable.”
― Meghan O'Rourke, quote from The Long Goodbye


“One of the grubby truths about a loss is that you don't just mourn the dead person, you mourn the person you got to be when the lost one was alive. This loss might even be what affects you the most.”
― Meghan O'Rourke, quote from The Long Goodbye


“The people we most love do become a physical part of us, ingrained in our synapses, in the pathways where memories are created.”
― Meghan O'Rourke, quote from The Long Goodbye


“In the months that followed my mother's death, I managed to look like a normal person. I walked the street; I answered my phone; I brushed my teeth; most of the time. But I was not OK. I was in grief. Nothing seemed important. Daily tasks were exhausting. Dishes piled in the sink, knives crusted with strawberry jam. At one point I did not wash my hair for ten days. I felt that I had abruptly arrived at a terrible, insistent truth about the impermanence of everyday.”
― Meghan O'Rourke, quote from The Long Goodbye



About the author

Meghan O'Rourke
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Popular quotes

“Trong giọng hát của Phương như đều đều hơi thở tâm hồn của một lớp thanh niên được sinh ra ở đời chỉ cốt dành cho cuộc chiến tranh bắt đầu từ ngày hôm ấy. Trên khuôn mặt nghiêm nghị của một trong ba người linh nước mắt nặng nề ứa ra dưới cặp lông mày nhíu lại. Chiến tranh! Chiến tranh! ấy chính là tiếng gầm của biển trong suốt đêm bốn rạng mồng năm tháng tám. Bãi cát dài hình vòng cung ầm ầm sóng xô. Đột ngột hai đốm lửa bay chéo ra từ cùng một điểm trên trời tách thành hai làn chớp biếc vụt sa xuống. Những người ngủ trong bãi cát và ngủ trong lều vải đã thức cả dậy tới quây quần bên đống lửa đã lụi. Tất cả đều im lặng. dường như cùng nín thở.”
― Bảo Ninh, quote from The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam


“Before roaring over Fingap Falls, the River Blapp was wide and peaceful, clear as a spring, and the fish to be caught there were both delicious and docile, except for the many fish that were poisonous to the touch, and the daggerfish that were known to leap into boats and impale the stoutest fisherman.”
― Andrew Peterson, quote from On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness


“Not that it was a crazy complicated skill, but operating an espresso machine during high traffic could be added to my repertoire along with card tricks and how to fire a Colt .45.

(Quote taken from ARC, subject to change)”
― Karina Halle, quote from Sins & Needles


“He was from that generation—the type who didn’t change things just because they were tired of them, or they were outdated. You bought something, or married someone, and stuck with it.”
― Jenny Colgan, quote from Meet Me at the Cupcake Café


“I only meant the impulsive part."
"I'm a passionate person, that's all."
His mouth turned up in a sly smile.
"If I only get one life, I don't want to waste it by hesitating.”
― Jodi Meadows, quote from Incarnate


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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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