“So your perfect proposal, what would it be?" Ben asks. "Seriously?"... "I don't know. It would just be the two of us, and I guess I'd want him to say something honest, not overly romantic, not something that would make a great story to tell his friends. I'd just want him to lean over..." As I say it, I lean slightly toward Ben, close enough that I can feel the warmth of his body radiating into the empty space between us, and drop the volume of my voice. "... and say 'Janelle Tenner, fucking marry me.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“the book I was reading turned out to be crack”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“Life is a fragile thing. Apparently the whole world is fragile too.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“When the zipper snaps open, Ben pauses, his breath hot in my ear. "Janelle Tenner," he whispers. "I fucking love you.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“He takes two steps back. Closer to the portal.
I can't stop myself. "Ben," I call. And I'm not even embarrassed about how helpless my voice sounds.
Don't go.
"I'll come back for you." He takes another step back. "I promise."
Stay.
"Janelle Tenner," he says. "I will always fucking love you." And then he takes one more step back. Into the portal.
And the blackness swallows him whole.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“Apparently this month is full of surprises. No one is as dumb as I thought they were.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“I mean, contrary to popular belief, I'm actually not harboring a secret desire to grow up and become a bioterrorist.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“Reaching out, I grab his hand and intertwine my fingers with his. And I move into his space until we're not even an inch from each other. Laying my forehead on his chest, I take a deep breath and feel his whole body relax, as if tension is rolling off his body in waves.
I was always the kid who loved the smell of gasoline.
His free hand comes up, and his fingers slip through my hair before his hand settles between my shoulder blades.
"Ben," I say into his shirt.
"Janelle," he whispers back, and I can feel his mouth against my hair. I can feel him smile.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“Humans have precious few instincts, but that's because we don't listen to them. We let logic and knowledge get in the way. My dad always said that when instincts are at war with something society has taught you, listen to your instincts first and ask questions later. ”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“Those deep set eyes that look like they could tell stories for days, and that wavy brown hair that feels soft between my fingers. I try to memorize the angles of his jaw and the lines of his lips, because I know.
I know this may be the last time I ever see him.
Breathe fills my lungs, my throat relaxes, and I can't help but smile. Because I can see what he's thinking as clearly as if he'd spoken.
He doesn't want to leave - he doesn't want to go home.
He's going to choose me instead.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“And the way it felt?" I whisper, as if that might soften the blow of embarrassment I'm about to deal. "Is that how you were feeling - how you feel - about me?"
A breeze comes off the ocean, and my skin feels strangely empty and open as he gives an almost imperceptible nod.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“Lives are made of strings of moments, and every once in a while, one of those moments is pivotal and defining. It changes everything, alters you so completely that when you look back, there’s a clear before and after”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
“And the emotion I feel is undoubtedly love-heart aching, chest filling, so powerful it hurts, like on of these memories of someone watching me, someone whose happiest moments are when he sees me smile, and someone who aches and feels powerless and heartbroken when he knows I'm sad. Someone who loves me.”
― Elizabeth Norris, quote from Unraveling
Elizabeth Norris
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“Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own. Romans 4:3”
― Eugene H. Peterson, quote from The Message Remix (Bible in Contemporary Language)
“They were still so young they hadn't learned to count the odds and to sense they might owe the universe a tragedy.”
― Norman Maclean, quote from Young Men and Fire
“You'll never know what's happening inside the heads of other people.”
― Etgar Keret, quote from The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God & Other Stories
“That guy should be in porn films.” Barclay frowned. “Why’s that then, Allan?” Ward looked at him. “Tell me, Tam, when did you last see a bigger prick?”
― Ian Rankin, quote from Resurrection Men
“Man is at the mercy of events. Life is a perpetual succession of events, and we must submit to it. We never know from what quarter the sudden blow of chance will come. Catastrophe and good fortune come upon us and then depart, like unexpected visitors. They have their own laws, their own orbits, their own gravitational force, all independent of man.”
― Victor Hugo, quote from The Toilers of the Sea
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We'll Always Have Su...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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