Kate Klise

“Can I tell you what I want? I want to stop wanting things I can’t have. I want to stop falling for jerks I don’t need. And I want to stop feeling like an f/ing gooey butter cake somebody left out in the rain.”

“You don’t have to know what you want to be. That comes later. But I want you to know what you want to be. That comes later. But I want you to want more than just having a job and muddling through life. I want you to find a passion you believe in strongly enough to risk humiliation and rejection.”

“I think romance is harder in the digital or postdigital age or whatever we’re supposed to call it. Love is harder.”

“Because that’s what art is; that’s what it does. It breaks your heart. It moves you. If it doesn’t do that, forget it. It’s not worth it.”

“And you know, that’s another reason I named her Coco. Because to me, chocolate is about indulging in things that give you pleasure. And what’s the point of life if you can’t find joy?”

“What’s wrong with just talking? Isn’t that why bars were invented? So you could talk to somebody over a drink—as opposed to sitting at home alone getting sloshed?”

“I’m pretty good at walking away from things—probably too good, in fact.”

“For the next thirteen-plus hours, I stared out the window at the passing towns and countryside. All those lives. All those untold stories and private dramas. There was something so beautiful and sad about it. I felt weirdly emotional, like I was running away from home, but also running to a new home.”

“Art has to ask questions and make you care. Nothing I saw elicited even the slightest emotional response. But maybe that was the point. Maybe love was impossible in the postdigital age. Maybe passion was passé.”

“If these artist were trying to convince me that the pursuit of love in the postdigital age was more exciting, more mysterious, more…. well, everything love should be, they’d failed.”

“In his homilies, this old Jesuit always talked about desire, and how we were connected by our desires. He said the most basic human desire was the desire to be desired by one you desire.”

“What do people want? Well, you really can’t talk about wants until you talk about needs.”

“I know I should try harder to make her feel necessary in my life. It totally freaked her when I said I didn’t need her anymore. But isn’t that the whole point of growing up? A healthy bird can fly the nest? Roots and wings and all that Hallmarky crap?”

“Is that what I wanted? To be in the middle of something complicated and dramatic? To be a cheerleader for someone else’s romance? Or to have a romance of my own?”

“And so, we end with a beginning. Because every ending is really a beginning. All you need is a house that's old and creaky ... filled with lots of books ... a cat ... a person who's willing to try again ... someone who promises never to leave ... and most important of all ... a little Hope.”

“Just like old librarians, old coins are often more valuable than they appear at face value.”

“P.S. Nothing personal, but I think this journal assignment is a waste of time. I know I have to do something to make up for all the work I'm missing at school, but I HATE busywork. And that's what this journal thing is. Half the teachers at school assign work they never read. When we get stupid assignments like that, I always write somewhere on my paper "blah blah blah" or "I bet you're not even reading this," are you? or "Give me a sign if you're reading this." They never are.”

“some wishes come true. some wishes dont. sometimes you find out you were wishing for the completely wrong thing.”