Lisa Jewell

“That's always the way in life: the longer you leave things, the harder they are to do.”

“Maybe it was too much of a coincidence to be a purely coincidence.”

“I loved her more than she loved me, that was the problem. A basic imbalance. Relationships like that never last, however hard you try. And now she's pregnant and in love with a man who'll never love her the way she loves him. It's a series of vicious circles, and the only way to stop it is to find someone who loves you the same. No power struggle. No insecurities. Just friendship. Because you can never be friends with someone if you love them too much.”

“If destiny could bring two people together, then it could just as easily tear them apart, and, if it could tear two people apart, then it could just as easily bring them back together again. There was no beginning, middle and end to destiny. It wasn't neat and manageable. It was random and scary.”

“Freedom came in strange forms and from unexpected directions.”

“If you loveach other, whatever happens you can deal with it, you can work it out. Because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that it's really not much fun having an adventure with someone you're not in love with.”

“[He] didn't view the less idyllic chapters of his life as the results of "mistakes." He didn't believe in mistakes. He believed in a preordained path, and so far every point on this path had felt right. Every bad relationship had felt right, every shitty job he'd done had felt right - because he'd chosen them.”

“It's the people who seem weak who are always suprisingly strong, and the ones who seem strong who are unexpectledly weak.”

“They say that your powers of memory are at their peak when you're 26, and it's all downhill after that.”

“He was being called on to be a man, called up for service almost, except his country didnt need him, his lover did, and he felt proud and strong and ready to do whatever was necessary.”

“Friends can be a pain. They can be demanding and hard work. But maybe that's because they're the wrong friends. I read a quote once, can't remember who by, but they said that your friends aren't necessarily the people you like best, they're just the people who got there first.”