“I have always been a slow eater. I give each mouthful the attention it deserves. Chew each mouthful 30 times, they say, and you'll never be sick. I've never been sick a day in my life.”

“He gives me all his numbers and writes mine down on a tram ticket. I am listening hard, but he doesn't say "I'll call you.”

“Don't tell anyone at the church this, but I think girls going out with girls is quite sensible. Imagine not having to do all the housework, and if you found a nice girl the same size you'd have double the wardrobe and you'd never have to shave your legs or clean whiskers out of the sink. I don't know why everyone doesn't do it. Not it's fine, provided you stay that way. It's the changing back to men that sends you mad.”

“In my own single bed, I know. I know its width and length in hand spans and kicks and there is no spot so far from my body that it cannot feel the heat of my blood. A double bed is a dare, a question. A single bed is complete with just me in it. A double bed is a vacant promise. A threatening Miss Havisham. The thought of having one in my house makes my lower back ache. I wouldn't know how to lie in it.”

“Holding a hand over my eyes, I look up at him. "Thanks, I'm glad were...friends." I say the word friends deliberately, letting the emphasis get my point across. His mouth curves with a slow smile. "I've never wanted to be your friend, Jacinda." My heart stutters in my chest. Standing in the pouring rain, I watch him walk away.”

“Most people miss their whole lives, you know. Listen, life isn't when you are standing on top of a mountain looking at a sunset. Life isn't waiting at the alter or the moment your child is born or that time you were swimming in a deep water and a dolphin came up alongside you. These are fragments. 10 or 12 grains of sand spread throughout your entire existence. These are not life. Life is brushing your teeth or making a sandwich or watching the news or waiting for the bus. Or walking. Every day, thousands of tiny events happen and if you're not watching, if you're not careful, if you don't capture them and make them COUNT, your could miss it. You could miss your whole life.”

“They fell into each other's arms and she basked in his warmth, his strength, the hardness of his body against hers. He ran his hands through her hair and spoke low in her ear. "I don't know the right way to say this stuff, Tessa, but ... you're the best thing that's happened to me. I've never felt like this before, I've never ... been happy like this.”