Things We Left Behind Quotes
"Grief had a way of infiltrating everything, even when you were prepared for it."
"Chardonnay is the most important meal of the day."
"Of course I wanted a family. I’d always assumed I’d make time…after college, then after I landed my first job, then after I landed my dream job in my hometown, then after I got the library moved into its new building."
"I needed a man young enough to want to suffer through babies with me. Preferably here, with a Costco and Target nearby."
"Sorry. Too much breakfast wine."
"You have one job today. Hold your mother up. Support her. Share her grief."
"How rich do you have to get to not recognize a burger and fries?"
"He’d changed my life. He invested hours in me."
"It makes me feel better knowing that he mattered to so many people."
"Nothing says mourning like post-funeral margaritas."
"Family is a big deal."
"I entertain myself by binge-watching Ted Lasso and cheering for Rupert the villain."
"The digital fundraising platform would make an interesting addition to my 'evil corporate empire.'"
"Love turned men into idiots."
"I was smart. That was my thing. Put me in an English class or history or science and I was a guaranteed straight A student. But math was a different story."
"I was not going to cry over a cup of hot chocolate, no matter how obvious it was that it had been made with love."
"I’m worth the traffic."
"Sometimes I wondered why I’d bothered hiring employees. They were all annoying."
"I prefer people to be terrified. Then they don’t try to talk to me about whatever the hell bubble braids are."
"Sometimes life just wasn’t fair."
"This animosity you two are hanging on to is a waste of that precious time."
"Broken men broke women."
"The library was my happy place, not my horny place."
"Was it pride like I felt?"
"I really needed to make some changes in my life."
"Some things we never get over. Some things we hide from the light."
"What if her sentence was unfairly harsh but she’s a terrible person?"
"What are friends for if not making fun of us when we’re at our worst?"
"Did we all have this wound from our fathers?"
"Sometimes it’s better to get your own hands dirty."
"Teamwork makes the dream work."
"Sometimes you have to stop waiting for something to happen and start making it happen."
"Don’t settle. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life."
"We’re holding on to something that doesn’t exist anymore."
"You don’t have to be like them. You’re already better."
"Sometimes the best offense is a good defense."
"One of us had to end this tonight. And if it meant he’d hate me for the rest of his life, at least he’d have the rest of his life."
"Criminals are like one big inbred family."
"Ever get the feeling like you’re in a zoo?"
"You definitely got laid."
"We have a good shot at winning this."
"Nobody likes lawyers."
"Sometimes the right thing to do is also the wrong one."
"We’re your friends."
"We don’t need babysitters."
"We’re adults. It’s our job to learn more and do better."
"None of that telepathic guy code."
"No one feels worthy. Everyone feels like an imposter."
"You’re going to regret saying that."
Here," he said, pushing a glass of water toward me. "You can drink it or throw it in my face.
"Maybe you just need some kind of closure before you can move on."
"No more calls. No more petitions. No more meetings. I’m done."
"We can’t just leave her in there."
"Most rules didn’t apply to me because there wasn’t anyone willing to stand up and enforce them."
"Once something was mine, I never gave it up."
"For the first time in my life, I felt like the hero instead of the villain."
"You can’t just pretend your way into a relationship."
"This is what actual humans do when they come home from work."
"I’m a librarian, asshole. Everything is my business."
"Now is not the time, Maureen."
"I’m a woman. I’m always careful."
"How are we going to share a life together when you won’t even unpack your shit?"
"There are other ways to be a parent."
"Today’s the day our boy becomes a man?"
"I don’t believe in bad luck. Not anymore."
"The life we’d built was the stuff of dreams."
"You take a hit like a champ."
"This can’t be real. I’m still in the parking lot unconscious, aren’t I?"
"I feel like I’m in some alternate reality. I’m not even supposed to be here."