Beth O'Leary > Quotes

“Being nice is a good thing. You can be strong and nice. You don’t have to be one or the other.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“Remind myself that there is no saving of people—people can only save themselves. The best you can do is help when they're ready.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“My dad likes to say, ‘Life is never simple’. This is one of his favourite aphorisms.

I actually think it’s incorrect. Life is often simple, but you don’t notice how simple it was until it gets incredibly complicated, like how you never feel grateful for being well until you’re ill, or how you never appreciate your tights drawer until you rip a pair and have no spares.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“I wake with a jolt that sends a shock of pain through my ankle. Crying out, I look around me. Floral wallpaper. Am I at home? Who's that man in the chair by the door, reading .... "Twilight?" Leon blinks at me, putting the book down in his lap. 'You went from unconscious to judgemental very quickly there.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“It was never home until you were there, Tiffy.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“It’s weird how easily you can get to know someone from the traces they leave behind when they go.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“You were healing. You’re still healing. You’ll maybe always be healing. And that’s OK. It’ll just be part of what makes you you.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Switch

“Have you ever looked forward to reading a book so much you can’t actually start it?”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“Look,' he says, 'have you ever looked forward to reading a book so much you can't actually start it?'
'Oh totally. All the time - if I had a grain of self-restraint I never would've been able to read the last Harry Potter book. The anticipation was painful. You know like what if it does live up to the last ones? What if it's not what I hope it'll be?”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“Some people are beyond aromatherapeutic help”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“That’s the way with old friends. You understand each other, even when there’s not enough words out there for everything that should be said.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Switch

“Your brain can do amazing stuff to protect itself from pain," Mo tells me. "But it'll struggle to keep secrets from the rest of you for long.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“But that’s the thing about almost: you can be ninety-nine per cent there, you can be an inch away from doing it, but if you stop yourself from stepping over that line, nobody will ever know how close you were.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Road Trip

“I stop dead in my tracks. Someone behind me walks into me and swears (stopping abruptly in central London is a heinous crime, and immediately gives the people around you permission to kick you).”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“We're so overdressed for a daytime event about crochet.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“Two a.m. is a terrible time for dwelling on legal issues. Worst of all the times. If midnight is witching hour, 2 a.m. is dwelling hour.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“When people talk about loss, they always say you'll never be the same, that it will change you, leave a hole in your life. ( . . . ) But when you lose somebody you love, you don't lose everything they gave you. They leave something with you.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Switch

“This is the bit where we turn on the telly and a nuclear war has started," I say, twisting to lie down next to him.

He smiles. "I don't think so. Doesn't work that way. Sometimes the happy thing just happens.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“oversharing is contagious.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“Books are my happy place,”
― Beth O'Leary, The No-Show

“I don't want you to be perfect. Why would I want that? I want you. I want all the parts of you, the broken ones, the ones you've kept hidden away.”
― Beth O'Leary, The No-Show

“If you're holding someone close enough, you can be the shoulder and the crier.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Switch

“It can take people time to notice and process emotional abuse.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“Everyone’s got the potential to do the wrong thing – if we were measured that way, we’d all come up short. It’s about what you do.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Road Trip

“Who'd have thought -- you say something true enough times, you try hard enough, and maybe it sinks in.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“Holly couldn't sleep; we played checkers. She lifts her fingers and dances them over the board like she's weaving a magic spell before she touches a counter. Apparently it's a mind game - makes the other player watch where you're going instead of planning their next move. Where did a seven-year old learn mind games?”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“We don’t have any good words for talking about death – they’re all too small.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Switch

“Humiliation is like mould: ignore it and the whole place will get smelly and green.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Flatshare

“He's not looking at me like he's never seen me before. He's looking at me like he's never seen anyone else.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Road Trip

“Love as a bargain. Like, giving up your heart is scary, but doable if the other person does it at the exact same moment, like two soldiers lowering their weapons.”
― Beth O'Leary, The Road Trip