Amy Poeppel > Quotes

“Happiness is not a zero-sum game. It's the only case in which the resources are limitless, and in which the rich can get richer at no expense to anyone else. That day in the park, I found it remarkably easy to own my happiness and celebrate Kate's as well.
It's a strange thing, though, how rare, maybe impossible, it is to have everyone you care about thriving at the same time. For a short spell, life seems certain and stable, until something shifts and redistributes, randomly, unpredictably, and when you look around at the new landscape, you see that it's someone else's turn now. You redirect your attention to focus on the friend in need. You hope - you know - they will do the same for you, when your turn comes.”
― Amy Poeppel, Small Admissions

“Each and every one of us will land in a crisis at some point, and that’s when we need to accept all the help we can get”
― Amy Poeppel, The Sweet Spot

“Isn't Jack, like, your best friend?"
"No," Sam said.
"You aren't in touch with him?" Nell said.
"Why would I be?" Sam said. "The guy's a loser."
Emmi hated that word. It was a bully's word. She took a sip of her beer and looked away.
"Loser?" Nell said. "Seriously? What happened? The four of you were inseparable."
Sam shifted in his chair.
"Drew's such a sweet guy," Nell went on. "Rosie's brilliant, and Jack---"
"Drew's got zero frizz, and Rosie's basic," Becca said. "Girl needs a makeover."
Emmi had always thought her English was pretty decent, but her lack of comprehension around people her own age made her feel like a beginner.
Nell ignored Becca. "I figured you were upset when Jack got expelled," she said.
Sam's face had turned red. Emmi saw him swallow.
"Upset?" Becca said with a laugh. "Sam's the one who showed me the list. And I showed it to Cynthia, and her mom went absolutely ballistic---"
"You?" Nell said to Sam. "You're the one who got Jack in trouble?"
"He thought I should know what that asshole was saying about me and all of us," Becca said. She leaned over and kissed Sam. "He's my hero."
Nell rolled her eyes. "I don't buy it," she said. "Jack was my lab partner in bio all junior year, and he was always so decent to me. No one becomes an asshole overnight."
Emmi was intrigued; Jack had a defender in this girl.
"It's pretty simple actually," said Sam. "Jack is bitter because he's never had a girlfriend."
Nell was shaking her head. "He never came across like an angry guy. He was always nice."
"Maybe you should date him then," Sam said.
"I'm not saying I want to date him," Nell said. "It's just confusing to hear you talk bad about him."
"According to Jack's list," Becca said, "I'm worth a small Mercedes while you're worth, like, a Starbucks Frappuccino. You're the one who should be the most pissed off at him."
"And yet I'm the one telling you," Nell said, her voice strong, "Jack liked me. We got along."
"The only good thing about Jack Holt," Becca said, "is that he's the reason Sam and I got together."
"You're wrong about him," Nell said. "Everybody is. I even went to the principal, the disciplinary committee, and my teachers, and I told them I thought Jack should get a chance to show and explain the math he did. I assumed you stood up for him too." No one at the table said anything.”
― Amy Poeppel, Far and Away

“My mother always says the forties are the best. You look good, you feel good, and, more or less, you have your shit together.”
― Amy Poeppel, Far and Away

“What I hope is that you’ll find a partner someday, if that’s what you want, and the two of you will figure out what works for you, and that might mean you both have to compromise at times, but you do it because you love each other.”
― Amy Poeppel, Far and Away

“The mistake people make when life hits them with some unexpected, and often unprepared-for, catastrophe is that they think they can just return to life the way it was before. They try to rebuild exactly what they lost, but history proves how misguided that is. Disasters change everything, and we have to learn and grow from them, avoid the same kind of complacency that left us open to a blow to begin with.”
― Amy Poeppel, The Sweet Spot

“Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then there’s got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when you’re at the edge, you have to go forward or backward; if you go forward, you have to jump together. —Yo-Yo Ma”
― Amy Poeppel, Musical Chairs

“Every big step in life involves losses and gains,”
― Amy Poeppel, Limelight

“William Congreve who said ‘Heav’n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn’d, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn’d.’ ”
― Amy Poeppel, The Sweet Spot

“It’s a strange thing, though, how rare, maybe impossible, it is to have everyone you care about thriving at the same time. For a short spell, life seems certain and stable, until something shifts and redistributes, randomly, unpredictably, and when you look around at the new landscape, you see that it’s someone else’s turn now. You redirect your attention to focus on the friend in need. You hope—you know—they will do the same for you, when your turn comes.”
― Amy Poeppel, Small Admissions

“Something of an occult force entered her body then, impregnating her with a hate-baby of her own that implanted itself in her soul.”
― Amy Poeppel, The Sweet Spot

“Will had given this phenomenon a lot of thought and was convinced, based on cases he’d seen, that too much success in one’s twenties was a terrible thing. In Sterling’s case, it had given him the belief that he was precious.”
― Amy Poeppel, Musical Chairs

“Last night,” thought Will, “I dreamt I went to Manderley…”
― Amy Poeppel, Musical Chairs

“Will admittedly was at his best with Bach, where the beauty is in the music itself. He was worse with contemporary composers. Schoenberg made him want to stab someone.”
― Amy Poeppel, Musical Chairs