Brooke Gilbert > Quotes

“You don’t get it just like you don’t get yourself. Sometimes the simple beauty of a woman is more powerful than anything. It doesn’t need to be a massive painting, it doesn’t need to be filled with a lot of things going on in the canvas space, and it doesn’t need a lot of fancy art techniques. It’s just her. Her beauty. Her in her raw form with those intangible attributes that drove men crazy. Those intangible qualities that could topple kings. Those made Leonardo paint her. Those are still bringing people here to look at her and ponder over. It’s real love. An unfiltered and non-romanticized version. It’s real because it doesn’t need to be anything more. Just like you don’t need to be anything more. You’ve got those intangible qualities to bring millions of people to visit a museum to see you every year. You in your raw form have that power. People don’t forget someone like that. They’re etched into your bones and molded into your core.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“Soulmates don’t come to us as we expect them to. They don’t come in the package we expect, they don’t come the way we expect, and they certainly don’t come when we expect.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“He was perfect in my eyes. Not a fairy tale kind of perfection that could never be measured up to, but a perfection that was created by him being himself. Even his flaws seemed to fill out my being.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“I blamed his gorgeous smile, his intoxicating smell, those mesmerizing blues, and mostly, I blamed how safe I felt with him; not just physically safe, but safe with all of my flaws and fears.”
― Brooke Gilbert

“And while my illnesses don’t define me, they are a part of me. They have shaped me into the person I am today. Every decision I make includes them.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Irish Fall

“I really love you, Lola. Unconditionally,” I said as I started to cry again.

“I really love you too. Unconditionally,” she replied.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“She was beautifully broken, and he could tell it was her faith that made her whole. It was her faith that made the brokenness beautiful.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“I’m not going anywhere with you and your Mr. Darcy accent.”. . .“Wow, I’ve hit a nerve. Mr. Darcy, huh?” he chimed. “So the hopeless romantic bit is accurate.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“There was a stare down between us that seemed to last for a small infinity. Like a lifetime of understanding was being lived in it.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“To know unconditional love in so many forms was to truly live.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“Apparently, it wasn't every day there was such a spectacle in the Louvre. Funny, I thought the Mona Lisa would have brought it out in them. It sure did in me.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“I knew he was too in tune with the rhythm of my heart to be fooled.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“I was at a crossroads: Did I believe him? Or was I just ignoring another red flag, burying myself alive in a graveyard of them?”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“It was like I was sick with a new disorder and the diagnosis was Colin.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“He was the real deal, like my very own Clark Gable character from a classic film. But, unlike Mr. Gable, Colin really did “give a–”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“He looked at her, witnessing all the disbelief written across her face. He loathed what was written there. Every unspoken word struck him with an ache.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“That was my favorite thing about Paris: it was well lived. The architecture spoke of the life it had seen through its curves and textures.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“That’s not baggage. It’s not acceptable to call your illnesses baggage.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“I stood in front of the black dress, staring it down. I felt like it had taken an aggressive stance against me instead of merely hanging limply from the hanger. It was like a scene from a film noir. One of us wasn’t going to make it out alive.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“He had to know, on some level, that this trip was either a celebration of improvement in health, or a last hurrah. And he still had yet to find out which one it was.”
― Brooke Gilbert

“There was a silence between us that wasn’t deafening or uncomfortable. Rather, I sat in it for respite, and he allowed me to seek refuge in it. Never once trying to speak. He just sat with me.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Irish Fall

“Is this 12B? This is going to be fun!” The British accent cut through the air like a wire cutter through clay. It sliced into me and my peaceful serenity that I had created.

“No, no, no, no,” I said, a little too emphatically. 

“No, this isn’t 12B or no, this isn't going to be fun?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“He not only completed me, but he showed me how to complete myself.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“I was doing perfectly fine. I’m perfectly fine. I will make it to Paris on my own, unchaperoned and without assistance.”

“Well, you will need the pilot and the plane. Probably the crew as well,” he said nonchalantly.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“He was an authentic man in a sea of shallow boys.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“I had fought for this moment. I had fought for my life, what health I had, the ability to live my life, and the ability to love. And he was worth every moment I had fought so hard for. I never could have imagined what I was truly fighting so desperately for. But there he sat.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“Usually there was a sense of warning like I needed to flee, a primal part of me always subconsciously knowing I wasn’t safe, that I did indeed need to guard myself and my emotions. But here in his arms I felt like none of those demons could reach me, like I was finally able to indulge in the warm sun after an extensive stay in the dark, cold underground.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“He would have gladly given her anything she named, but he was completely certain all she wanted was him.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“Moon River” started to flow gracefully out of the violin. The notes crept over to me and danced along the goosebumps on my skin.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate

“But the morning was like a cold ice bath for the dreamer. And it was certainly waking me from my dreamy, kaleidoscope-colored glasses.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Paris Soulmate