Sabine Durrant > Quotes

“There are very few moments in life when you see yourself for what you are. Not how you'd like to be, or how you think other people see you. These moments are very sobering.”
― Sabine Durrant, Having It and Eating It

“You carry people around with you in your character; all the people you have been close to have made you a little bit of what you are.”
― Sabine Durrant, The Great Indoors

“friendships don’t come free, you have to work at them—take the plunge, even when you’re scared.”
― Sabine Durrant, Under Your Skin

“I must have got carried away, because in the course of unraveling that terrible story (though I edited out its ending), I let slip where I grew up.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“Plenty of friendships, I am sure, are based on lies.”
― Sabine Durrant, Lie With Me

“You can love and hate someone at the same time. You can so pity them it’s like a fist in your stomach, be so resentful you want to hit them. They can be the best thing that ever happened to you, and the worst. You can have thoughts of leaving them, and yet the memory of their skin, the pads of their fingers across your rib cage . . . these can take your breath away, even after a year.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“I touched her hand and gazed into her gray eyes and told her she was a saint. Weirdly, while I was forming the words, I meant them. Her love could save me. I felt a stirring inside that was almost sexual.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“It never does any good to read someone’s diary. It always ends up being hurtful.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“She’s changed, become conscious of her own standing, lost her spirit.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“Tina was painting on a stool in the shade, the skirt of her tent pulled low over her knees.”
― Sabine Durrant, Lie With Me

“I don’t know where to put myself. I succumb to lethargy and depression. I put things off.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“How toxic families are.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“In that moment, I was acutely aware of the reality of it, how the refusal to admit anything emotionally unpleasant had created its own burden, how the jolliness was its own form of darkness. It had suppressed anything raw or real, disappointment or frustration or sadness, like a chlorophyll-soaked cloth across the mouth.”
― Sabine Durrant, Finders, Keepers

“I feel concussed, wrong for company, out of place in the world. I feel as if I have no perspective on anything. I have a sharp sense of panic, as if I’m supposed to be doing something important, that I’ve abandoned it halfway through, that I should be somewhere elsewhere.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“I am beginning to understand why grief feels like suspense.’ C.S. Lewis”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“If I could have drilled into her head and rummaged in her brains with my hands I would have done so.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“This was underwear that had never seen active combat. Home Guard undies.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“Adrenal,’ Boo said. ‘It’s terribly rare. He had stomach pains, which they thought was appendicitis. By that stage it had already spread and he was dead within three months. But she was so strong; she kept it together for the children.’ Her tone was both reverential and self-satisfied, as if by reporting the saintliness of this Alice she was conferring some of it upon herself.”
― Sabine Durrant, Lie With Me

“You can love and hate someone at the same time. You can so pity them it’s like a fist in your stomach, be so resentful you want to hit them. They can be the best thing that ever happened to you, and the worst. You can have thoughts of leaving them and yet the memory of their skin, the pads of their fingers across your ribcage . . . these can take your breath away, even after a year.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“Maltesers”
― Sabine Durrant, Under Your Skin

“The Flowering of Your Passing, had a chapter on ‘pathological grief’. It’s when a bereaved person finds it impossible to move on. I think pathological grief might be what I’ve got.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“The worst kind of betrayal isn’t a major act of treachery, but a minor act of casual indifference.”
― Sabine Durrant, Finders, Keepers

“thinking how often the job of the bereaved is to shore up the self-worth of the comforter.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“job hunt – I might not tell him.’ A small alarm bell rang – maybe I already sensed something was off – but I didn’t comment. I think it was then we both started collecting our things and stood. Our parking was nearly up and we walked back to the car. We were both quiet. I think it had surprised us both how much we had revealed to each other, how a quick lunch had led to so many unexpected confidences. Out in the real world we felt suddenly sheepish. I had begun to fret a bit about work – I’m expected to submit between”
― Sabine Durrant, Finders, Keepers

“It’s never too hot.’ I ran my hands under her kaftan, felt the warmth of her stomach, the damp of her bikini. I buried my face in her neck, toying at the drawstring with my teeth. ‘You’re too hot.”
― Sabine Durrant, Lie With Me

“The sea: it’s always a surprise. Zach used to say it was some sort of consolation, no matter where or when. You feel it coming, smell it in the air, sense the opening light, and then there it is – that great expanse, that stretch.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“I hate it when people say “I won’t lie to you.” It means nothing. It’s just one of those phrases they use to make themselves sound more important. A verbal drumroll.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“feel as if I’m waiting. My limbs turn heavy and uncooperative. If I’m not careful, I think, I will fall down the stairs, crack my head, break all my bones. I’m scared I might die.”
― Sabine Durrant, Remember Me This Way

“I’ve realised it isn’t just fate – though that plays a part, like a backdrop. It’s the small things inside you, the slants and notches, the defects, that trap you.”
― Sabine Durrant, Lie With Me