Gilly Macmillan > Quotes

“In the eyes of others, we’re often not who we imagine ourselves to be.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“But here's the thing; none of us deserve anything. That's an illusion we all exist under”
― Gilly Macmillan, Burnt Paper Sky

“This is what a total breakdown must be, I though. You find yourself standing somewhere you should't be, doing something so out of character that you wonder if you've become someone else entirely. You've lost the plot, taken a wrong turning, jumped into a train whose destination is total lunacy”
― Gilly Macmillan, Burnt Paper Sky

“Sometimes it's hard not to let other people's misery seep into your own bones.”
― Gilly Macmillan, Odd Child Out

“Trust is like that. Once you lose it, you begin to adjust your attitudes toward people, you put up guards, and filter the information you want them to know.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“Seize the day - be brave - be independent - be thoughtful - don't be scared to make mistakes - keep learning - all those things, all the time”
― Gilly Macmillan, Burnt Paper Sky

“In the eyes of others, we're often not who we imagine ourselves to be.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“None of us deserve anything. That's an illusion we all exist under.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“I believe that if you are lucky enough to have a child, then you should love them, whether or not society labels them as flawed, whether or not you label them as flawed. “You”
― Gilly Macmillan, The Perfect Girl

“simply have been grateful for what I had. I should have celebrated my life as it was, imperfections, sadness, and all, and not forensically examined its faults. Those faults were largely in the eyes of a critical and sharp-edged society anyhow, and I had learned to recognize them by osmosis, by following the herd.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“I even felt resentful towards my body, towards it's demands for sleep. for food, for drink, for bodily functions. I thought that life should stop until Ben was found. Clocks should no longer tick, oxygen should no longer be exchanged for carbon dioxide in our lungs, and our hearts should not pump. Only when he was back should normal service resume”
― Gilly Macmillan

“I miss her every day. I miss the months we haven’t had together and I miss the future I thought we were going to have, because without her it feels pointless, it feels, just, totally flat. Fuck! This”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“Really, I’ve never understood why we haven’t thought of an English word for Schadenfreude.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“I marveled at how the mundane activities that life demanded still needed to be done, even while the worst was happening.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“I wish now that I'd valued more the words that tumbled freely out of him before he was taken. I wish I'd collected them and kept them safely in packages that I wrapped up carefully, secured with a ribbon, and stored in a safe place for the future. I wish I hadn't been too distracted to listen to every word he said.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“If someone lies to you habitually, you can't ever trust them. It erodes relationships.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“If we're not who we imagine we are, then is anybody else? If there's so much potential for others to judge us wrongly, then how can we be sure that our assessment of them in any way resembles the real person that lies underneath?”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“Words flow for me when I’m writing, but they can stick in my throat like a hairball when I have to speak up for myself.”
― Gilly Macmillan, To Tell You the Truth

“reminder of how life shuffles on past any event, however traumatic, and you need to try to hold on to its coattails and keep moving with it, even if you feel as if that’s the last thing you want to do.”
― Gilly Macmillan, I Know You Know

“If you talk too openly about terrible things people shrink from you.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“I should have celebrated my life as it was, imperfections, sadness and all, and not forensically examined its faults. Those faults were largely in the eyes of a critical and sharp-edged society anyhow, and I had learned to recognize them by osmosis, by following the herd. I had not yet learned to use my intelligence, or to trust in my instincts. I see more clearly now, and I shall never make that mistake again.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“long odds don’t always make any difference at all. Somebody always makes up that small percentage of people to whom unlikely or desperate things happen, and there’s actually nothing to say it can’t be you.”
― Gilly Macmillan, The Perfect Girl

“The news is a 24/7 monster. it devours all information and we feed it with our opinions, so we can't be shy of expressing ourselves even is we don't like the language other people use. It's called free speech”
― Gilly Macmillan, Burnt Paper Sky

“life. I’ve thought about this a lot since my son, Ben, went missing, and every time I think about it, it also begs the question: if we’re not who we imagine we are, then is anybody else? If there’s so much potential for others to judge us wrongly, then how can we be sure that our assessment of them in any way resembles the real person that”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“I had mixed feelings about it: a queasy combination of flattery and discomfort, but sometimes mixed feelings are the hardest to resist indulging in. They can make us feel alive again.”
― Gilly Macmillan, To Tell You the Truth

“Grace has such simple needs. Wake, give love, receive love, refuel, expend energy, sleep. I love that about her.”
― Gilly Macmillan, The Perfect Girl

“There are some events and uncertainties that you take to the grave, and they threaten to tumble you every single step of the way. If”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“distress that dispersed into the room. “You will find him, won’t you, Inspector?” “We’ll do our best,” I said. The headmaster’s office was cramped.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“My insomnia makes a desperate, restless soul of me. There is no creativity, only hopelessness and frustration. Each”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew

“bitten, twice shy.”
― Gilly Macmillan, What She Knew