Katie > Katie's Quotes

“And in that moment, you realize how little control you have over your own destiny. From the time you're born, you have no control; you can't choose your parents, and, unless you're suicidal, you can't choose your death. The only thing you can do is choose the person you love, be kind to others, and make your brutally short stint on earth as pleasant as possible.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“Once there was you and me
We were lovers
We were friends
Before life changed
Before we were strangers
Do you still think of me?”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“It was like the universe was teasing us; we saw each other just a second too late.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“I've loved him my whole life, and somewhere along the way, that love didn't change but grew. It grew to fill the parts of me that I did not have when I was a child. It grew with every new longing of my body and desire until there was not a piece of me that did not love him. And when I look at him, there is no other feeling in me.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“I love him in a way I cannot define, as if my love were an organ within my body that I could not live without yet could not pick out of an anatomy book.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Stay I whisper to him. Stay in the car. Stay in this moment. But of course he never does.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Perhaps he would ask me what books mean to me. I would tell him that it means living another life;”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“And it's impossible to say and even harder to feel.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“I can see some of the roses still blooming in my mother´s garden. Brown on the edges and bright in other colors, their petals drooping downward, dying just as their lives have begun.
They stayed past their time, and I´ve realized that I have too.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“On August 8, Phineas Smith died,”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“I wasn’t with Finny on that August night, but my imagination has burned the scene in my mind so that it feels like a memory.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“If he had been with me, Finny would still be alive. If he had been with me, everything would have been different. But whose fault is it that he wasn't?”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“I like the idea of making out in his car; like a scene from a movie, the windows fog up in the cold and the radio plays our song.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Are you sure you still would want to if you were sober?" I say.
Finny nods. "Yeah," he says again. "But I'm only telling you because I'm not.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“There will always be something I cannot protect him from.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“I never know what to do to make you happy, do I?"
"You make me happier than any other person ever has," I say but he still won't look at me.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Try to marry your first love. For the rest of your life, no one will ever treat you as well.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“God, Autumn, you’re the ideal I’ve judged every other girl by my whole life,”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“Sorry," I say. "You just look awful." He looks beautiful.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“But you think we're here for beautiful things and you think sadness is beautiful?"
"It can be," I say.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“It's never felt like this before. It feels so natural. It feels so right. Finny. I finally understand what's been missing for me all these years.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“At moments like this, it amazes me that the words don't come tumbling out of me.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“I’m in love with Finny.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“And I love him. For all of my memory, I have loved him; I do not even notice it anymore. I feel what I have always felt when I look at him, and I have never before asked myself what it is exactly. I love him in a way I cannot define, as if my love were an organ within my body that I could not live without yet could not pick out of an anatomy book. I do not love him the way I love Jamie. It’s not the way I love Sasha or my mother or Mr. Laughegan. It’s the way I love Finny. And it’s impossible to say and even harder to feel. Nineteen When the weather turns cold, the War breaks out.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“I can feel the printed words seeping through my skin and into my veins, rushing to my heart and marking it forever. I want to savor this wonder, this happening of loving a book and reading it for the first time, because the first time is always the best, and I will never read this book for the first time ever again.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“On August 8, Phineas Smith died, and I can imagine every detail of that night.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“love him in a way I cannot define, as if my love were an organ within my body that I could not live without yet could not pick out of an anatomy book.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“After this,” he says, “things are going to be the way they were always supposed to be.” Then he climbs inside and closes the door.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“They would rather ruin their perfect love trying to make it work because being unhappy together is better than being unhappy apart.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Sometimes I am disappointed with love. I thought that when you were in love, it would always be right there, staring you in the face, reminding you every moment that you love this person. It seems that it isn’t always like that.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me