Barbara > Barbara's Quotes

“Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.”
― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

“You're gorgeous, you old hag, and if I could give you just one gift ever for the rest of your life it would be this. Confidence. It would be the gift of confidence. Either that or a scented candle”
― David Nicholls, One Day

“Possibile che gli uomini sentano minacciata la propria autorità quando cominciano a rendersi conto che la donna sta sviluppando delle capacità reali in un determinato campo? Temono forse qualsiasi mossa che possa portare a una certa indipendenza delle mogli? Ritengono forse l’indipendenza e la realizzazione della donna un oltraggio nei confronti dell’autorità che Dio ha affidato agli uomini?”
― Rajaa Alsanea

“Maybe that’s what love meant, both people thinking they were the lucky one.”
― Meera Syal, Anita and Me

“Every path leads to the same god.”
― Meera Syal, Anita and Me

“My best friend in all the world really did have a boyfriend and had never told me. My best friend was sharing me with someone else and I knew whatever she had been giving me was only what she had left over from him, the scraps, the tokens, the lies. I had fought for this friendship, worried over it, made sacrifices for it, measured myself against it, lost myself inside it, had little to show for it but this bewildered sense of betrayal. Now I knew that I had never been the one she loved, I was a convenient diversion, a practice run until the real thing came along to claim her.”
― Meera Syal, Anita and Me

“Sono io quella che ha insistito nel dire che era innamorato. Forse è davvero venuto da noi solo in spirito d'amicizia. Credo tuttora che la sua considerazione nei tuoi confronti fosse sincera"
"Sincera? Come puoi definirlo sincero o un uomo rispettabile? Quale uomo rispettabile avrebbe fatto visita ad una donna giorno dopo giorno, facendo mostra di provare un profondo interesse per lei, quando era già promesso a un'altra donna? (…) Io rappresentavo solo un trastullo, un diversivo per occupare il suo tempo mentre era in città”
― Syrie James, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen: A Delightfully Possible Historical Romance of Love and Literary Inspiration

“(...) e mi manca il coraggio"
"Perché mai?"
"Perché adesso so come deve finire"
"Non accettare quel finale. Fai la parte di Dio...”
― Syrie James, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen: A Delightfully Possible Historical Romance of Love and Literary Inspiration

“And at last, the wicked Queen's spell was broken, and the young woman, whom circumstance and cruelty had trapped in the body of a bird, was released from her cage. The cage door opened and the cuckoo bird fell, fell, fell, until finally her stunted wings opened, and she found that she could fly. With the cool sea breeze of her homeland buffeting the underside of her wings, she soared over the cliff edge and across the ocean. Towards a new land of hope, and freedom, and life. Towards her other half. Home.”
― Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

“Tuo padre e tua madre non vorrebbero che tu incolpassi loro per averti lasciata sola. Come pensi che si sentirebbero? Vorrebbero che tu fossi felice. Che tu vivessi e ti divertissi. Pensa a quanto sarebbe orgogliosa tua madre per la tua promozione. Pensa a quanto sarebbe orgoglioso tuo padre del fatto che avevi messo tutta te stessa nel rapporto con Timothy. Loro sono lassù a fare il tifo per te.”
― Melissa Senate, See Jane Date

“Pensavo di aver superato quelle cose. Pensavo di essere orgogliosa di me stessa. Ma quelle donne, per la maggior parte del tutto sconosciute, erano riuscite a farmi sentire di nuovo l'insicura perdente che mi sentivo al liceo. Improvvisamente mi sentivo un'intrusa al tavolo delle ragazze più popolari della scuola. Perchè mi importava così tanto di quello che dicevano gli altri, di quello che pensavano gli altri? Perchè la mia autostima dipendeva così tanto dall'opinione di persone che nemmeno conoscevo? (…) Come poteva qualcuno che non conoscevo nemmeno, o qualcuno che non vedevo da dieci anni, avere così tanto potere su di me?”
― Melissa Senate, See Jane Date

“(…), il giorno in cui mi aveva promesso il Plaza se avessi trovato l'uomo giusto. Quel ricordo mi colmò di gioia invece di farmi piangere. Non avevo trovato l'uomo giusto, ma per la prima volta mi rendevo conto che il messaggio di mio padre non aveva niente a che fare con quello. Lui voleva semplicemente dirmi che avrei trovato la felicità e la serenità e quello che era meglio per me, ma solo dopo aver cercato con impegno e fatica. (…) E poi, aveva voluto dirmi di non avere paura, di non smettere di cercare.”
― Melissa Senate, See Jane Date

“Someone once said that the moment you stop to think about whether you love someone, you've already stopped loving that person forever.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

“Sometimes it's easier to talk to a stranger than someone you know. Why is that?”
“Probably because a stranger sees us the way we are, not as they wish us to be”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

“Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

“It's hard being left behind. I wait for Henry, not knowing where he is, wondering if he's okay. It's hard to be the one who stays behind.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

“People tell stories, and it's up to those who listen whether to believe them or not. It's not the job of the storyteller.”
― Cecelia Ahern, The Gift

“I lost my dad. He lost his tomorrows and I lost all the tomorrows with him. You could say that now, I appreciate them when they come. Now, I want to make them the best they can possibly be.”
― Cecelia Ahern, The Book of Tomorrow

“What is the meaning in anything? What is the use? Why don't you just burn the world up? Why don't you just decide that's all the use that world was, I'll make another one. I'll learn from my mistakes. I'll make a better one. Because in this one you've messed up. You've messed up badly. Has anyone told you that? Hasn't anyone's prayers said that? You've made an almighty mess. Because you've taken your eyes off us. You've looked away and you've let people starve, you've let people get AIDS, millions of them. You've let others bomb innocent ordinary people who are just doing their everyday things. You've killed them. You've killed them for no reason. They're just here one day and then they don't come home. Why do you let that happen? Answer me. Why?
Is it just Chance? Is there nothing but that, no meaning, no purpose, nothing? You made a world for nothing. Is that it? Just a meaningless star in the galaxy with millions of creatures with no purpose at all. Millions of creatures that have this delusion that you are there? You're the God delusion, is that it? Why do we even have it then? Why do we even dream there is any you? Why are we even persisting in you after all these centuries, when you can't do anything for us? So you are either a joke, you have no power at all, or you are a killer. Those are the choices as I see it. As I see it you are doing nothing for us. You have done nothing for me. You've not even been listening, have you?”
― Niall Williams

“Maybe a family is linked in ways we have no way to understand. Some unseen, cellular connection that binds us past and present. If so, perhaps when my brother died, those cells we shared died as well. And for us, that would have been the heart. Those fine, fragile walls that let us embrace life with fearlessness and faith. We suffer because our heart is dying, one small cell at a time.”
― Naseem Rakha, The Crying Tree

“You're my lodestar – that's the one that sailors followed, the Pole Star that took them safely home to harbour.” he said.
“And I suppose you're like a shooting star” she responded “Always travelling in unexpected directions”
And like a shooting star, he had disappeared over the edge of her world, taking all the light and leaving her in cold darkness.”
― Rachel Hore, A Place of Secrets

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that's what you've given me. That's what I'd hoped to give you forever”
― Nicholas Sparks

“So many of us find ourselves saying, “but he was so great!” Yes, and the people who got on the Titanic thought they were going on vacation. Things changed and it’s important to remember that they did.”
― Greg Behrendt, It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy

“Don't waste the pretty”
― Greg Behrendt

“Watching you walk out of my life does not make me bitter or cynical about love. But rather makes me realize that if I wanted so much to be with the wrong person, how beautiful it will be when the right person comes along.”
― Nicholas Sparks, Dear John

“It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection.”
― Anonymous, The Bhagavad Gita

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”
― Marilyn Monroe

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”
― Bernard M. Baruch

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi