Malayna Nutt

“Can I ask something?” Louisa asks, then asks immediately: “How do you cope with death?” It’s Christian’s mother who answers: “It’s art that helps me cope. Because art is a fragile magic, just like love, and that’s humanity’s only defense against death. That we create and paint and dance and fall in love, that’s our rebellion against eternity. Everything beautiful is a shield. Vincent van Gogh wrote: ‘I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.’ ” “It’s cool that we happened at all,” Louisa whispers. “Something like that,” the mother smiles.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

“Everyone dies, of course, every single person, but very few get to understand that they’re dying.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

“but the ultimate expression of love is nagging, we don’t nag anyone the way we nag the people we love.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

“The only thing we can take for granted is that everyone we have ever met and everyone we have ever known and everyone we have ever loved will die. So how great must our imaginations be for us to even summon up the enthusiasm to get out of bed each morning? Endless! Imagination is the only thing that stops us from thinking about death every second. And when we aren’t thinking? Oh, those are all our very best moments, when we’re wasting our lives. It’s an act of magnificent rebellion to do meaningless things, to waste time, to swim and drink soda and sleep late. To be silly and frivolous, to laugh at stupid little jokes and tell stupid little stories. Or”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends