Melissa

“A human being, any human being at all, has so perishingly few chances to stay right there, to let go of time and fall into the moment. And to love someone without measure, explode with passion... A few times when we are children, maybe, for those of us who are allowed to be... But after that? How many breaths are we allowed to take beyond the confines of ourselves? How many pure emotions make us cheer out loud without a sense of shame? How many chances do we get to be blessed by amnesia? All passion is childish, it's banal and naive, it's nothing we learn, it's instinctive, and so it overwhelms us... Overturns us... It bears us away in a flood... All other emotions belong to the earth, but passion inhabits the universe. That is the reason why passion is worth something. Not for what it gives us, but for what it demands that we risk - our dignity, the puzzlement of others in their condescending shaking heads...”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here

“But how is it your team if you don’t play in it?” The boy thinks this over for a moment. Then he seems to take a firm grip on the ball. “We’ve supported this team for longer than most of the players in it. So it’s more our team than theirs.” “Preposterous,” snorts Britt-Marie.”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here

“At a certain age almost all the questions a person asks him or herself are really just about one thing: how should you live your life?”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here

“Soccer is a curious game, because it doesn’t ask to be loved. It demands it.”
― Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here