Nicole

“We are all living, at most, half of a life, she thought. There was the life you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen. And sometimes, this other life felt as palpable as the one you were living. Sometimes, it felt as if you might be walking down Brattle Street, and without warning, you could slip into this other life, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole that led to Wonderland. You would end up a different version of yourself, in some other town.”
― Gabrielle Zevin

“He was like a bright, warm light over everything in her life. She felt lit up, turned on. There was no one better to talk to about games. Yes, she loved him, but she also liked him. She liked herself when she was with him.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“Ove had never been asked how he lived before he met her. But if anyone had asked him, he would have answered that he didn’t.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“Drawn to it the same way, I suppose, that a self-harmer is drawn to run the razor blade over the skin of their wrist.”
― Lucy Foley, The Paris Apartment