Quotes from Tom Perrotta

There was no dignified way to answer a question about your underwear.

the big day hadn't gone the way she'd hoped, not that big days ever did. Birthdays

Was it possible that they'd crossed without realizing it, each one rounding the corner of the aisle the other one had just vacated at exactly the same time?

If I'd known you were coming, he said, I woulda worn my lululemons.

I try not to think too much about those days now - let the past be past. The truth is, we're all prisoners of our historical context. Anybody who says morality is absolute, that right and wrong don't change over time, you know what? They just haven't lived long enough. (Page 33)

But it wasn't really about her looks; there was just this current running between us, a really strong connection. Her absence always felt abrupt and unfair when we parted at the end of the day, like someone had unplugged the radio in the middle of a good song. (Page 37)

Tinder was like tequila—fun today, sad tomorrow

that's what privilege is—the license to treat other people like shit while still getting to believe that you're a good person.

They were good listeners, worldly yet easily shocked, hungry for details, curious and nonjudgmental at the same time, always happy to give advice, but only if it was requested.

We don't smoke for enjoyment. We smoke to proclaim our faith.

she remained unreconciled to the loss of her electric toothbrush. She'd pined for it for weeks before realizing that it was more than the sensation of a clean mouth that she missed—it was her marriage, all those years of mindless domestic happiness, long, crowded days that culminated with her and Kevin standing side by side in front of the dual sinks, battery-operated wands buzzing in their hands, their mouths full of minty froth.

If we'd been on speaking terms, I might've told her that I'd come to think of sex as this long dark tunnel that turns friends into strangers, strangers into friends.

You feel what you fucking feel. You don't have to apologize to anyone.

If you're thinking about doing something you won't be able to confess to your spouse or best friend, then DON'T DO IT! YOU ALREADY KNOW IT'S WRONG!

It's like the Stone Age over there, just sand and rubble and IEDs.

these leftover memories

Randall kept his eyes glued to the computer screen as she approached. A stranger might have mistaken him for a dedicated Information Sciences professional getting an early start on some important research, but Ruth knew that he was actually scouring eBay for vintage Hasbro action figures…

As far as I could tell, he earned his hundred thousand a year by wandering the hallway with a Styrofoam cup of coffee, smiling at the pretty girls and scowling at the boys who didn't play sports. Somebody should have stuck a broom in his hand and made him an honest man.

and a smile with a missing tooth. "I was an adorable

All she knew was that she'd inflicted pain on someone she cared about, and that always cost you something, even if you were just doing your job. It left you feeling dirty and mean, exposed to the laws of karma.

the chance to leave your old self behind. To take all your mistakes and regrets and erase them from the story. Who wouldn't want that?

if the world were a museum of memories, a collection of places she'd outgrown.

the false promises of digital technology and social networking. It wasn't bringing us together; it was making us lonelier and more selfish, less connected to our flesh-and-blood neighbors.

I'm just saying people don't always make the right choices in life. That doesn't mean they have to be stuck with them.