Quotes from David Nicholls

There was a time when he used alcohol as a stimulant, something to lift his spirits and give him energy, but now he drinks like all parents drink, as a kind of early evening sedative.

and I have a tiny little moment of anxiety, because I can't remember whether or not we're meant to be boycotting mars bars.

Generally speaking, I resolve to change my life on average maybe thirty to forty times a week, usually at about two a.m, drunk, ore early the next morning, hungover.

Not change the world exactly, just the bit around you.

Maybe that's just what happens; you start out wanting to change the world through language, and end up thinking it's enough to tell a few jokes.

But now the train had finally begun to move, and Albie had switched the fearless truth-telling eye of his camera lens from his untied laces to the walls of the tunnels under east London, because you can never have enough pictures of dirty concrete.

Over-familiar, the music has become a kind of audio-Valium, background music rather than something I listen to actively and attentively. A gin and tonic after a long day. A shame, I think, because while each note remains the same, I used to hear them differently. It used to sound better.

Father, I have wind. This activity centre leaves me jaded. I am colicky.

Jake the trapeze artist was a man who stared death in the face, while most nights I stared television in the face.

Fun; there should be a lot of fun and no more sadness than absolutely necessary.

And so the condemned man, presented with his final meal, is reminded that at least the cheesecake is delicious.

tinnitus of mirth

Hablaron muy poco de sus sentimientos mutuos, pues las frases bonitas y las expresiones cálidas eran acaso innecesarias entre amigos tan íntimos.» Thomas Hardy, Lejos del mundanal ruido

Dexter had been led to believe, by TV, by films, that the only up-side of sickness was that it brought people closer, that there would be an opening-up, an effortless understanding between them. But they have always been close, always been open, and their habitual understanding has instead been replaced by bitterness, resentment, a rage on both their parts at what is happening.

But the trouble with living in the moment is that the moment passes. Impulse and spontaneity take no account of the longer term, of responsibilities and obligations, debts to be paid, promises to fulfil. I

We're not arguing, we're discussing

When we were ready we would take a walk, perhaps down to La Boqueria, the food market that we both loved

Who's he seeing now then?" "No idea. They're like funfair goldfish; no point giving them names, they never last that long.

He had always imagined that some sort of emotional mental equipment was meant to arrive, when he was forty-five, say, or fifty, a kind of kit that would enable him to deal with the impending loss of a parent. If he were only in possession of this equipment, he would be just fine. He would be noble and selfless, wise and philosophical.

dipping them into a Pyrex contact-lens of ketchup

Lonely' is a troubling word and not one to be tossed around lightly. It makes people uncomfortable, summoning up as it does all kinds of harsher adjectives, like 'sad' or 'strange'. I have always been well liked, I think, always well regarded and respected, but having few enemies is not the same as having many friends, and there was no denying that I was, if not 'lonely', more solitary than I'd hoped to be at that time.

For my sister, life was one long group hug

To take an analogy from botany, she imagined a child as an unopened flower; a parent had a responsability to provide light and water, but also to stand back and watch. 'He can do anything he wants', she said, 'as long as he's happy and cool.' In contrast, I saw no reason why the flower should not be bracketed to a bamboo stick, pruned, exposed to artificial light; if it made for a stronger, more resilient plant, why not? (pag. 337)

nostalgia is a useless, futile thing because it is a longing for something that is permanently lost