Quotes from David Nicholls

Self-pitying, self-righteous, self-important, all the selfs except self-confident, the quality that she always needed the most.

My mother changed the television channel every time two people kissed. Both had passed through the permissive 1960s untouched. It might as well have been the 1860s. How my sister and I ever came to be, I've frankly no idea.

I'm just not going to do it so that we can say that we've done it. And I'm not going to do it if the first thing you say afterwards is 'please don't tell anyone' or 'let's forget it ever happened'. If you have to keep something secret it's because you shouldn't be doing it in the first place!

te quiero mucho. Tanto, pero tanto... Y probablemente siempre te quiera. –Los labios de Emma le tocaron la mejilla–. Lo que pasa es que ya no me gustas. Lo siento.

the greatest lie that age tells about youth is that it's somehow free of care, worry or fear.

A veces uno es consciente de cuándo están produciéndose los grandes momentos de su vida y a veces los descubre al mirar el pasado. Tal vez suceda lo mismo con las personas.»

Both of our memories were deteriorating, and in recent years the effort required to recall a name or incident felt almost wearyingly physical, like clearing out an attic. Proper nouns were particularly elusive. Adverbs and adjectives would go next, until we were left with pronouns and imperative verbs. Eat! Walk! Sleep now!

The sweet habit of each other had begun to put lines around her mouth, lines that looked like quotation marks – as if everything she said had been said before.

Dexter, te quiero mucho. Tanto, pero tanto... Y probablemente siempre te quiera . - Los labios de Emma le tocaron la mejilla-. Lo que pasa es que ya no me gustas. Lo siento.

Don't they appreciate how hard it is, staying decent, keeping your head on straight when so much is happening to you and your life is so full and eventfull?

Recklessness, spontaneity didn't really suit her, she couldn't carry if off, the results were never what she hoped for.

As a matter of fact, I think there are more important things in life than "relationships".

I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference,' she said. 'You know, actually change something.' 'What, like "change the world", you mean?' 'Not the whole entire world. Just the little bit around you.

If you have to keep something secret it's because you shouldn't be doing it in the first place!

Supongo que lo importante es aportar algo –dijo ella–. Cambiar las cosas, vaya. –¿En qué sentido, el de "cambiar el mundo"? –No, todo el mundo no, sólo la pequeña parte que te rodea.

In the station café I found a corner near a socket and sucked up electricity and wifi like a swimmer coming up for air.

Fue un día memorable, pues obró grandes cambios en mí. Pero ocurre así en cualquier vida. Imaginémonos que de ella arrancáramos un día especial y pensemos en lo distinto que podría haber sido su curso. Deténgase el lector y piense por un momento en la larga cadena de hierro o de oro, de espinas o flores que, de no ser por la formación del primer eslabón en un día memorable, jamás le hubiese atado.»

It wasn't much of a plan, and already there had been mistakes.

to recall a name or incident felt almost wearyingly physical, like clearing out an attic.

grief is as much about regret for what you've never had as sadness for what you've lost.

Though not my field, I was familiar with the notion of alternative realities, but was not used to occupying the one I liked the best.

indignantly, as if I'd just invited everyone back to mine for heroin and

It's like Russian Roulette, one in six'll kill you.

I felt the proximity of change, and I had wanted more than anything for something in my life to change. Is it still possible to feel like that, I wonder? Or does it only happen to us once?