Quotes from David Nicholls

He could feel her laughter against his chest, and at that moment he thought that there was no better feeling than making Emma Morley laugh.

she was discovering once again that reading and writing were not the same — you couldn't just soak it up then squeeze it out again.

I applied for the University of Life. Didn't get the grades.

He has found himself more and more reliant on her at exactly the point that she has become less available to him.

She had never been a proficient flirt. Her spasms of kittenish behaviour were graceless and inept, like normal conversation on roller skates. but the combination of the retsina and sun made Emma feel sentimental and light-headed. She reached for her roller skates.

I'm trying to be inspiring! I'm trying to lift your grubby soul for the great adventure that lies ahead of you!

The fact was I loved my wife to a degree that I found impossible to express, and so rarely did.

I can't believe it's actually happening. This is independent adulthood, this is what it feels like. Shouldn't there be some sort of ritual? In certain remote African tribes there'd be some incredible four day rites of passage ceremony involving tattooing and potent hallucinogenic drugs extracted from tree-frogs, and village elders smearing my body with monkey blood, but here,rites of passage is all about three new pairs of pants and stuffing your duvet in a bin-liner.

Who do you think you are, Jane Eyre? Grow up. Be sensible. Don't get carried away.

Other people's sex lives are a little like other people's holidays: you're glad that they had fun but you weren't there and don't necessarily want to see the photos.

I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference

At some point you'll have to get serious about life.

Good God, 'the elusive thing'. She had reached a turning point. She no longer believed that a situation could be made better by writing a poem about it.

Imagine staying awake all night not because you're worried about the future but because it's FUN

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.

Dexter, I love you so much. So, so much, and I probably always will.' Her lips touched his cheek. 'I just don't like you anymore. I'm sorry.

Letters, like compilation tapes, were really vehicles for unexpressed emotions and she was clearly putting far too much time and energy into them.

You've got to stop letting women slip drugs into your mouth, Dex, it's unhygienic. And dangerous. One day it'll be a cyanide capsule.

Life is about to change if only because it must.

You must do what you enjoy.

Be good. Do something good.

But you're happy?' 'Yeah? I think I am. Are you?' 'Happier. Happyish.' 'Happyish. Well, happyish isn't so bad.' 'It's the most we can hope for.

All his words and actions would now be fit for his daughter's ears and eyes. Life would be lived as if under [her] constant scrutiny. He would never do anything that might cause her pain or anxiety or embarrassment and there would be nothing, absolutely nothing in his life to be ashamed of anymore.

I am not up to this. I am not capable. I thought I would be, but I'm not. Some part of me is missing, and I cannot do this.