Quotes from Jojo Moyes

Everyone I knew hated Monday mornings, but I never minded them. I liked arriving early at The Buttered Bun, firing up the huge tea urn in the corner, bringing in the crates of milk and bread from the backyard and chatting to Frank as we prepared to open.

But I'm not an automation. I'm human and I have a life, and just for a short while I had responsibilities that meant I couldn't be the employee you – or I – would have liked. ~Louisa Clark

Without someone to talk to, every sight I saw - whether it was the Trevi Fountain or a canal in Amsterdam - felt simply like a box I'd needed to tick on a list. - Lou Clark

tell me...the best thing that has ever happened to you.' 'The best? Oh, I'm kind of hoping it hasn't happened yet.

When he saw the contents of my MP3 player one afternoon, he laughed so hard he nearly dislodged one of his tubes.

There are no bloody jobs, Josie. You know that as well as I do. We're in the middle of a bloody recession.

I don't ask you to love me always like this, but I ask you to remember. Somewhere inside me there'll always be the person I am to-night. • F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, Tender Is the Night

This is your way of telling me I should be doing something far more worthwhile than peeling your potatoes.

His boss had been muttering about possible redundancies for months. There were murmurings at home about debts and the juggling of credit cards. Dad had had his car written off by an uninsured driver two years previously, and somehow this had been enough for the whole teetering edifice that was my parents' finances to finally collapse. My modest wages had been a little bedrock of housekeeping money, enough to help see the family through from week to week.

They spoke as if I weren't there.

Push yourself. Don't settle. Wear those stripy legs with pride.

I needed to tell him, silently, that things might change, grow, or fail, but that life did go on. That we were all part of some great cycle, some pattern that it was only God's purpose to understand.

always had.

I sat there, as my parents discussed what other jobs my limited qualifications might entitle me to.

By then we all believed that happiness should be treasured if good fortune happened to blow it briefly your way.

Ugh. I dream of bad behavior. Sometimes I dream about going out and getting slaughtered, and it's almost a disappointment when I wake up and there's no hangover.

man kann Menschen nicht dafür bestrafen, dass sie Menschen sind.

This is your way of telling me I should be doing something far more worthwhile than peeling your potatoes.' 'I'm telling you there's a whole world out there. But that I'd be very grateful if you'd do me some potatoes first.' He smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

You know," she said, "when you get to my age, the pile of regrets becomes so huge it can obscure the view terribly.

So I did what every girl does when she's far from home and a little sad. I ate half a packet of chocolate Digestives and called my mother.

Some mistakes ... just have greater consequences than others. But you don't have to let that night be the thing that defines you.

I was let go after one of the doughnut girls caught me debating the varying merits of the free toys with a four-year-old. What can I say? She was a smart four-year-old. I also thought the Sleeping Beautys were sappy.

I stared at them. 'Every time what?' I said, as Nathan put the money into Will's hand. 'He said you'd be reading a book. I said you'd be watching telly. He always wins.' My sandwich stilled at my lips. 'Always? You've been betting on how boring my life is?

That he was there was such an unexpected bonus that I think we had both silently agreed just to enjoy being around each other. There was no need to sightsee, to tick off experiences, or to run to bed. It was, as the young people say, all good.