Quotes from Emily Giffin

Well, anyway… it's over," I say, realizing that those two words lump me right in with a hoard of naive women who say it's over while praying it's not, looking for any shred of hope, insisting that they only want closure when what they really want is that one last conversation disguised as seeking closure while they work to keep the door open for more.

And although one broken heart doesn't make me an expert in the subject, I believe you need both things—time and an emotional replacement—to fully mend one.

or are there always shades of gray when it comes to matters of the heart?

We have no relationship without honesty. - by Claude

What I can't stand are the judgmental hypocrites—people who talk a big Christian game yet don't even make a cursory attempt to follow the Golden Rule, let alone some of those pesky commandments

I think of how life takes unexpected twists and turns, sometimes through sheer happenstance—like running into Leo on the street. Sometimes through calculated decisions—like Margot's. Or mine, tonight, when I left Leo. In the end, it can all be called fate, but to me, it is more a matter of faith.

And I love the beret. Just glad that it wasn't raspberry." "Or from a secondhand store," he deadpanned. "Although I would love to see you in it. And if it was warm…

It was probably a function of getting older—I think we all become exaggerated versions of ourselves

I felt myself tense up, having long noticed that this was something men (and boys, obviously) did after any breakup. Dub their exes "crazy." Discredit them, make it seem as if the men were lucky to have gotten out of the relationship. In fact, Julie had once told me it was the most common narrative in the aftermath of a divorce—the justification men used for their own misconduct. A form of misogyny.

It's a matter of curiosity—and anyone who says they are utterly indifferent to what their significant exes are doing is, in my opinion, either lying or lacking a certain amount of emotional depth. I'm not saying it's healthy to be past-obsessed, ferreting out details of every ex. But it's simply human nature to have an occasional, fleeting interest in someone whom you once loved.

I smile at my husband's unwavering thoughtfulness. Sometimes he really does seem too good to be true.

Things are what they are and there's no point dwelling in the past or wondering what could have been.

You can't go back," he says. "Just look forward. You're doing the right thing now.

Being around people didn't make me uneasy, I just preferred to be alone most of the time.

hesitated, thinking of all the ways I could change the subject, then made a spur-of-the-moment decision that I was finished with small talk and surface conversation and diversions and lies of any kind, no matter how small. At least for right now, as I sat at my parents' dining room table, with a kind man who had once loved me, and who still prayed to God before supper.

And so I do, with Gabe's help, feeling as scared as ever about the uncertain journey ahead, but also at peace. I know by now that you can't control your life, no matter how hard you try. That inevitably people leave and disappoint and die. But there is one constant, one thing you can always count on: that not only does love come first, but in the end, it is the only thing that remains.

life is less about overcoming adversity and more about the power of gratitude.

Would they retreat or move forward? Could they do this thing they were on the verge of doing? Did they have it in them to make a wrong decision just because it felt right?

That although I love Nick, on most days I don't think he lassoed the moon

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that life is fast. And it keeps speeding up. Sometimes I lose track of the season - or even the year. And we just have to make the best of it all. Our choices. Our fleeting moments together.

desperately wanting to define what's in the air between us but unwilling to make the first move

Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all.

Although too much time has gone by to miss her, I feel regret that I didn't maintain our friendship. Even if we no longer have much in common, we would have always had the past, which, in some ways, is just as important as the present or future. It is where we come from, what makes us who we are.

Because sometimes you just can't see the things that are closest to you.