Quotes by Emily Giffin

I spend the rest of the afternoon trying to explain to Zoe one of the very saddest notions in love and life: sometimes the timing is wrong--and sometimes you realize the heart of the matter way to late in the game.

Despite the fact that I have no regrets about how things turned out in my life, I still cant help wanting to understand my intense relationship with Leo, as well as that turbulent time between adolescence and adulthood when everything feels raw and invigorating and scary-and why those feelings are all coming back to me now.

I decided that giving a girl a ring when youre not in a serious relationship is sort of like giving a guy a blow job when you have no real feelings for him. It makes everything feel a little cheap.It cheapens the giver and the recipient.

The person who wants out of the relationship always gets her way.

But I have learned that you cant just create your own timetable and will it to come true.

But now we have time. Endless time stretches before us.

And like a favorite old movie, sometimes the sameness in a friend is what you like the most about her.

As everyone applauds and sips champagne, I smile back at Rachel, thinking she got it just right. Love and friendship. They are what makes us who we are and what can change us, if we let them.

It occurs to me that she is not unique--that all women compare lives. We are aware of whose husband works more, who helps more around the house, who makes more money, who is having more sex. We compare our children, taking note of who is sleeping through the night, eating their vegetables, minding their manners, getting into the right schools. We know who keeps the best house, throws the best parties, cooks the best meals, has the best tennis game. We know who among us is the smartest, has the fewest lines around her eyes, has the best figure--whether naturally or artificially. We are aware of who works full-time, who stays at home with the kids, who manages to do it all and make it look easy, who shops and lunches while the nanny does it all. We digest it all and then discuss with our friends. Comparing and then confiding; it is what women do.The difference, I think, lies in why we do it. Are we doing it to gauge our own life and reassure ourselves that we fall within the realm of normal? Or are we being competitive, relishing others shortcomings so that we can win, if only by default?

Why do I need to have reasons? When someone decides to have a baby, people dont go around asking what her reasons are.

I nod, thinking of how difficult marriage can be, how much effort is required to sustain a feeling between two people - a feeling that you cant imagine will ever fade in the beginning when everything comes so easily. I think of how each person in a marriage owes it to the other to find individual happiness, even in a shared life. That is the only real way to grow together, instead of apart.

I had seen the light, come to believe that a wedding should be about a feeling between two people, not a show for the masses...It was a magical, romantic evening, and although I occasionally wish I had worn a slightly fancier dress, and that Nick and I had danced on our wedding night, I have no real regrets about the way we chose to do things.

The mind-blowing, ridiculous sex which was the stuff of both poetry and porn - so unlike anything else I had ever experienced before.

My work has often been described as “chick lit” and for the most part the term doesn’t bother me. I think it simply signals to readers that the book is about women, written for women (although many men enjoy my books), about issues that concern women (relationships, careers, etc.) The only thing that bothers me is when the label is used disparagingly, to imply that all chick lit is, by definition, superficial, beach-read fluff because I believe that this is akin to saying that all women are devoid of substance and the issues that concern us, are fundamentally trivial ones. And I take issue with that.

a bit of a dirty fighter, quick with cutting words that he later regrets and doesnt really mean. Then again, I wonder if there isnt always a grain of truth in them, somewhere

Being married cuts on your freedom. Having a husband or a relationship at all puts constraints on you. by Michael.

Buried beneath disappointment and fear, anger and pride, I just might find it in my heart to forgive.

No second chances. Its not so much about morality, but about my inability to forgive. I am a champion grudge holder, and I dont think I could change this about myself even if I wanted to.

It was about grace, she decides, something that has been missing from her own life. ... She wants to be the kind of person who can bestow unearned kindness on another, replace bitterness with empathy, forgive only for the sake of forgiving.

...recognizing that there is more heartbreak in continuous disappointment than a void...