Quotes by Jodi Picoult

The ability to find sparks may be buried so deep in you that you stop believing theres a God. Until someone comes along, with so much light in her that you cant help but see your own, and when youre together,that light grows even brighter.

It was one thing to make a mistake; it was another thing to keep making it. I knew what happened when you let yourself get close to someone, when you started to believe they loved you: youd be disappointed. Depend on someone, and you might as well admit youre going to be crushed, because when you really needed them, they wouldnt be there. Either that, or youd confide in them and you added to their problems. All you ever really had was yourself, and that sort of sucked if you were less than reliable.

It was one thing to sacrifice your own life for someone elses. It was another thing entirely to bring into the mix a third party - a third party who knew you, who trusted you implicitly.

For Gods sake, if I learned anything during this damn trial its that the only way someone can leave you is if you let them. And Im not doing that, Dee. It may look like that today, or tomorrow, or even a month from now, but one day youre going to wake up and see that this whole time youve been gone, youve only been headed back to where you started. And Ill be there, waiting. He leans forward and kisses me once, feather-light, on the lips. Its not like Im not letting you go, he murmurs. Im just trusting you enough to come back.

To be fair, I am not the same man. The one who listened. The one who believed her.

You figured that the only way Id be happy is if I did the things you thought would be best for me.

In the past, even Alexs promises hadnt prevented a reoccurence. She didnt have a choice. She wished he could see that as clearly as she did.

How come love sounds so violent? You fall head over heels. You’re struck by Cupid’s arrow. You take the risk of having your heart broken. From an outside perspective, it sounds impossibly painful, not worth the trouble. And yet we do it every day. We keep coming back for more. Why? If it weren’t so perilous, maybe we wouldn’t crave it so much. Maybe it has to be brutal, in order to work. People come in so many shapes and sizes that it takes a bit of force in order to fit together perfectly. But you know what they say about a break that heals: it’s always stronger than before.

What was the point of being able to forgive, when deep down, you both had to admit youd never forget?

Three months ago, if you asked me, I would have told you that if you really loved someone, you’d let them go. But now I look at you, and I dreamed about Maggie, and I see that I’ve been wrong. If you really love someone, Allie, I think you have to take them back.

But if you seek forgiveness, doesnt that automatically mean you cannot be a monster? By definition, doesnt that desperation make you human again?

You know, Sage, Jesus didnt tell us to forgive everyone. He said turn the other cheek, but only if you the one who was hit. Even the Lords Prayer says it loud and clear: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Not others. What Jesus challenges us to do is to let go of the wrong done to you personally, not the wrong done to someone else. But most Christians incorrectly assume that this means that being a good christian means forgiving all sins, and the sinners.

What he did was wrong. He doesnt deserve your love. But he does deserve your forgiveness, because otherwise he will grow like a weed in your heart until its choked and overrun. The only person who suffers, when you squirrel away all that hate, is you.

In the English language there are orphans and widows, but there is no word for the parents who lose a child.

I knew that somewhere God was laughing. He had taken the other half of my heart, the one person who knew me better than I knew myself, and He had done what nothing else could do. By bringing us together, He had set into motion the one thing that could tear us apart.

I knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. You didnt get past something like that, you got through it.

Was there a language of loss? Did everyone who suffered speak a different dialect?

Goldfish get big enough only for the bowl you put them in. Bonsai trees twist in miniature. I would have given anything to keep her little. They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them.

He gently touched his mothers cheek, felt her sorrow slip over his fingertips.

Maybe you had to come close to losing something before you could remember its value.