If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that we’re book people. And we think being a book person and a lover of words goes hand in hand, so we put together a list of some of the most beautifully written, heartbreaking passages we’ve ever read. We still aren’t over the emotional damage these authors caused with their words, and we probably never will be. So if you’ve been on the hunt for a new read or you’re just a quote junkie, settle in for some emotional scarring.
(image via: resilience)
“I know so many last words. But I will never know hers.” – John Green, Looking for Alaska
“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.” – Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
(image via: thought co.)
“[H]appiness isn’t some permanent thing we’re all trying to achieve in life, it’s merely a thing that shows up every now and then, sometimes in tiny doses that are just substantial enough to keep us going.” – Colleen Hoover, Reminders of Him
“In one of the stars, I shall be living. In one of them, I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing when you look at the sky at night… And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content to have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky!” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
“There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.” – Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
“There’s death all around us. Everywhere we look. 1.8 people kill themselves every second. We just don’t pay attention. Until we do.” – Cynthia Hand, The Last Time We Say Goodbye
(image via: tumblr)
“Papa’s voice fit into a groove in my ear, deserted for so many years, now full of his timbre. How easy it was to recognize this once lost detail. There was a home for every departed thing.” – Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Fruit of the Drunken Tree
“I cannot tell you how you will survive without me. I cannot tell you how to mourn me. I cannot convince you to not feel guilty if you forget the anniversary of my death, or if you realize days or weeks or months have gone by without thinking about me. I just want you to live.” – Adam Silvera, They Both Die at the End
