M.T. Edvardsson > Quotes

“Is there any sort of situation where you can say with certainty that a single person is responsible for what happens? Everything in life is dependent on so many different factors that interact in so many different ways.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Being a parent means never being able to relax.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“I consider myself to be a good person. That sounds arrogant, of course, if not self-important or superior. But I don’t mean it like that. I’m a person with an abundance of failings, a person who has made innumerable mistakes and errors. I am acutely aware of this, and the first to admit it. What I mean is that I always act with good intentions, out of love and care. I have always wanted to do the right thing.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Maybe sometimes all it takes to believe you’re in love is being appreciated and valued. Being seen for who you are, admired for your existence rather than your actions.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Experience tells me that when you dislike someone on such vague grounds, the problem often rests with you.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“I like to say I’m a believer, not a knower. If you start to believe you know, be wary. I think of life as a state of constant learning.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Death is seldom so tangible as when you can see how alive a person once was.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“It takes a long time to build a life, but only an instant for it to crumble. It takes many years—decades, maybe a lifetime—to become the person you truly are. The path is almost always circuitous, and I think there’s a reason for that, for life to be built around trial and error. We are shaped and created by our trials.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“I believe this is deeply human. There's no understanding it if you've never experienced a direct and serious threat to yourself and your loved ones. You make irrational decisions and overstep boundaries as you never would otherwise. A person who can no longer flee must fight.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“God is love. It’s wonderful to find someone you belong with. It might be God, it might be another human being. It might even be both.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“She wanted to change the world. What could otherwise be the point of living?”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“No failure in the world is comparable to being an inadequate parent.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“She was a wanted, welcome baby; eagerly awaited and beloved long before she took her first breath. But she wasn’t planned.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Anyone so free of doubt is certain to lack attention to detail and engagement as well.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“It’s much easier to hide something when you give the impression of being transparent.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“When I was little, the adult world constantly told me I was a good girl.” Her face twisted as if she had tasted something nasty. I didn’t quite understand what she meant. “‘Good girl,’ they said, patting me on the head. ‘Ulrika’s such a good girl.’ In the end I had no choice but to become that good girl everyone was expecting.” I had never thought about it like that before.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“For a few weeks in the last semester of my third year of high school I dated a guy named Klabbe, who did arms and chest in the gym four nights a week whenever he wasn’t driving back and forth between the two city squares in the BMW that ate up half his salary from the bread factory. He liked to call me Princess because I made him rinse the tobacco from his teeth before we kissed.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Stop blaming yourself," I said. "Our hearts and our brains can both be good guides. Only in hindsight is it easy to see which pahs you never should have taken.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Sukurti gyvenimą užtrunka, bet jį sugriauti užtenka akimirkos. Prireikia daugybės metų, dešimtmečių, gal net viso gyvenimo tapti tuo, kas iš tikrųjų esi. Kelias beveik niekada nebūna tiesus, manau, kad čia ir slypi visa prasmė, kad gyvenimas susideda iš bandymų ir klaidų. Mus formuoja ir augina gyvenimo išmėginimai.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Even though most of them have the same cold eyes, there is a crucial difference between apathy and contempt.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“After all these years together, I could feel her skin as I felt my own.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“If you start to believe you know, be wary. I think of life as a state of constant learning.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Lying is an art that few people fully master.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“She was the type of person who attracts attention without taking up too much space, who shines without being blinding.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“I never get used to the fact that people younger than I am can die.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Usually, when people talk about the fact that humans are social animals, part of a mainland and never an island, I have trouble relating. For my entire life I have felt cut off from the rest of humanity. This has never been a great cause of sorrow for me, possibly because it’s impossible to miss what you never had,”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“Here’s the thing: if you get a degree and are fed a bunch of explanatory models and diagnoses, it seems to me like it’s pretty much unavoidable that you would later try to apply what you’ve learned. It would be stupid not to. So you get out of school and greet people—clients, patients, or whoever—with the attitude that you should be able to explain why people are the way they are and do the things they do. A psychologist’s job is basically to force the rest of us into one of their templates.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“curiosity”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“I am adamant in my belief that nothing could be as difficult as being a parent. All other relationships have an emergency exit.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family

“I believe man to be the living image of God. I believe in man.

Sometimes when I meet people who say they don't believe in God. I ask them which god it is they don't believe in. They often to proceed to describe a god I certainly don't believe in either.

God is love. It's wonderful to find someone you belong with. It might be God, it might be another human being. It might even be both.”
― M.T. Edvardsson, A Nearly Normal Family