Here One Moment

by Liane Moriarty

This is the sort of mistake people regret on their deathbeds.

The idea of determinism, he said, is that everything that happens, and every decision or action you make, is “causally inevitable.” Why? Because everything is caused by something else: a preceding action, event, or situation.

If free will doesn’t exist, if all your decisions and actions are inevitable, are you still required to apologize for them?

As Max pointed out, not all tall people are related.

A sincere apology has the power to save a friendship, a marriage, even a life.

The days are long but the years are short, her mother says. This will apparently make sense to her one day.

A parent’s love is surely strong enough to occasionally crash through the barrier dividing heaven and earth.

Some people lead charmed lives and think it is all due to them. They stand, like ship captains, proud and tall, feet apart, one hand loosely on the helm of their destinies. They are often charming, charismatic people because why wouldn’t they be? They have no need of fortune tellers. They have only ever faced clear seas and easy choices.

“My mother used to say ‘La vita va veloce: this life goes fast, much faster than time.’ ”

You won’t necessarily win against fate, but you should at least put up a fight.

It’s often best not to think too much about “progress” or you may find yourself depressed.

I’ve read that your first experience of love permanently changes your brain. It does feel like that.

The belief that the probability of future events changes based on past events (assuming those events are independent) is known as the Monte Carlo fallacy, or the gambler’s fallacy.

Everyone loves a particular version of you and when that person is gone that version goes with them.

People behave oddly when they are grieving.

The woman said her parents had been blessed with long happy lives but she was still “devastated” to lose them. “It’s never long enough, is it?” she said. “You’d still do anything for one more day, one more chat, one more phone call.”

You can avoid grief but you can’t do it for twenty-four hours a day. You need distraction, and as long as it’s legal and doesn’t hurt you or anyone else, I recommend you take that distraction where you can find it.

Of course there’s never a good time for a serious illness. Nobody has time for it. Everyone has other plans.

If you are a fellow introvert you will understand. We’re all the rage these days. Movie stars regularly describe themselves as introverted while being charismatic on talk shows.

There are pivotal moments in life where you don’t get a second chance if you mess up.

People change. You can’t go backward, only forward.

Everything has changed and nothing has changed at all. Leo is filled with equal parts terrible regret for the time they have lost and sweet relief for the time they will hopefully have again.

I can’t tell you exactly how I knew. Sometimes you just do. Even if you have the intuition of a potato.

His messages are not cold, but they are not warm either. They are neutral. Neutral is awful.

We were like two drowning people. We needed to work out how to swim on our own.

it was just another normal morning, nothing special, but I felt the most extraordinary feeling of bliss, euphoria, and contentment combined. I have never forgotten it. On the days I believe in heaven, I believe it’s like that moment.