My Friends

by Fredrik Backman

Grown men don’t have enough things they’re afraid of on this planet to become good at running.

Everyone should be allowed to be fourteen for far longer than a year.

One time the artist read an article suggesting that people will soon be able to live until they’re one hundred and fifty, which Ted thought sounded unbearable, because at this rate he wouldn’t be doing anything by then except peeing.

Because adults like him don’t understand that adults have to be adults so that children can be children.

The sound of the doors being unlocked inside the boy then should have been heard around the world, the ground should have shaken, that’s how much everything changed inside him.

Because that’s what we do, promises like that aren’t lies, they’re acts of rebellion against death.

You can’t love someone out of addiction, all the oceans are the tears of those who have tried.

Because a really good summer vacation should only really have two days: the first, and the last. All the ones in between should be nameless, it shouldn’t matter if it’s Tuesday or Sunday.

The most dangerous creature on the planet is, and has always been, a young man. And the worst thing about a young man? That until very recently he was just a boy. No one gets any warning when he stops being one.

The world is full of miracles, but none greater than how far a young person can be carried by someone else’s belief in them.

The social worker in me couldn’t not highlight this one ❤️