The Answer Is No

by Fredrik Backman

people aren’t supposed to be happy, they’re only supposed to want to be happy, because how otherwise are you supposed to be able to sell things to them?

Instead of falling in love, have you tried to not do that? It really saves a lot of time.

He doesn’t want enemies, but he also doesn’t want to risk making the only thing that’s worse than that: friends.

Pad thai without peanuts is like buying a balloon and just getting the air.

the truth about problems is that the problem itself is never actually the problem. It’s always the people involved who are the problem.

“I’m . . . no expert. But I think most people who want to be happy try to add things to their lives. But really what maybe they should be doing is taking something away.”

Lucas has never loved a cat, so what does he really know about life?

Lucas is happy. It’s not as hard as one might think to become, the hard part is just to keep being it. It’s hard because it’s so easy to get in your head that if you are to be happy, you have to be happy exactly all of the time. And who in the world has the energy for that? Happiness can be exhausting.