Larger Than Life

by Jodi Picoult

Emotions were not quantifiable—not in humans, and not in elephants. For science to say something was true, it had to be measurable.

As it turns out, you can love someone too much.

Then, when they leave, your heart goes missing. And no one can survive that great a loss.

In Tswana, there are two ways to say goodbye. Tsamaya sentle means “go well.” Sala sentle means “stay well.” It depends on whether you are the one leaving or the one being left behind.

You’re a fixer, Grant mused. You’re also a colossal pain in the ass. The thing is, it’s the pains in the ass that change the world.

it was easy to fight the urge to call someone you thought had no desire to hear from you.

I’m crying for all the things we lose that we cannot get back.

“For someone who knows so much about the brain,” my mother says, “you know absolutely nothing about the heart.”

Gone are the dismal gray slush of mud season in New England and shivering fingers of the naked trees.

I had to learn how to be a mother before I realized how lucky I am to be a child. And since the doctors don’t know for sure how long that opportunity will last, I only let Africa breathe beneath my skin and on the backs of my eyelids. I don’t let myself pine for it. One day, I’ll go back. Today is not that day.