Leaving Time

by Jodi Picoult

there’s an explanation for everything you see.

The moral of this story is that no matter how much we try, no matter how much we want it … some stories just don’t have a happy ending.

memory is linked to strong emotion, and that negative moments are like scribbling with permanent marker on the wall of the brain.

When someone leaves you once, you expect it to happen again. Eventually you stop getting close enough to people to let them become important to you, because then you don’t notice when they drop out of your world.

disappointment feels like slamming into a brick wall.

when you desperately want to believe something’s true, you can convince yourself of just about anything.

“Just because you screwed up once doesn’t mean you’ll screw up again.”

So I do what is easiest, when I feel like I’m in danger of being left behind. I make sure I’m the one to walk away first.

You can’t blame someone if they honestly don’t understand that their reality isn’t the same as yours.

Maybe growing up is just focusing on what you’ve got, instead of what you don’t.

“Maybe you’re braver than I am.”

doubt has a way of blooming like fireweed. Once it takes hold, it’s nearly impossible to eradicate.

The afterlife isn’t just a continuation of this one.

The people we define as crazy just might be more sane than you and me.

The more complex a behavior is, the more rigorous and complicated the science behind it.

“I think grief is like a really ugly couch. It never goes away. You can decorate around it; you can slap a doily on top of it; you can push it to the corner of the room—but eventually, you learn to live with it.”

“Keeping a secret isn’t always lying. Sometimes it’s the only way to protect the person you love.”

you think about someone you’ve loved and lost, you are already with them. The rest is just details.