Verity

by Colleen Hoover

He was in the wrong, looking casually down at his phone, probably a side effect of crossing the same street without incident many times before. Death by routine.

People gasp, but no one screams.

I moved to this city to be invisible, but I am certainly not impenetrable.

It’s what you do when you’ve experienced the worst of the worst. You seek out people like you…people worse off than you…and you use them to make yourself feel better about the terrible things that have happened to you.

The ant was alone, fluttering left and right, up and down, searching for food or friends. He seemed confused by his solitude. Or maybe he was excited for his newfound freedom. I couldn’t help but wonder why he was alone. Ants usually travel with an army.

My mother only ever brought guilt into my life. Nothing less, nothing more. Just consistent guilt.

Some people find it difficult to separate a character from the individual who created them.

I think the idea of me is better than the reality of me.

1) Start the book and hate everything I write. 2) Keep writing the book despite hating everything I write. 3) Finish the book and pretend I’m happy with it.

I have to stop looking at my life through my mother’s glasses.

I don’t want to call him an asshole. He’s a little kid, and he’s been through a lot. But I think he might be an asshole.

I guess being here in her office for a few days will be one way to test my theory. The richer you are, the more creative you’re able to be.

The thing I abhor most about autobiographies is the counterfeit thoughts draped over every sentence.

You can’t look at someone the way he looked at me—with the entirety of his past—without also imagining the future. He closed his eyes and kissed me. The kiss was full of both desire and respect—two things a lot of men didn’t seem to know could go hand in hand.

Sharing a kiss that intimate with a stranger was like saying, “I don’t know you, but I believe I would like you if I did.”

I liked that he believed he could like me. It almost made me believe I was likeable.

And that’s what love at first sight is. It isn’t really love at first sight until you’ve been with the person long enough for it to become love at first sight.

Caring for your body is no different from caring for a child. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it sucks, sometimes you just want to give in, but if you do, you’ll pay for the consequences eighteen years down the road.