Shimizu Gin > Shimizu's Quotes

“The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It’s the only free gift the universe has to offer. The past doesn’t belong to us anymore, and the future is just a fantasy, never guaranteed. But the present is ours to own. The only way we can realize that fantasy is if we embrace the now.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“You can’t re-create the first time you promise to love someone or the first time you feel loved by another. You cannot relive the sensation of fear, admiration, self-­consciousness, passion, and desire all mixed into one because it never happens twice. You chase it like the first high for the rest of your life. It doesn’t mean you can’t love another or move on; it just means that the one spontaneous moment, the split second that you took the leap, when your heart was racing and your mind was muddled with What ifs?—that moment—will never happen the same way again. It will never feel as intense as the first time. At least, that’s the way I remember it. That’s why my mother always said we memorialize our past. Everything seems better in a memory.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“And in that moment, you realize how little control you have over your own destiny. From the time you're born, you have no control; you can't choose your parents, and, unless you're suicidal, you can't choose your death. The only thing you can do is choose the person you love, be kind to others, and make your brutally short stint on earth as pleasant as possible.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“Everything seems better in a memory.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“It was like the universe was teasing us; we saw each other just a second too late.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“Once there was you and me
We were lovers
We were friends
Before life changed
Before we were strangers
Do you still think of me?”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“Weren’t we though? Timeless? Nothing could change what we’d had all those years before, even if the idea of what might’ve been lingered between us.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It’s the only free gift the universe has to offer.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“Heart slayed. He owned me.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“Fifteen years is too long to be holding on to a few heart-pounding moments from college.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“That’s why my mother always said we memorialize our past. Everything seems better in a memory.”
― Renee Carlino, Before We Were Strangers

“We’re all full of flaws. Hundreds of them. They’re like tiny holes all over our skin. And like your fortune said, sometimes we shine too much light on our own flaws. But there are some people who try to ignore their own flaws by shining light on other people’s to the point that the other person’s flaws become their only focus. They pick at them, little by little, until they rip wide open and that’s all we become to them. One giant, gaping flaw.”
― Colleen Hoover, All Your Perfects