June

“art is a fragile magic, just like love, and that’s humanity’s only defense against death. That we create and paint and dance and fall in love, that’s our rebellion against eternity. Everything beautiful is a shield. Vincent van Gogh wrote: ‘I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.’ ”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

“Other men preferred the racing about, the belief that their racing was heroic, however pointless in the moment.”
― Grace Burrowes, The Besotted Baron

“It’s so easy to be a critic, any coward can do that. But art doesn’t need critics, art has enough enemies already. Art needs friends.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

“he and Ali laughed so much that Ted can still hear the echo inside him on the train twenty-five years later.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends