Penelope in Retrograde Quotes

“Because that’s what books are made for. They’re made to connect you to people, real or fictional, even when you feel like you’re completely alone.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“Your main character has no depth, she told me. You’ve made her so perfect, she’s boring. People don’t read books about perfect people. Perfection doesn’t speak to the soul. Perfection is the antithesis of soul. If you’re going to write, you must write fearlessly. You have to let yourself go. Be willing to be ugly and unfinished. Lay your soul naked and bare. Anything less is a waste of time.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“Write down your dreams, hopes, and desires on a slip of paper, and burn them. My mother used to call it writing love letters to the universe. Set your intentions and trust yourself to follow through.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“Because falling in love and having babies is the answer to all your problems, according to my mother and the majority of Hallmark movies.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“They’d also prefer their thirtysomething-year-old daughters to be married and stay married, though they’re completely fine with the chosen spouse being male, female, or any gender in between. They’re old fashioned, not assholes.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“To my parents, I’m basically a human version of an air plant. I’m alive and thriving, but they don’t really understand the science behind it.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“People don’t read books about perfect people. Perfection doesn’t speak to the soul. Perfection is the antithesis of soul. If you’re going to write, you must write fearlessly. You have to let yourself go. Be willing to be ugly and unfinished. Lay your soul naked and bare. Anything less is a waste of time.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“The writer in me feels a sense of relief in knowing that moments like this exist in real life and not just on paper.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“That’s the problem with coming back home, I guess. You realize how much you’ve missed since you’ve been gone.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“Hell is my parents’ home on Thanksgiving.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“Penelope is like Jane Austen or Emily Dickinson. She makes her own rules. She doesn’t need anyone to be happy.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“Happiness isn’t a place you go back to. Happiness is a place you build and rebuild and then tear down and remodel a thousand times over inside you.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde

“They’re old fashioned, not assholes.”
― Brooke Abrams, Penelope in Retrograde