The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight Quotes

“Not everyone makes it fifty-two years, and if you do, it doesn't matter that you once stood in front of all those people and said that you would. The important part is that you had someone to stick by you all that time. Even when everything sucked.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“After all, it's one thing to run away when someone's chasing you. It's entirely another to be running all alone.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“There's a kind of unfamiliar electricity that goes through her at the nearness of him, and she can't help wondering if he feels it, too.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“But just as she turns to walk away she hears him behind her, the word like the opening of some door, like an ending and a beginning, like a wish.
"Wait," he says, and so she does.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“She's four minutes late, which doesn't seem like all that much when you think about it's a commercial break, the period within classes, the time it takes to cook a microwave meal. Four minutes is nothing.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“No one is useless in this world, who lightens the burden of it for any one else.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“The important part is that you had someone to stick by you all that time. Even when everything sucked.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“He’s like a song she can’t get out of her
head.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“You," he says, laughing in spite of himself, "are mad as a hatter.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“But it’s there in his face, a fleeting reluctance that matches her own. They stand there together for a long time, for too long, for what seems like forever, each unwilling to part ways, letting the people behind them stream past like a river around rocks. Page: 91”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“When you're on the other side of it," she says, "fifty-two years can seem like about fifty-two minutes.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Airports are torture chambers if you're claustrophobic.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Because as far as she was concerned, there was no in-between: She wanted all or nothing, illogically, irrationally, even though something inside her knew that nothing would be too hard, and all was impossible.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“I'm not sure I even believe in marriage," Hadley says and he looks surprised.

"Aren't you on your way to a wedding?"

"Yeah," she says with a nod. "But that's what I mean."

He looks at her blankly.

"It shouldn't be this big fuss, where you drag everyone halfway across the world to witness your love. If you want to share your life together, fine. But it's between two people, and that should be enough. Why the big show? Why rub it in everyone's faces?"

Oliver runs a hand along his jaw, obviously not quite sure what to think. "It sounds like its weddings you don't believe in," he says finally. "Not marriage."

"I'm not such a big fan of either at the moment."

"I don't know," he says. "I think they're kind of nice."

"They're not," she insists. "They're all for show. You shouldn't need to prove anything if you really mean it. It should be a whole lot simpler than that. It should mean something."

"I think it does," Oliver says quietly. "It's a promise."

"I guess so," she says, unable to keep the sigh out of her voice. "But not everyone keeps that promise." she looks over toward the woman, still fast asleep. "Not everyone makes it fifty-two years, and if you do, it doesn't matter that you once stood in front of all those people and said that you would. The important part is that you had someone to stick by you all that time. Even when everything sucked.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Those are cumulus clouds. Did you know that?"

"I'm sure I should."

"They're the best ones."

"How come?"

"Because they look the way clouds are supposed to look, the way you draw them when you're a kid. Which is nice, you know? I mean, the sun never looks the way you drew it.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“This time she didn't bother correcting him. Just this once, she'd like to believe that he's right.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“But though she’s told a longer version of the story a thousand times before to a thousand different people, she gets the feeling that Oliver might understand better than anyone else. It’s something about the way he’s looking at her, his eyes punching a neat little hole in her heart. She’s knows it’s not real: It’s the illusion of closeness, the false confidence of a hushed and darkened plane, but she doesn’t mind. For the moment, at least, it feels real.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Hadley realises that even though everything else is different, even though there's still an ocean between them, nothing really important has changed at all.

He's still her dad. The rest is just geography.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“She hates the fact that she won't know. It's feels like the last day of school, the final night at summer camp, like everything is coming to an abrupt and dizzying end.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“The clouds are thick as cotton and laced in silver from the sun, and she thinks back to what Oliver said on the plane, the word taking shape in her mind: cumulus. The one cloud that seemed both imaginary and true at the same time.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“People talk about books being an escape...this one feels more like a lifeline.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“And being here like this, so suddenly close to him is enough to make her lightheaded. It's a feeling like falling.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“That they were left with only this--this awkward, prearranged meet-up, this terrible silence--seemed almost more than she could bear, and the unfairness of it all welled up inside of her. It was his fault, all of it, and yet her hatred for him was the worst kind of love, a tortured longing, a misguided wish that made her heart hammer in her chest. She couldn't ignore the disjointed sensation that they were now two different pieces of two different puzzles, and nothing in the world could make them fit together again.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“The idea that their paths might have easily not crossed leaves her breathless, like a near-miss accident on a highway, and she can't help marveling at the sheer randomness of it all. Like any survivor of chance, she feels a quick rush of thankfulness, part adrenaline and part hope.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Once," he says, "I was flying to California on the Fourth of July."

She turns her head, just slightly.

"It was a clear night, and you could see all the little fireworks displays along the way, these tiny flares going off below, one town after another.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“The stories had become a part of her by then; they stuck to her bones like a good meal, bloomed inside of her like a garden. They were as deep and meaningful as any other trait Dad had passed along to her: her blue eyes, her straw-colored hair, the sprinkling of freckles across her nose.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“People talk about books being an escape, but here on the tube, this one feels more like a lifeline. As she leafs through the pages, the rest of it fades away: the flurry of elbows and purses, the woman in a tunic biting her fingernails, the two teenagers with blaring headphones, even the man playing the violin at the other end of the car, its reedy tune working its way through the crowd. The motion of the train makes her head rattle, but her eyes lock on the words the way a figure skater might choose a focal point as she spins, and just like that, she’s grounded again.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Beside her, Oliver is craning his neck to read the signs for customs, already thinking about the next thing, already moving on. Because that's what you do in planes. You share an armrest with someone for a few hours. You exchange stories about your life, an amusing anecdote or two, maybe even a joke. You comment on the weather and remark about the terrible food. And then you say goodbye.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“Because the truth is that now that he’s here, she can’t imagine it any other way. Now that he’s here, she worries that crossing an entire ocean with someone between them might be something like torture.”
― Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight