The Girl You Left Behind Quotes

“Sometimes life is a series of obstacles, a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, she realizes suddenly, it is simply a matter of blind faith.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“There is a whole lot more to life than winning.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“the ability to earn a living by doing the thing one loves must be one of life’s greatest gifts.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Nobody fights you like your own sister; nobody else knows the most vulnerable parts of you and will aim for them without mercy.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“All that counts is the truth. Without it you're basically just juggling people's daft ideas.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Sit here long enough you get to know everything. You listen, see ?"
She taps the side of her head.
"Nobody listens any more. Everyone knows what they want to hear, but nobody actually listens.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Do you know how it feels to resign yourself to your fate? It is almost welcome. There was to be no more pain, no more fear, no more longing. It is the death of hope that comes as the greatest relief.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“She does not want to feel even the faintest temptation to call his mobile number, as she had done obsessively for the first year after his death so she could hear his voice on the answering service. Most days now his loss is a part of her, an awkward weight she carries around, invisible to everyone else, subtly altering the way she moves through the day. But today, the Anniversary of the day he died, is a day when all bets are off.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Paul. Look at me. You need to understand this. The worst thing that could have happened to me already happened."
He looks up.
She swallows, knowing that these are the words that stall; that may simply refuse to emerge.
"Four years ago David and I went to bed like it was any other night, brushing our teeth reading our books, chatting about a restaurant we were going to the next day...and when I woke up the next morning he was there beside me, cold. Blue. I didn't...I didn't feel him go. I didn't even get to say..."
There is a short silence.
"Can you imagine knowing you slept through the person you love most dying next to you ? Knowing that there might have been something you could have done to help him ? To save him ? Not knowing if he was looking at you, silently begging you to..."
The words fail, her breath catches, a familiar tide threatens to wash over her He reaches out his hands slowly, enfolds hers within them until she can speak again.
"I thought the world had actually ended. I thought nothing good could ever happen again. I thought any thing might happen if I wasn't vigilant. I didn't eat. I didn't go out. I didn't want to see anyone. But I survived, Paul. Much to my own surprise, I got through it. And life...well, life gradually became liveable again."
She leans closer to him.
"So this...the painting, the house...It hit me when I heard what happened to Sophie. It's just stuff. They could take all of it, frankly. the only thing that matters is people."
She looks down at his hands, and her voice cracks.
"All that really matters is who you love.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“It was only when I got home that I reached into my pocket. I found a piece of paper he must have slipped in there while he held me: a little caricature of the two of us, him a huge bear in his uniform, grinning, his arm around me, petite and narrow-waisted, my face straight and solemn, my hair pulled neatly behind my head. Underneath it he had written, in his looping,‘I never knew real happiness until you.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“And it was suddenly very simple: There was no choice.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“there’s a whole lot more to life than winning.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“What are you doing?"
"Thinking."
"That sounds dangerous.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“I thought the world had actually ended. I thought nothing good could ever happen again. I thought anything might happen if I wasn't vigilant. I didn't eat. I didn't go out. I didn't want to see anyone. But I survived, Paul. Much to my own surprise, I got through it. And life...well, gradually became livable again.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Most days now his loss is a part of her, an awkward weight she carries around, invisible to everyone else, subtly altering the way she moves through the day.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Marianne touches his elbow, halting him. 'You know I'll tell you something about being married five times. Or married five times and still friends with my surviving ex-husbands'. She counts them on gnarled fingers. 'That would be three'. He waits. 'It teaches you damn all about love.' Paul begins to smile, but she hasn't finished. Her grip on his arm is surprisingly strong. 'What it does teach you, Mr McCafferty, is that there's a whole lot more to life than winning.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Just for carrying on, really. Sometimes, my darling girl, that's heroic in itself.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“You shall forget that I am part of an enemy army, I shall forget that you are a woman who spends much of her time working out how to subvert that army, and we shall just . . . be two people?”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“I know it's been tough. But we're terribly proud of you, you know."
"For what?" She says blowing her nose. "I failed, Dad. Most people think I shouldn't have even tried."
"Just for carrying on, really. Sometimes, my darling girl, that's heroic in itself.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“I keep reading your looping, cursive script, until the words are indelible inside me: “I never knew real happiness until you.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“the very point of faith was that it must be tested.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“I often think that the ability to earn a living by doing the thing one loves must be one of life’s greatest gifts.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“I wanted to live as Edouard did, joyfully, sucking the marrow out of every moment and singing because it tasted so good.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Can't you feel this ? Don't walk away...", she wills him silently.
"Please don't walk away from me...”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“It had been years before she could view anybody else’s happiness without mourning the loss of her own.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“She has several imaginary conversations with him and two imaginary arguments.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“Nobody listens any more. Everyone knows what they want to hear, but nobody actually listens.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“So this . . . the painting, the house . . . it hit me when I heard what happened to Sophie earlier. It’s just stuff. They could take all of it, frankly. The only thing that matters is people.” She looks down at his hands, and her voice cracks. “All that really matters is who you love.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“It is the death of hope that comes as the greatest relief”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

“This was the story of our lives: minor insurrections, tiny victories, a brief chance to ridicule our oppressors, little floating vessels of hope amid a great sea of uncertainty, deprivation and fear.”
― Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind