The Rom-Commers Quotes

“I had a theory that we gravitate toward the stories we need in life. Whatever we are looking for- adventure, excitement, emotion, connection-we turn to stories that help us find it. Whatever questions we’re struggling with- sometimes ones so deep, we don’t even really know we’re asking them- we look for answers in stories.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Well, you're lucky. Because love is something you can learn. Love is something you can practice. It's something you can choose to get good at. And here's how you do it. Appreciate your person.
That's it.
Well—first be sure to choose a good person. But we're all good people here.
Choose a good, imperfect person who leaves the cap off the toothpaste, and puts the toilet paper roll on upside down, and loads the dishwasher like a ferret on steroids—and then appreciate the hell out of that person. Train yourself to see their best, most delightful, most charming qualities. Focus on everything they're getting right. Be grateful—all the time—and laugh the rest off.
And that goes for kids, too, by the way—and pets, and waiters, and even our own selves. There it is. The whole trick to life. Be aggressively, loudly, unapologetically grateful.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“If you wait for other people to light you up, then I guess you're at the mercy of darkness.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Whatever story you tell yourself about your life, that's the one that'll be true.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“That's just life.
Tragedy really is a given.
There are endless human stories, but they all end the same way.
So it can't be where you're going that matters. It has to be how you get there.
That's what I've decided.
It's all about the details you notice. And the joys you savor. And the hope you refuse to give up on.
It's all about writing the very best story of your life.
Not just about how you live it—but how you choose to tell it.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Poor happy endings. They're so aggressively misunderstood. We act like "and they lived happily ever after" is trying to con us into thinking that nothing bad ever happened to anyone ever again. But that's never the way I read those words. I read them as "and they built a life together and looked after each other and made the absolute best of their lives.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“I fell in love all the time. Just... nobody fell in love with me back. Fiction really kind of was all I had in the romance department. But that wasn't a weakness. That was a strength. I had a theory that we gravitate toward the stories we need in life. Whatever we're longing for—adventure, excitement, emotion, connection—we turn to stories that help us find it. Whatever questions we're struggling with—sometimes ones so deep, we don't even really know we're asking them—we look for answers in stories.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“happiness is always better with a little bit of sadness.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Whatever story you tell yourself about your life, that's the one that'll be true.
So if I say, "This terrible thing happened, and it ruined my life" - then that's true. But if I say, "This terrible thing happened, but, as crazy as it sounds, it made me better," then that's what's true.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“A great rom-com, I said, is just like sex. If you’re surprised by the ending, somebody wasn’t doing their job. We all know where it’s headed. The fun is how we get there.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Choose a good, imperfect person who leaves the cap off the toothpaste, and puts the toilet paper roll on upside down, and loads the dishwasher like a ferret on steroids—and then appreciate the hell out of that person. Train yourself to see their best, most delightful, most charming qualities. Focus on everything they’re getting right. Be grateful—all the time—and laugh the rest off.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“You had to maximize joy when it fluttered into your life. You had to honor it. And savor it. And not stomp it to death by reminding everyone of everything you'd lost.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“We don't get to know the whole story all at once. And where we're headed matters so much less than how we get there.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“I frowned at him like he was bananas. "I don't have anxiety. I just worry all the time."
Charlie gave it a second and then said, "I'm just gonna let those words echo around the room.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“But it was one thing to live your dreams in theory—and it was absolutely another thing to clumsily, awkwardly, terrifiedly do it for real.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Stick with me. We'll get through it—and we'll be stronger on the other side, as all of us always are, for facing hard things and finding ways to keep going.
Plus: Bearing witness to the suffering of others? I don't know if there's anything kinder than that. And kindness is a form of emotional courage. And I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but emotional courage is its own reward.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“There it is. The whole trick to life. Be aggressively, loudly, unapologetically grateful.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“I don’t think marriage is hard. I think, in fact, if you do it right, marriage is the thing that makes everything else easier.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Believing in things that aren’t real? Making something out of nothing? Connecting dots that don’t need or want to be connected? That’s what all the best writers do.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Humanity at its worst is an easy story to tell - but it's not the only story. Because the more we can imagine our better selves, the more we can become them.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“love is something you can learn. Love is something you can practice. It's something you can choose to get good at. And here's how you do it." He let go of his walker to signal he meant business: "Appreciate your person.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“She argued with me," Charlie went on, "and she made fun of me, and she told me I was wrong so relentlessly... that of course I had no choice but to fall in love with her.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Maybe staying so busy was a lifeline out of my own grief. But I willingly made myself a supporting character in my own story.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“A rom-com should give you a swoony, hopeful, delicious, rising feeling of anticipation as you look forward to the moment when the two leads, who are clearly mad for each other, finally overcome all their obstacles, both internal and external, and get together.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Choose a good, imperfect person who leaves the cap off the toothpaste, and puts the toilet paper roll on upside down, and loads the dishwasher like a ferret on steroids—and then appreciate the hell out of that person. Train yourself to see their best, most delightful, most charming qualities. Focus on everything they’re getting right. Be grateful—all the time—and laugh the rest off.” My dad smiled at us, and then put a hand back on his walker. “And that goes for kids, too, by the way—and pets, and waiters, and even our own selves,” he said. “There it is. The whole trick to life. Be aggressively, loudly, unapologetically grateful.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“There's something about a kiss that brings all the opposites together. The wanting and the getting. The longing and the having. All those cacophonous emotions that usually collide against one another teaming up at last into a rare and exquisite harmony.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“I lied to you today," he went on. "And I'm going to keep lying to you. I'll never tell you about any of this. I'm going to push you away for your own good while I'm still strong enough to do it. And you know why—and you know I'm right. If I don't, you'll take care of me just like you did with your dad—and I refuse to be another thing that stops you. You need somebody in your life who lifts you up—not drags you down.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“That's the only thing I want. That's the only thing I can think about wanting. But guess what? I'm going to rise above that. I'm not going to ruin your life. For once, I'm going to put someone else first." He grabbed another fistful of hair. "I can't believe your life. You've spent ten years taking care of your dad—and you gave up everything to do it. All this time, you've kept a lid on that Spindletop of talent you've got. It's so wrong that it happened.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“You're not going to believe this," Charlie went on, "but I knew on that first day that I was going to fall in love with you. You hadn't been yelling at Logan in my front yard for even sixty seconds before I knew. I felt it. I called it! It was so predictable."
He took a minute to rub his eyes. Then he went on. "I like you like crazy, Emma. I didn't even know it was possible to like another person this much." He shook his head. "And up until today, I wanted nothing more than to make you like me, too." He frowned, like he was thinking. "Maybe this is my punishment. Maybe you were right about self-fulfilling prophecies. All I know is, I really don't want to die. And the reason I don't want to die is because I just want more time with you.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

“Tragedy is a given. There is no version of human life that doesn’t involve reams of it.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers