Slow Dance Quotes

“I think that when two people are slow-dancing to ‘Hey Ya!,’ everyone leaves them alone.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“I want to remember this day,” she whispered. “But I also want to have so many good days that this one gets lost in the plethora. Cary, I want to make you so happy that all your happy memories run together. I want the rest of your life to be a bright gold streak.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“I want to remember this day, she whispered. But I also want to have so many good days that this one gets lost in the plethora.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“It’s just embarrassing. I kind of hate to tell you all this. I’d rather you remember me the way I was when we were young.”
“Manic and relentless?”
Shiloh kicked him in the ankle. She wasn’t wearing shoes. “Shiny and full of potential!”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“If she emptied her head in his lap, all that would fall out was his name.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Is that a tentative yes?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s more like a yes with an asterisk.”
“What’s the footnote?”
“It’s like ‘yes,’ asterisk, and then ‘Let the record show I think this is probably a bad idea.’”
He took her hand again. “But you still want . . . to be with me?”
“Cary,” she said, chastising him, “I always want that. I’m obviously in love with you.”
“Obviously?” She nodded her head.
His eyes were wide again. “Shiloh . . . will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Asterisk.”
Cary whispered, too: “Let the record show you think this is a bad idea.”
“Let the record show I’m terrified of losing you completely.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“When I think about the last 14 years and everything I’ve missed in your life, I feel like I squandered something precious. Like I was given something rare and valuable— a true blessing, an unearned gift— and all I had to do was hold on to it. And I let go. I worry that it shows my true measure. That I couldn’t be trusted to get Frodo to Mordor.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Cary hasn’t told me anything—he’s a gentleman. He won’t ever talk about you. But you’re no gentleman, Shiloh. Give me the goods.”
She shook her head. “There are no goods.”
Mikey tipped his head, squinting one eye. “Uhhh, maybe I’d believe that if I hadn’t seen you filming a romantic comedy at my own wedding reception. Like, seriously. It was my wedding, but you guys got voted Cutest Couple.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Shiloh had had big ideas about not letting the television raise her children. But then she’d actually had children. And then she’d gotten divorced. And now every day felt like something to get through alive. Something to try and stay awake for.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“I can't give you the past...but we could have a future”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Cary, back in her life again. A place in his life. Shiloh liked being an emergency contact. She just wanted contact. She wanted to pull those old warm feelings through the empty years and into the present. She wanted to repot them here and find them a nice sunny window.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“This wasn’t a problem Shiloh could solve at thirty-three. At nineteen, she didn’t have a chance.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“You want to have sex with me because I make you feel safe. That’s what you’re saying, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s kind of an insult, Shiloh.”
She looked shocked. “Why is that an insult? There’s nothing better than feeling safe. And probably nothing more rare.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Her mom smiled a little. ‘It won’t be easy with anyone – it may as well be “not easy” with someone you love.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“He looks like the mean teacher who ends up being on your side at the end.”
“That’s my thing,” Shiloh said.
“That’s your actual thing, on the inside,” Tom said, “but from the outside, you’re just a nice lady with interesting shoes.”
“Jesus Christ,” Shiloh said, “is that what it’s come to? Is that who I am?”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Shiloh made friends in school and at work, with people she was trapped with all the time anyway. The idea of making friends in the wild? Inconceivable. And completely unappealing.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“It won't be easy with anyone. It may as well be 'not easy' with someone you love.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“I want to start living and dying in the right direction.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“He was looking at her. ‘You’ve already got my sword, Shiloh. And my shoulder.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“It’s like I’ve already made a permanent home for you in my heart.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“I’m pretty sure my cells remember you, Shiloh.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Every time you tell me that we're going to have problems in the future, all I think about is how lucky I am to have a future with you.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Cary felt like he’d spent his whole life trying to close his arms around her and never quite succeeding…. Could he stop trying to have Shiloh- and just have her? Be with her. Plan around her. Know she was his, even from ten thousand miles away. Cary wanted to feel settled. He wanted to feel locked down. Shiloh was a light in the distance. She was an ache he’d been feeling since he was thirteen. An itch. She was a finger hooked into every torn seam, tugging- and Cary was made of torn seams. Just a poorly stitched human being. He’d only known how to want Shiloh, never how to have her. Could he just- Could he finally- relax?”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“One, I was an asshole in eleventh grade. Ask literally anyone…. Two is still that I was an asshole. I hadn’t given any serious thought to geopolitical realities. I was just talking big- and taking the stance that matched my outfits.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“She’d spent more years missing Cary than knowing him.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Shiloh -- today while I was waiting for a meeting to end, I was thinking that you always wait for me to ask how you're doing before you tell me.

You can just tell me. I want you to just tell me.

I can't see your face to know when you're feeling down or bothered. Just assume I want to know.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“Shiloh had no confidence in her ability to hold on to someone else’s heart.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“She liked old things and bright colors. She liked having too many throw pillows and too many coffee mugs. She liked rugs. And macramé wall hangings. She liked everything to be a little too much.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“(Almost no one in the world did anything right. Everyone’s hair was too long or too short. Everyone was too loud or too quiet. Nothing was the right color. Music was embarrassing. Movies were confusing. Shiloh hated it. She hated it all.)”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance

“She’d spent more years missing Cary than knowing him. All those years burnishing his memory with nostalgia. Cary.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Slow Dance