Never Thought I'd End Up Here Quotes

“You remind me of the greatest sculptors, who can turn marble into the impression of billowing silk, the coldest stone into something soft. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that everything you touch turns beautiful. The world becomes beautiful, as long as there's you.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“The world becomes beautiful, as long as there's you.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“And my heart swells at the silly, simple human fact that when we stumble upon something beautiful, our first instinct is to show it to the people we love.

It’s what we do with pretty seashells on a beach, a radiant sunset, a rare bird flitting through the trees, a heard of wild horses grazing in the countryside.

“Look,” we say, saving these little pieces of beauty for each other, “Do you see it too? Isn’t the world such a strange, lovely, breathtaking place?”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“I bought ten horses.

The horse has fruits.

I have a horse in my sink.

The horse is suspicious of my mother.

My mother is a horse.

The horse is my mother.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“When joy arrives, it catches me off guard. It sneaks up slowly through my rib cage like poppies pushing through soil after the rain, and then it’s there, everywhere, warmth beating in my chest, spreading down to my fingertips as I sink back in the sunlight.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“His smile feels like a warning, but it's not the kind that precedes a prank. It's too sincere, his voice dropping low as he says, "I'll keep being your enemy, if that's what you'd prefer." His eyes drop down too, drifting to my lips with such weight and intent that I can almost feel the ghost brush of his gaze. "I can be whatever you want me to be.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“I can promise to never bring this up again. But I meant it when I said that I can be whatever you want me to be: whether that’s an enemy for you to curse and hold a grudge against for the rest of your life; a friend you can trust to accompany you anywhere and drive you safely back home, the one you can call at any hour of the night and tell all your secrets to; or the person you fall for, who will always wear a jacket so you don’t have to bring yours, who will be the first to find you when you’re lost and alone, who will remind you how heart-wrenchingly, unfathomably beautiful you are even on days when you don’t feel it.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“I really enjoy the implication that the horse poses an obstacle to sink ownership, and that the mother can only have ten sinks, eleven would just be too many.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“In the event that I do die in the middle of the night, I beg of you to not react by jumping up and down around my corpse," Cyrus says flatly.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“Why not? It’s very easy to fall in love with you, Leah. The easiest thing in the world.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“The only thing I ask is that we don’t ever become strangers, because I really—” He breaks off. Clenches his jaw, fighting against some ineffable emotion. “I don’t think I could bear it, Leah. I don’t think my heart would be able to survive it.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“You stare at your own face long enough and you'll inevitably find something to hate about it.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“And? Do I live up to your fantasy?"
Cyrus shakes his head. "No fantasy could ever live up to you," he whispers. "Nothing can compare to how it feels to look up and see you there. Even though I thought of you every day after you left, my imagination has proven to be painfully inadequate when it comes to the sound of your laughter, or how your brows furrow when you're focused, or the way you steady yourself before entering a room. And you're going to make fun of me for saying it, but part of me is worried," he says, dropping his gaze to the white glimmer of water, "that this is just a spell. This whole trip has been so strange and wonderful and unexpected ... It's like there's magic here, and I can't stop myself from worrying that when we leave this place, the magic will disappear for you, and none of it will be real anymore.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“There’s never been anybody else for me. There never will be.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“Leah. You remind me of the greatest sculptors, who can turn marble into the impression of billowing silk, the coldest stone into something soft. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that everything you touch turns beautiful. The world becomes beautiful, as long as there’s you.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“I always feel better when I look better.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“It's just that im not very loud and open about the things I love, I can't be sure of what i love in the first place. But complimenting others is another story. It's so much easier to see their strengths, to speak about them sincerely, to say the things i'd be to shy to tell them out loud”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“Anlian (暗恋)," he says.
"An (暗) for 'darkness.' Lian (恋) for 'love'.
I always thought it was poetic — that when you secretly have feelings for someone,
you love them in the darkness. But there's this other word.
Minglian (明恋). Ming (明) for —

"Light," I finish for him.

"So it's not anlian (暗恋)," he says,

... I don't love you in the darkness; I love you in the light.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“But all I have to do is look out at the sky, that deep, lovely, endless blue, and remember that no matter where I end up, joy will never be too far out of reach.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“I could love him anywhere, in any city, any season.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“The landscape flows around the creature like a poem, and I'm stunned by how readily my heart makes room for beauty, even at a time like this.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“He pauses. "You must be tired."
"What?"
"When you're tired," he says, "you forget to hate me."
"I forget to hate you a lot of the time," I whisper.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“Well, I'm sorry there are no giant neon arrows pointing to my head here, but it's a forest, Cyrus," I say, exasperated. "Its main characteristic is that it has trees."
"Describe—the rock—then ... Be specific..."
"Describe the rock?" My brows furrow as I turn toward it. If the situation weren't so dire, I'd think he was playing a prank on me. "It's pretty square, as far as rocks go. About the size of Prada's straw tote bag from last season. When you stare at it from a certain angle, the surface looks shockingly like the face of a sloth."
It's hard to tell if the heavy static crackling through the phone is from the patchy reception, or just from him sighing. "Please never—get lost again."
"I have no plans to," I reassure him. "But, like, what am I supposed to do now? Describe more rocks to you?"
"Stay there. I'll come find you—" And then the line breaks.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“Allergic."
My mouth drops open.
"To flowers? Seriously? But they're, like, the symbol of romance."
"Which allergies are famously known to care about.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“We know each other very well," Cyrus answers just as quickly.
"If by very well you mean that I have dreamed of murdering you," I mutter.
Cyrus's gaze flits to my face. Lingers an extra beat. "So you've dreamed of me?”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“Traveling on the same tight schedule to the same pretty places might have bred the illusion of intimacy and comradery, but that can't change the age-old curse: The more people know about me, the less they like me.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“You have to believe that there are people who will genuinely like you, and care about you, and worry over you when something's wrong.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“I wasn’t good enough at the one thing I am good at.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“I wasn’t food enough at the only thing I’m good at.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here

“When I agreed to the trip, all I’d wanted was to run away: from the threat of the future, from everyone who expected something more from me, from the grave in my backyard where my potential had been buried, from the sadness that had leaked through my bedroom walls.”
― Ann Liang, Never Thought I'd End Up Here