The Answer Is No Quotes

“Being smart is the worst thing one can be in modern society. All it ever means is more work.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“This is a very provoking thing to the world. Because people aren’t supposed to be happy, they’re only supposed to want to be happy, because how otherwise are you supposed to be able to sell things to them?”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Love isn’t powerful enough. But spite? Spite can change the world.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Love is not to never fight. Love is always making up.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“More than anything people are supposed to pretend to be happy on the internet so that other people are reminded of how unhappy they themselves are by comparison.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“If you ask people what they think, they start thinking, and that’s how wars start.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“He’s just happy. It wasn’t even particularly difficult. All he did was to remove the one thing that makes almost all people unhappy: other people. Whatever they want, the answer is no.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“I’m . . . no expert. But I think most people who want to be happy try to add things to their lives. But really what maybe they should be doing is taking something away.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Absolutely zero people go to therapy because yesterday they were sitting in a comfortable chair, eating a perfect pizza, drinking a good glass of red wine, watching a really funny movie. So that’s how Lucas lives, all the time.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Because the doctors and nurses understand very well that all the modern pills and treatments are surely great, but sometimes what people really need most of all is a prescription for a break.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“You’re fortunate, Lucas. You view loneliness as taking people away. But for most of us, loneliness is just adding more loneliness.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“He works well in groups as long as it’s groups of fewer than two people.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Don’t look on the internet for someone who is exactly like you. Look for someone who isn’t. Love is not to never fight. Love is always making up.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Therefore, to avoid your neighbors, you have to make yourself uninteresting, but not too uninteresting, because that makes you interesting.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“I usually keep my peanuts next to a jar of peanut butter, so they understand what I’m capable of!”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“what people really need most of all is a prescription for a break.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Because a funny thing about rule-loving people is that to them it seems more important to impose punishment than it is to actually solve problems, and a funny thing about rule-breaking people is that they seem to find breaking rules a lot easier to do if someone else has broken them first.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“. . .but sometimes what people really need most of all is a prescription for a break.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Any middle manager on the planet could of course have told him that this is a terrible decision, because the truth about problems is that the problem itself is never actually the problem. It’s always the people involved who are the problem.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“One day you’re a happy, whole person, and the next day you’re forced into the most horrible thing on earth: making decisions.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“cruelest form of interpersonal terrorism: small talk.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“By observing these married couples through his window on Sundays, Lucas has noticed that they often consist of a monkey and a bird, and they have decided to go for a nice stroll together. But the monkey can’t fly, so the bird has to walk. And after a while the monkey gets very annoyed with the bird, because the bird walks so very slowly. So then the bird suggests that maybe it can fly above the monkey instead? And then the monkey gets very, very hurt and says: “Oh! Excuse me then for wanting us to do something together!”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“But then again, Lucas has never loved a cat, so what does he really know about life?”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“It’s really hard to find good cult members these days, Lucas. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“And do you, dear reader, happen to know what the reason for all this therapy is? That we have company. Absolutely zero people go to therapy because yesterday they were sitting in a comfortable chair, eating a perfect pizza, drinking a good glass of red wine, watching a really funny movie.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Best to be like dill, Lucas has concluded. Not like basil, the most anxious and ingratiating herb, but also not like cilantro, that conflict-seeking lunatic. Be dill. Nobody cares about dill.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“Therefore, to avoid your neighbors, you have to make yourself uninteresting, but not too uninteresting, because that makes you interesting. You have to position yourself somewhere right between “What a great guy!” and “He seems . . . weird.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“If you want to see normal people turn into power-hungry dictators in five minutes, all you have to do is say the magic words: “We’d love to hear your suggestions!” If you ask people what they think, they start thinking, and that’s how wars start.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“This is when Lucas does something very, very stupid: he tries to be constructive and solve the problem. Any middle manager on the planet could of course have told him that this is a terrible decision, because the truth about problems is that the problem itself is never actually the problem. It’s always the people involved who are the problem. But unfortunately there are no middle managers around. So”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

“It’s . . . unbelievable. You never forget how it feels. Sometimes I think that children should be teenagers first, and become small afterwards, because it’s unbearable for parents to get used to the fact that they don’t jump anymore.”
― Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No