The Hopefuls Quotes

“When a friendship ends, people don't always give it the same amount of thought that they do relationships ... most of the time, friendships end in a different way - slowly, and without declarations. Usually people don't really notice until a friend has been gone for a while and then they just say they grew apart, or their lives became too different.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“I hated that the Metro was carpeted, and that it was so far underground—you felt like a mole by the time you got down the escalator—and I hated that you had to swipe your card to get in and out of the station. I hated that you couldn’t eat or drink on the train, and I especially hated that everyone obeyed the rule, like they were afraid they’d be arrested for sipping a cup of Starbucks on their morning commute.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“It wasn’t that I didn’t understand it, this jealousy, because I did. It’s just that it was hard sometimes to watch a group of grown people act like seventh graders trying to sit next to the coolest kid at the lunch table. Honestly, it just made you feel sad because you always thought people would outgrow this, thought that adulthood would be different. And it wasn’t.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“And like most big families, they were loud and secretly thought they were funnier and a little more special than everyone else.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“If jobs could be taken away so easily, maybe it wasn’t worth investing so much of yourself into them…”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“There are fall days in October that are so beautiful they take your breath away. The sky is blue and the sun is strong and the air is finally the tiniest bit crisp. Most of the East Coast is already bundled up in their winter coats, but we get to appreciate the last of the sunshine.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“You can see it on their faces as they walk down the street. You can spot the new people from the way they smile at the monuments, how they stare at the White House as they pass outside the gates, feeling thrilled and thinking, I’m here, I’ve made it. That’s what I see, mostly, when I walk around now, which is for the best, because it’s not easy to stay annoyed in the face of so much optimism. It’s hard to ignore that much hope.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“... the way we race ahead, like if we changed enough things in our life, everything would be fine…”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Here's what I still hate about DC: the way that nothing is permanent, the feeling that everything and everyone you know, could (and does) wash away every four or eight years. All of these important people, so ingrained in the city - you can't imagine that this place could exist without them. But one day they're gone and everything keeps moving just the same.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“If a televised hug could affect an election, weren’t we all just really screwed?”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“For him, kindness was a reflex, and I envied that.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“And then there’s the way that people come here, earnest and full of dreams, believing that they can make a difference. That’s the thing about DC—people are always leaving but that makes space for the new transplants, the crowds that keep flooding in, full of energy and wonder.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“When, I wondered, did every pregnant person get together and decide that Mama was the appropriate term to use? Why did having a baby turn these people into hillbillies?”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“We all laughed, but what I really felt was a sense of claustrophobia, something that had been happening more and more. It was like the city was getting smaller the longer we were there. It was incestuous, the way everyone knew everything about people.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“I didn’t know then that this was just part of DC, that everyone was always looking ahead to the next step, peeking around to see what other people were doing, calculating the next move.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“We could pretend this town was ours, but really it was just on loan.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“You can imagine anything to be fun in retrospect- look at all those people who long for high school.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“I wondered if people ever blamed the end of friendships on geographical differences, the divides that come from being born in different areas, culture clash.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Maybe I just wanted things to stay the same for a little while longer. But mostly, I think, sometimes it’s just really hard to be happy for other people.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“There is nothing like being around a negative person to make you determined to be positive.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Let’s give thanks that we have two legs and two arms to spin, and that we live in the greatest country in the world!”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Here’s what I still hate about DC: the way that nothing is permanent, the feeling that everything and everyone you know, could (and does) wash away every four or eight years. All of these important people, so ingrained in the city—you can’t imagine that this place could exist without them. But one day they’re gone and everything keeps moving just the same. Who can get their footing in a place like this? It feels like quicksand to me.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“What if he was only pleasant and kind when everything was working out for him, when good things were easily coming his way?”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“sometimes I wondered if the whole point of their friendship was just to post these images, to prove to the world that they had a bunch of pretty friends.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“So, yeah, Matt told me about his aspirations right after we met. But my high school boyfriend wanted to be a rapper, and turned out to be an accountant, so I don’t think I can be blamed for not taking it all too seriously.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“My parents thought that I was smart and talented—they believed it with all their hearts. They just didn’t need me to be the most special person out there.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Republicans like Fox News and NASCAR and Democrats like MSNBC and Starbucks.” “Simple as that?” I asked, and he said, “Absolutely.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“I’d get off the train at Penn Station, breathe in the smell of urine, popcorn, and dirt, and feel like I was coming home.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls