Mr Salary Quotes

“My love for him felt so total and so annihilating that it was often impossible for me to see him clearly at all.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“It was in my nature to absorb large volumes of information during times of distress, like I could master the distress through intellectual dominance.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Nothing inside my body was trying to kill me. Death was, of course, the most ordinary thing that could happen, at some level I knew that. Still, I had stood there waiting to see the body in the river, ignoring the real living bodies all around me, as if death was more of a miracle than life was.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“We were predictable to each other, like two halves of the same brain.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“My love for him felt so total and so annihilating that it was often impossible for me to see him clearly at all. If he left my line of sight for more than a few seconds, I couldn’t even remember what his face looked like.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Emotionally, I saw myself as a smooth, hard little ball. He couldn’t get purchase on me. I just rolled away.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“These cells may look fairly normal, but they are not.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“They hated each other and I mediated their mutual hatred in a way that made me feel successfully feminine.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“When will we know if this was a bad idea or not? Should we already know? Because now it feels good”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Is that the coat I bought you? he said.
Yes. I wear it to remind me that you’re real.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“My love for him felt so total and so annihilating that it was often impossible for me to see him clearly at all. If he left my line of sight for more than a few seconds I couldn't even remember what his face looked like. I had read that infant animals formed attachments to inappropriate things sometimes, like falcons falling in love with their human breeders, or pandas with zookeepers, things like that. I once sent Nathan a list of articles about this phenomenon. Maybe I shouldn't have come to your christening, he replied.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“If I happened to meet the woman the following morning, I would discreetly inspect her for any physical resemblance to myself.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“How would you like it if I died?
I just want to know you love me, I said.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Death was, of course, the most ordinary thing that could happen, at some level I knew that. Still, I had stood there waiting to see the body in the river, ignoring the real living bodies all around me, as if death was more of a miracle than life was.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“He watched me at first but then looked away.
"Would it be a major bereavement for you if I died?" I said.
"The most major one I can think of, yeah."
"Nobody else would grieve.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Sometimes on the phone he was his old self: complaining about parking tickets, or calling Nathan sarcastic names like 'Mr. Salary'.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Yes. I wear it to remind me that you’re real.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Gradually, as the steam heat in the bathroom dissipated, a fine veil of goosebumps rose up over my skin, and in the mirror my reflection clarified and thinned until I could see my own pores.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“- Sometimes on the phone he was his old self: complaining about parking tickets, or calling Nathan sarcastic names like ‘Mr Salary’. They hated each other and I mediated their mutual hatred in a way that made me feel successfully feminine. Other times, Frank was replaced by a different man, a blank and somehow innocent person who repeated things meaninglessly and left protracted silences which I had to try and fill. I preferred the first one, who at least had a sense of humour.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Since Frank was diagnosed eight week previously, I had spent my free time amassing an encyclopaedic knowledge of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. There was practically nothing left about it that I didn`t know. I graduated way past the booklets they printed for sufferers and onto the hard medical texts, online discussion groups for oncologists, PDFs of recent peer-reviewed studies. I wasn`t under the impression that this made me a good daughter, or even that I was doing it out of concern for Frank. It was in my nature to absorbe large volumes of information during times of distress, like I could master the distress through intelectuall dominance.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“I stared at him. I felt my body begin to go cold, or perhaps hot. Something happened to the temperature of my body that didn't feel good.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Before he was diagnosed with leukaemia, I had been toying with describing Frank as an 'abusive father' when the subject came up at campus parties. I felt some guilt about that now. He was unpredictable, but I didn't cower in terror of him, and his attempts at manipulation, though heavy, were never effective. I wasn't vulnerable to them. Emotionally, I saw myself as a smooth, hard little ball. He couldn't get purchase on me. I just rolled away.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Whenever I saw her, she told me I was the apple of her son's eye, in those exact words. She had fastened on to this phrase, probably because it so lacked any sinister connotation. It would have been equally applicable to me if I had been Nathan's girlfriend or his daughter.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“At the time he worked for a start-up that developed 'behavioural software', which had something to do with feelings and consumer responsiveness. Nathan told me he only had to make people feel things: making them buy things came later in the process. At some point the company had been bought out by Google, and not they all made hilarious salaries and worked in a building with expensive hand dryers in the bathroom.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Sexually I'm very warm and generous, I told my friends. It's just the other stuff where the frigidity comes through.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Before he was diagnosed with leukaemia, I had been toying with
describing Frank as an ‘abusive father’ when the subject came up at
campus parties. I felt some guilt about that now. He was unpredictable,
but I didn’t cower in terror of him, and his attempts at manipulation,
though heavy, were never effective. I wasn’t vulnerable to them.
Emotionally, I saw myself as a smooth, hard little ball. He couldn’t get
purchase on me. I just rolled away.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“This is what human beings do with their lives, I thought.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“Emotionally, I saw myself as a smooth, hard little ball. He couldn't get purchase on me. I just rolled away.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary