How Not to Die Alone Quotes

“There’s nothing like a PowerPoint presentation to stamp out green shoots of happiness,”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“It was Andrew realized, not because of tension or nervousness, but purely because of the pulse of her heart, and suddenly he was gripped by possibility once again, that as long as there was that movement in someone, there was capacity to love and now his heart was beating faster and faster as if the power of the river were pushing blood through his veins, urging him to act. He felt Peggy stir, "So", she said, the faintest of tremors in her voice, "Quick question. With scones...do you go with jam or cream first?" Andrew considered the question. "I'm not sure it really matters..." He said. "Not in the grand scheme of things. " And then he leaned across, took Peggy's face in his hands, and kissed her.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“I’m actually on a diet anyway. It’s the one where you eat an entire wheel of brie and then have a bit of a cry. You know the one?”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“He dusted himself down, suddenly aware that people had seen him fall and were enjoying their dose of schadenfreude. He avoided eye contact and carried on, head down, hands thrust into his pockets. Gradually his embarrassment gave way to something else. It was in the aftermath of mishaps like this where he would feel it stir at his core and start to spread out, thick and cold, making it feel like he was walking through quicksand. There was nobody for him to share the story with. No one to help him laugh his way through it. Loneliness, however, was ever vigilant, always there to slow-clap his every stumble.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“A lie can only exist in opposition to the truth. And the truth was the only thing that could free him of his pain.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“The idea of people looking at me all sympathetic... I just can't deal with that."
"Yep. I hear you," Peggy said.
...
"I mean their hearts are in the right place but if you have not been through it then it's impossible to understand. It's like we're in the club or something.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“To see Peggy rushing toward him like that, for him to be needed, to be an active participant in someone else’s life, to think that maybe he was more than just a lump of carbon being slowly ushered toward an unvarnished coffin; the feeling was one of pure, almost painful happiness, like a desperate embrace squeezing air from his lungs, and it was then that the realization hit him: he might not know what the future held—pain and loneliness and fear might still yet grind him into dust—but simply feeling the possibility that things could change for him was a start, like feeling the first hint of warmth from kindling rubbed together, the first wisp of smoke.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“Ten years ago there had been a chance he might have considered a fresh start. Traveling, maybe, or a bold new career move. But these days just having to leave the house left him with an unspecific feeling of anxiety, so hiking to Machu Picchu or retraining as a lion tamer wasn’t exactly on the cards.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“I mean, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone did more to at least give people the option of finding company, to be able to connect with someone in a similar position, rather than this sort of inevitable isolation?”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“But there were moments - when he saw groups of friends sitting in neat, symmetrical rows on pub benches, or couples holding hands in the street, where he felt a wave of embarrassment that he [...] hadn't exchanged so much as a cup of tea with an acquaintance or a flirtatious smile with someone on a train in years - that he scared himself with how intense the feeling of longing was. Because maybe, actually, he did want to find people to be close to, to make friends and perhaps even find someone to spend the rest of his life with.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“for him to be needed, to be an active participant in someone else’s life, to think that maybe he was more than just a lump of carbon being slowly ushered toward an unvarnished coffin; the feeling was one of pure, almost painful happiness, like a desperate embrace squeezing air from his lungs, and it was then that the realization hit him: he might not know what the future held—pain and loneliness and fear might still yet grind him into dust—but simply feeling the possibility that things could”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“What a wonderful thing it is to look out over so many of you who have given up your time to be here today. None of us can be sure at the start of our lives just how they will end, or what our journey there will be like, but if we were to know for sure that our final moments would be in the company of good souls such as yourselves, we would surely be comforted.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“He stayed there, quiet now, feeling a pure and strangely joyful pain wash over him, knowing that as much as it hurt, it was something he had to accept, a winter before the spring, letting its ice freeze and fracture his heart before it could heal.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“Only you can change things. It has to come from you.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“Just then the quiet was broken as a group of women bustled in, all talking loudly over each other. Their boisterousness was entirely at odds with the subdued atmosphere, but they didn't seem at all embarrassed, as Andrew would have been, to be causing any sort of disruption. He got the sense that this was a regular fixture, a midweek tradition, perhaps: the way they all headed for a particular table without deliberation. Why is it that we find traditions comforting? he thoughts, stifling a belch. He looked at Peggy and was suddenly struck by the promise of asking her this incredibly profound question. Inevitably, it didn't sound quite so clever when he said it out loud.
"Hmm," Peggy said, not looking fazed, to Andrew's relief. "I suppose it's probably just because it's a moment in time where you know exactly what's about to happen, so there are no nasty surprises waiting for you. I dunno, maybe that's a bit of a pessimistic way of looking at it."
"No, I know what you mean," Andrew said. He pictured Sally looking at the calendar, realizing it was time for their quarterly call. Maybe there was some solace, some comfort, in the regularity of their interaction. "I suppose it's about having a balance," he said. "You need to keep making new traditions, otherwise you start to resent the old ones.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“more than just a lump of carbon being slowly ushered toward an unvarnished coffin; the”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“ It wouldn't be make-believe, if you believed me ”
― Richard Roper, Something to Live for

“ It wouldn't be make believe, if you believed me ”
― Richard Roper, Something to Live for

“Sempre desejei partir
Para onde não faltam fontes
Para campos sem gelo áspero em montes
E onde há lírios a florir

Poema Heaven-Haven, de Gerard Manley Hopkins”
― Richard Roper, Something to Live for

“- Há uma música - disse ele. - É uma das minhas preferidas. Mas há um momento, mesmo no fim, que é perturbador, e volumoso, e, de certa maneira, chocante, ainda que eu já esteja à espera. Por isso, quando estou a ouvir a música, por mais que a esteja a apreciar, é sempre estragada pelo facto de saber que chegará aquele final horrível. No entanto, não há nada que possa fazer quanto a isso, pois não? Então, de certa maneira, é como o que dizias antes, sobre as pessoas que ficam confortáveis com a ideia de irem morrer: se eu conseguisse aceitar a chegada do final, então poderia concentrar-me no prazer que me dá ouvir o resto da música.”
― Richard Roper, Something to Live for

“- A maioria das pessoas não quer pensar nisso, não é? - disse Peggy. - Acho que é compreensível. Mas depois a alguns de nós a morte está sempre a pairar-nos na mente. Penso que essa é a única verdadeira explicação para o motivo por que certas pessoas fazem coisas tão estúpidas e impulsivas.”
― Richard Roper, Something to Live for

“A verdade - e ele não achava que Peggy beneficiasse necessariamente de ele lho contar no primeiro dia de trabalho - era que lhe fez ver que todos os que morriam sozinhos tinham a sua própria versão daquela poltrona. Por mais mundana que fosse o resto da sua existência. E não conseguia simplesmente aguentar a ideia de não terem lá alguém com eles no fim, para reconhecer que foram pessoas que sofreram e amaram e e tudo o mais.”
― Richard Roper, Something to Live for

“Cameron was continuing to give a disproportionately large shit about these stupid dinner parties.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone

“When he entered the hallway the smell of damp hit him even harder than usual. And there were the familiar scuff marks on the corridor walls and the intermittent, milky yellow of the faulty strip light. He trudged up the stairs, his wet shoes squeaking with each step, and slid the second key around on his key ring. He reached up to right the wonky number 2 on the door and went inside, met, as he had been for the last twenty years, by nothing but silence.”
― Richard Roper, How Not to Die Alone