The Return Quotes

“You can't erase your past when there are pieces of it scattered inside other people.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“My problems aren't invalid. Not to me. Just because they aren't life altering, life-threatening, doesn't mean they don't make me feel bad. I wake up with them every morning, carry them around all day like a lead backpack, and I fall asleep with them at night. They're real, and they're mine. I know I'm lucky. I know that. But it doesn't change how I feel.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“But friendships are mercurial. They're shape-shifters. I've learned to allow them to fluctuate and take new forms. I love my friends; that's all that matters.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“There are many reasons why bad things happen to young women, and at the same time, no reason at all.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“If men aren't teased, their egos get too big. We did society a favor.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“Honestly, I don't care what the future looks like, however wonderful or mediocre or disastrous. I just want it.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“I don't even remember who brought it up. It might have been Julie. Sometimes when we're all together, I get confused about who is who. Where one of us stops and the others start. We overlap, bleed together.
I love it.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“He introduced me to want, the gateway drug. He introduced me to my body. Made me unafraid of it. I fell in love with him, with mornings making coffee in his small Chelsea apartment, days in plush bathrobes talking books and philosophy, going out to dinner at the best hole-in-the-wall spots (he knew them all) and taking long walks over the Brooklyn Bridge at night, eating truck ice cream on the waterfront. Kissing with rainbow sprinkles in our teeth.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“That's what intimacy is, I think. That's love. Knowing the smell of someone else's head.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“Believe it or not, I'm good on my own."
"I believe it."
"If I come home to dishes in the sink, they're my dishes. I watch TV, it's whatever I want. I go wherever I want, do whatever I want. I've got a lot going on. I'm not some sad lonely sad sack out there. I've got a good life.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“I want to spread this moment on a cracker and eat it.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“It was her coping mechanism - tying ribbons over open wounds.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“Hello?" I ask the lions, with immediate regret. What if they answer me?”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“It starts, and we’re quiet for a while. Engrossed. Julie and I first watched this movie our freshman year, drunk after a bad party at a frat house. We huddled on the couch in our common room under layers of blankets. We shared a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream. We stayed up until five a.m., talking about what a good movie it was and whether or not we’d ever date a widower. We theorized about the true weight of baggage in relationships we weren’t mature enough to have or experienced enough to understand. As I watch the movie again with her now, there’s a phantom taste of mint in my mouth.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“The trees stood around like sullen overlords, dense and dark and ancient.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“Acadia.” They had planned to go there together someday; that was why she picked it. She thought if she told him she was going alone to a place they were supposed to go to together, he’d get the hint that something was off. But he didn’t. “You need gear?” he asked. That was when she realized what she really wanted was for him to stop her from going. To say, “No, stay. Hang out with me. Be with me.” She was lonely. Her mother was dead; her sister was a crackpot. Her three best friends were scattered across the country. None of them was married. None of them would understand. Molly judged her for getting married in the first place. Didn’t approve. Mae was too nice, too afraid to step on anyone’s toes. It was impossible to get a genuine response from her. The one person who could give her honest advice was embroiled in an epically stupid affair. She had no advice to give. She was in the position only to receive.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“She loved Tristan. He was gorgeous and made her laugh and was good to her. Checked all the boxes. He was the polar opposite of her in so many ways, it was fascinating. Initially. She couldn’t tell if she loved him but wasn’t in love with him or was in love with him but didn’t love him. She knew something was missing. Something had gone wrong. And her getting so worked up about the wrappers was just a symptom of a deeper problem.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“The more you love someone, the more you make yourself vulnerable to them, and it’s easier for them to hurt you. Because you care so much, and because their love will inevitably fall short of your love. Your love is too big. And then, when it doesn’t measure up, you’re hurt. And that hurt turns to hate. To love someone is to hate them, a little bit. We hate everyone we really love.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“My problems aren’t invalid. Not to me. Just because they aren’t life altering, life-threatening, doesn’t mean they don’t make me feel bad. I wake up with them every morning, carry them around all day like a lead backpack, and I fall asleep with them at night.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“It’s funny, the selective memory we have when it comes to the people we love. I”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“You can’t erase your past when there are pieces of it scattered inside other people.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“this,”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“If I come home to dishes in the sink, they're my dishes. I watch TV, it's whatever I want. I go wherever I want, do whatever I want. I've got a lot going on. I'm not some sad lonely sad sack out there. I've got a good life.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“Sometimes when we’re all together, I get confused about who is who. Where one of us stops and the others start. We overlap, bleed together. I love”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“I want to spread this moment on a cracker and eat it’s”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return