Seven Perfect Things Quotes

“I just think it’s odd how we parse out our empathy,” he said. “Why we only have empathy for those who remind us most of ourselves. I’m not saying I don’t understand it. Sure, it’s easy to have empathy for someone who’s just like us. It comes naturally. I just think it’s a shame we can’t take it a bit further. I can’t help wondering what the world would be like if our empathy muscle were a bit more developed.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“No, the really tough bit is when you find yourself dropped on the other side, and you have to find a way for your life to go forward from there.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“I just think it’s odd how we parse out our empathy,” he said. “Why we only have empathy for those who remind us most of ourselves.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“They can’t just be in that moment of grief with you. They can’t just say, ‘Yeah, this is some pretty awful stuff.’ They have to try to fix it. They have to solve it for you in a couple of sentences, which is ridiculous, because it never solves anything.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“contradict”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“around in him. Waiting”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“No. He doesn’t hit her. He’s just so mean. I think he’s really unhappy, and he just sort of always has been, and I guess for some reason he figures it’s better if everybody around him is miserable, too. So he just always makes her feel bad about herself.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“It’s just . . . I have trouble with people like that. Like that woman who was just here. They come up to you in a time of grief, and they can’t seem to accept that it’s grief. They can’t just be in that moment of grief with you. They can’t just say, ‘Yeah, this is some pretty awful stuff.’ They have to try to fix it. They have to solve it for you in a couple of sentences, which is ridiculous, because it never solves anything. But they suggest something to get you out of what you’re feeling, or they find some reason why it’s all for the best. I don’t understand why people can’t just join you in your grief for a moment.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“I don’t think she meant any harm.” “I’m sure she didn’t. But people do plenty of harm when they didn’t mean any. It happens all the time.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“One of the problems you have to deal with, living with someone like that, is that they tend to gaslight you. Always making it your fault when they do something mean. Always making you feel like you don’t really see what you see. And like you’re wrong to feel what you feel. Feelings aren’t really right or wrong. They just are what they are. You’ve been living with him so long. You know him better than anybody. If you think you have reason to be scared of him, you probably do.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“Elliot opened the passenger door. He picked up the box and plunked it firmly on the warm hood of the truck. “What kind of person keeps their dogs on somebody else’s property?” He watched her face change. Watched all the fight drain out of her. It might have been a harsh thing to say, but he hadn’t meant to hurt or upset her. He had simply made an error. She had presented herself to him as invincible, and he had made the mistake of believing her. “I’m sorry,” she said, and for a second she looked as though she might cry. “I thought the place was abandoned. I didn’t expect anybody would notice or care.” “I guess we can pin that on me. I haven’t come up here in years.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“You’re selling your moose?” “I’m selling all of them.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“He had taken great pains to get her ready to be visited. He’d given her a careful sponge bath, and dressed her in her best blue nightgown. He had brushed her hair, though he had never once gotten it looking the way she had used to. Maybe because it was drier and more lifeless now, or maybe Elliot simply did not know how to make a woman’s hair look presentable. He saw her now through the volunteer’s eyes, which was unfortunate. He almost wanted to tell Julia, or show her in a photo, what Pat really looked like, minus the progression of the disease. Of course he didn’t. Because the only person it mattered to was him.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“You’re still here,” he said. He was squinting down at her. He didn’t seem particularly happy, but he wasn’t yelling. Nothing even close to it.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“But people do plenty of harm when they didn’t mean any. It happens all the time.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“The pure essence of their existence in the world was perfect. But”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“I can’t help wondering what the world would be like if our empathy muscle were a bit more developed.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“The grief made the simplest movements of life feel like more than he could bear, and he had no idea how long he would have to live this way.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“It had been fun, yes, and had provided a fleeting sense of happiness. Like a miniature vacation from the sorrow.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“of”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“Grown-ups have it over you in sheer day-to-day life experience. I’ll be the first to admit that we don’t know everything, but you at least have to be open to the idea that we might know a few things you don’t.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“untied the rope.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“The lock had been cut close to the lock body, leaving a nice loop of shank that held the door closed.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“Lecture kids on all the terrible things that could happen. Like they think it’s smart to imagine all the worst possible things that could happen and then make sure you imagine them right along with them. And I don’t get that at all, because good things could happen, too. So”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“It was a strange comfort, to simply trust her daughter to experience the world for herself. To learn on her own, instead of being force-fed lessons from jaded adults who thought they could predict the outcome of any situation.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“I shall die, but . . . that is all that I shall do for Death.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“But they suggest something to get you out of what you’re feeling, or they find some reason why it’s all for the best. I don’t understand why people can’t just join you in your grief for a moment.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“I have trouble with people like that. Like that woman who was just here. They come up to you in a time of grief, and they can’t seem to accept that it’s grief. They can’t just be in that moment of grief with you. They can’t just say, ‘Yeah, this is some pretty awful stuff.’ They have to try to fix it. They have to solve it for you in a couple of sentences, which is ridiculous,”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“One of the problems you have to deal with, living with someone like that, is that they tend to gaslight you. Always making it your fault when they do something mean. Always making you feel like you don’t really see what you see. And like you’re wrong to feel what you feel. Feelings aren’t really right or wrong. They just are what they are. You’ve been living with him so long. You know him better than anybody. If you think you have reason to be scared of him, you probably do. I would say you’d be better off believing your fear. Stop trying to argue with it.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things

“I have trouble with people like that. Like that woman who was just here. They come up to you in a time of grief, and they can’t seem to accept that it’s grief. They can’t just be in that moment of grief with you. They can’t just say, ‘Yeah, this is some pretty awful stuff.’ They have to try to fix it. They have to solve it for you in a couple of sentences, which is ridiculous, because it never solves anything. But they suggest something to get you out of what you’re feeling, or they find some reason why it’s all for the best. I don’t understand why people can’t just join you in your grief for a moment.”
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, Seven Perfect Things