The Quarterback Quotes

“It’s hard to live in this world, son,” the old man said. “Some days are harder than others. But they even out, in the end. Eventually.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Sometimes a year changed a man in ways that couldn’t be measured in hours and days and weeks. Sometimes a year became the cornerstone of a life.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Why did no one ever love him back? Why was it so easy for people to leave him? What was wrong with him that made everyone walk away, go back to their own lives, and leave him behind?”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Of course, Colton was one boy among dozens on each of his teams, and the only way to get attention was to stand out. Be goofy. Be good, damn good, at sports. Be anything except himself. People left when he was himself.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“The man I love is hurting because of you.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Fuck, he’d opened himself all the way for Nick, given Nick everything he was. Showed him all the parts and pieces that made up his soul. He’d wanted Nick to know him like no one else ever had, not his mom, not Wes, not anyone. He’d wanted Nick to like him—no, to love him. To love what he saw when Colton showed him his carefully concealed heart, cradled in the palms of his hands.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Now he was nothing but pieces, the same broken jigsaw puzzle he’d always been, kicked over and scattered by other people. Pieces lost. Pieces broken. Pieces thrown away. Didn’t you know this was how it was going to end? It always ends like this. People leave when you’re yourself.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Dude, no one wears plaid shorts anymore! Not even the frat boys from Kappa Kappa Psi!”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Don’t apologize for falling in love,” Justin said after a long moment. “Love happens, whether you want it to or not.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“I want to be your quarterback. I want a million nights like this. I want you to always smile at me exactly the way you are right now.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Vineyards spilled over the surrounding hillsides, extending for miles in all directions. The sun was shining, turning the bunches of grapes on the vines into clusters of fat rubies and black diamonds.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“If you loved me, I’d never make you regret it. I’d never give you a reason to wish we hadn’t met. If you loved me, I’d never let you drink to try to forget us.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“I’m not gay, but if the right guy comes along…”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“I’m not gay, but twenty bucks is twenty bucks. I’m not gay, but I was drunk.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“about growing with someone: you gotta make sure you keep your hearts beating together and that you really know each other. It’s too damn easy to go spinning off on your own and leave each other behind.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Your hearts didn’t beat together. That’s the hardest damn thing”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“You could sell Jesus to the pope.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“It’s not. It’s never now or never. Things always change.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Should I be your whole world?”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“us. It’s one of the things I love about him, how awesome of a father he is—”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“I want you to show everyone that no one in this world tells you who you are.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Stupid. You’re so stupid. How’d you fall for him? Stop wanting a man. That was like trying to hold his hands up to the sky and push falling raindrops back into soaked thunderheads.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“Your hearts didn’t beat together. That’s the hardest damn thing about growing with someone: you gotta make sure you keep your hearts beating together and that you really know each other. It’s too damn easy to go spinning off on your own and leave each other behind.”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback

“What was better? Suffering in silence and hardening your heart against the world? Or owning what you wanted, what you needed?”
― Tal Bauer, The Quarterback