The Half-Life of Love Quotes

“You know, you don’t have to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend you’re okay when you’re not. It’s okay to be sad.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“Maybe he’s right. Maybe that’s all any of us can do – find the beauty and soak it up. And enjoy it while we can.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“The wreckage has cleared, and I can see now that living means savoring the good moments. Being able to appreciate the beauty, despite all the pain.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“You’ve had twelve more years than my sister had, and what have you done with them?
What would you tell her, Flint?

I’d tell her to let her family have as much of her time as she can give them. Go to the zoo, and the beach, and every museum within a hundred-mile radius if that’s what they want, just to be in the car with them.
I’d tell her to soak up whatever spots of joy she can. To slow down and savor that gorgeous sunset, a long hug, a warm blanket, her favourite food. To let in that old friend and all the good memories that come with them.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“In my experience, I’ve found that pretending to be okay is harder than just letting yourself wallow in it.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“As I stand there on the Half-Life Institute’s steps, I think about the other half-life – how long it takes for a chemical element to decrease to half of its original amount. Sometimes it takes less than a microsecond, sometimes it takes trillions of years, but eventually that last atom decays.
But with people?
No matter how much time passes, there’s always something left of that person in you.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“Go be a sister, I say to her in my mind. Take her for ice cream dates, just the two of you. Bicker over what your parents let one of you do that the other can’t. Sit with her after a fight a fight with a friend or a rough day at school. Hold hands in the waiting room when one of your parents is in surgery. Savor the moments where you get lost in something together – a project, a game, making pancakes, a road trip.
Go be a sister.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“You sure? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I just need a minute to be human.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“But when you’re older, death still hurts, but you can weather it a little better.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“Grief can last a long time for some people, like a constant ache, and other people manage to get through whole days or weeks before a memory knocks them down. Before a moment comes when they turn to say something but find the air beside them empty.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“So many people torture themselves about last words. What they said, what they didn’t say. You have to trust that the sum of all your moments with them outweighs the last words you said to them. Hardly anyone gets a perfect goodbye.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“It’s funny, how the things most people put on their bucket lists don’t guarantee joy. They’re not the memories that stand out in your mind when you look back on it all. Sometimes the smallest things are the things you remember the most.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I don’t know that grieving always means crying.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I think the worst thing about losing someone is in the little moments, when your mind is on autopilot, and, just for a split second, you forget.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“What have you loved? What stands out in your mind as can’t miss Life Attractions?”
“I’m not sure. When people make those bucket lists online, they focus on big, flashy things, like going to the top of the Eiffel Tower or swimming with dolphins or whatever. They’re doing those for Instagram, though, or because they think it’s what they’re supposed to want. I guess they do sound impressive when you say them out loud to other people. But everything I remember as being the best moments of my life has been so…small. Like…running through the sprinklers with my best friend on summer break, getting grass stuck all over my wet feet. The first time my baby sister smiled at a silly face I made. My first real Eureka moment in the biochem lab.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I’d kiss you every minute for the rest of time if I could.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“You okay over there? You’ve gone all still.”
“Yeah, fine. I just think I might be a little in love with your best friend.”
“I think maybe more than a little.”
“Yeah. Shit.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“For someone who hasn’t lived here very long, she sure seems like the queen of the joint.”
“Well, our girl is sparkling, isn’t she?”
“Radiant.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I think people can handle more than you might expect of them.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“Flint? You know when you said it was okay for me to be sad sometimes? Maybe it’s okay not to be sad sometimes too?”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“It’s like… I love my friends. But do you ever feel like other people just don’t get it? Like nothing truly bad’s every happened to them, and they don’t seem to notice that every second of every day is another moment that’s gone forever?
“All the time.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I’m afraid if I let her out of my sight, I’ll never see anything as rich and bright and real ever again.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I can’t press pause on falling for you, even if you won’t be
there to catch me five days from now.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“It’s quieter than I thought it would be, falling apart.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I’ve been touch starved for so long, I think I’m addicted to the way she moves when she’s around me, how we knock together in time and space.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“It’s like … I love my friends,” I say quietly, carefully. “But do you ever feel like other people just don’t get it? Like nothing truly bad’s ever happened to them, and they don’t seem to notice that every second of every day is another moment that’s gone forever?”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“None of it makes any sense to me. This girl is a freaky, genius-level kind of smart. She’ll probably be voted Most Likely to Win the Nobel Prize in her yearbook. If I still went to school, I’d be voted Most Likely to Depress
People.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“Life is just one small piece of light between two eternal
darknesses.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“I want to be more than alive. I want to live.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t say the G-word. So many people torture themselves about last words. What they said, what they didn’t say. You have to trust that the sum of all your moments with them outweighs the last words you said to them. Hardly anyone gets a perfect goodbye.”
― Brianna Bourne, The Half-Life of Love