Fredrik Gustavsson Quotes

The pain of being near her and knowing that I can't give in to my feelings for her, is the worst kind of pain I've ever felt. ~ J.A. Redmerski

Because love is the greatest scam of all time. And because as much as I fucking love you, I hate you for inflicting it upon me! ~ J.A. Redmerski

The cat gives him a judgemental stare ,as if it's sitting on the decision-making side if the desk at a job interview. ~ Fredrik Backman

He loves white cables. And white telephones. And white computer monitors with fruit on the back. ~ Fredrik Backman

Elsa learned all about LPs and CDs that afternoon. That was when she worked out why old people seem to have so much free time, because in the olden days until Spotify came along they must have used up almost all their time just changing the track. She ~ Fredrik Backman

Everything seems obvious in hindsight! ~ Fredrik Backman

But you have to be a good friend to the kids who haven't got any friends. And you have to defend the ones who are weaker. Even when it's hard, even when you think it's a nuisance, even when you're scared. You always have to be a good friend. One day you're going to be the best. And then the coach will make you team captain. And then you will have to remember that a great deal is expected of anyone who's been given a lot. ~ Fredrik Backman

Rune, made Anita "doolally in ~ Fredrik Backman

Anxiety. It's such a peculiar thing. Almost everyone knows what it feels like, yet none of us can describe it. Maya looks at herself in the mirror, wonders why it can't be seen on the outside. Not even on x-rays - how does that work? How can something that bangs away at us so horribly hard on the inside not show up on the pictures as black scars, scorched into our skeletons? How can the pain she feels not be visible in the mirror? ~ Fredrik Backman

... and I thought about your hands. You've always touched the things you like as though they had a pulse. ~ Fredrik Backman

One of the plainest truths about both towns and individuals is that they usually don't turn into what we tell them to be, but what they are told they are. ~ Fredrik Backman

All adults have days when we feel completely drained. When we no longer know quite what we spend so much time fighting for, when reality and everyday worries overwhelm us and we wonder how much longer we're going to be able to carry on. The wonderful thing is that we can all live through far more days like that without breaking than we think. The terrible thing is that we never know exactly how many. ~ Fredrik Backman

Ove stomped forward. The cat stood up. Ove stopped. They stood there measuring up to each other for a few moments, like two potential troublemakers in a small-town bar. Ove considered throwing one of his clogs at it. The cat looked as if it regretted not bringing its own clogs to lob back. ~ Fredrik Backman

That's all this is about. We want you to be better than us. Because if our kids don't grow up to be better than us, then what's the point of all this? We want you to be kinder, smarter, more humble, more generous, and more selfless than we are ~ Fredrik Backman

And then it goes as with all anger attacks. They don't just consist of one anger, but of many. A long series of angers, flung into a volcano in one's breast until it erupts. ~ Fredrik Backman

Anita is small and colourless in her grey trousers, grey knitted cardigan, grey hair and grey skin. But ove notices that her face is slightly red-eyed and swollen. Quickly she wipes her eyes and blinks away the pain. As women of that generation do. As if they stood in the doorway every morning, determinedly driving sorrow out of the house with a broom. ~ Fredrik Backman

Being a mother can be like drying out the foundations of a house or mending a roof: it takes time, sweat, and money, and once it's done everything looks exactly the same as it did before. It's not the sort of thing anyone gives you praise for. ~ Fredrik Backman

It's hard to help those who don't want to help themselves."
"Someone who wants to help himself is possibly not the one who most needs help from others," Elsa objects. ~ Fredrik Backman

And being special is the best way of being different. ~ Fredrik Backman

The three-year-old looked as if she was ready to try to hug the cat. The cat looked as if it was ready to pick out the three-year-old from a lineup at a police station. Ove ~ Fredrik Backman

If you have a dad who supports Liverpool you always fucking think you can turn anything around. You know! Ever since that Champions League final. ~ Fredrik Backman

No, she lies. Because she's polite enough to know that if someone gives you a book, you owe that person the pretense that you haven't read it. ~ Fredrik Backman

I didn't want you to remember this day because of the scarf. So I thought instead you could remember it as the day your Granny broke into a zoo - " "And escaped from a hospital," Elsa says with a grin. "And escaped from a hospital," says Granny with a grin. "And threw turds at the police." "Actually, it was soil! Or mainly soil, anyway." "Changing memories is a good superpower, I suppose." Granny shrugs. "If you can't get rid of the bad, you have to top it up with more goody stuff. ~ Fredrik Backman

We love winners, even though they're very rarely particularly likeable people. They're almost always obsessive and selfish and inconsiderate. That doesn't matter. We forgive them. We like them while they're winning. ~ Fredrik Backman

Today's date, the eighteenth of May, should sometime become an occasion of great international celebration, for on this day ten years ago the first Peace Conference opened at The Hague. ~ Fredrik Bajer

She's fifteen, above the age of consent, and he's seventeen, but he's still "the boy" in every conversation. She's "the young woman".

Words are not small things. ~ Fredrik Backman

You can always be absolutely certain of one thing when it comes to power, Peter: no one who gets their hands on it ever lets go of it voluntarily. ~ Fredrik Backman

She taught him to read and bake saffron buns and pour coffee without the pot dribbling, and when her hands started to shake the boy taught himself to pour half cups so she wouldn't spill any, because she was always ashamed when she did and he never let her feel ashamed in front of him. ~ Fredrik Backman

Many of them have insanely weird clothes, as if they've been playing outfit roulette with someone who can't read washing instruction tags. ~ Fredrik Backman

If you hate the one who hates, you could risk becoming like the one you hate. ~ Fredrik Backman

If you can't depend on someone being on time, you shouldn't trust them with anything more important either. ~ Fredrik Backman

The only thing the sport gives us are moments. But what the hell is life, Peter, apart from moments? ~ Fredrik Backman

You don't have to support Liverpool from the day you're born, Coach. You can learn to do it when you're grown up. ~ Fredrik Backman

Only different people change the world," Granny used to say. "No one normal has ever changed a crapping thing. ~ Fredrik Backman

Lack of respect is like sparks in a summer forest; if you don't trample them out at once, the fire spreads until you find yourself surrounded. ~ Fredrik Backman

Culture. [...] That most people don't do what we tell them to do. They do what they can get away with. ~ Fredrik Backman