Jaclyn Moriarty Quotes

My father, I never knew, except for this one time when he threw a ball and told me to go fetch it.
"Dad," I said. "Am I a dog?"
"Lydia," he said. "I apologize. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I hate those TV shows where characters talk about one thing, such as their patient on the operation table (let's say they're a doctor), then you realize they're actually talking about actually talking about themselves. The patient's open-heart surgery is nothing compared to their own messed-up heart or whatever. It's selfish. And means they're not concentrating, which is medical negligence. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Her skin is pale as watermelon sucked free of its juices. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

If you're looking pretty and your hair's all shiny, and there's a glint in your eye, and you say sorry like you mean it, and then kiss me on the mouth and let your hand kind of slip under my shirt so it's on my back, well, I'd sure forgive and forget. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Well, first you have to be very, very funny. I have realized that it is essential for a boy to be funny. Otherwise, what is the point in a boy? ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

The world is made of more than particles. It's made of things you can't hold in your hand, like fear, love, loss, hope, truth. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Bindy Mackenzie talks like a horse. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I am a student of love. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

It's a lot easier to be crazy or mad than to just get on with living. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Who knows if all our brains are inventing the same thing? I mean, how do we know that the thing YOUR eyes see and call "red" is the same thing that I call "red"? ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

People always tell me I shouldn't run so far because I'm too young and my bones will fall to pieces. But I do it anyway-mainly because I love the bit when you finish and get to stop running. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

You've loved with intensity and passion, and have learned to hide your heartache, learned to press your handkerchief back into your pocket and pretend that you are okay. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

3:12 pm
Secretly, I admit, I find many of my classmates annoying. I've often thought to myself, 'Good grief, these people are five-year-olds. Why must I spend my days among them?' But have I ever said such things aloud? No. I have been nothing but generous to them, and kept these thoughts to myself.
And how have they repaid me? Have they been grateful or kind? Ho NO! ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I am grateful to you for the rest of my life. And when I say "you," I mean every part of you, including your mind and your smile and your giggle and the mad look you get in your eyes sometimes. If you don't believe that your words have got into my soul, take a look at the painting which I took to the art show (it's called The Puppy and the Pyramid, which is what you might call a clue). But if I don't get to kiss you fairly soon, Lyd, I won't have a soul left to speak of. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Dear Amelia,
I hear there are giant jellyfish in the Arctic,
tentacles longer than train carriages.
Haystacks fly over cities in whirlwinds, and fish frogs and turtles rain on towns.
There are spaces of perfect nothing that they call black holes.
Nothing's impossible- that's what you think I'm trying to say.
But I'm not.
There are things that are impossible - unimaginable even- and here they are: That I broke you.
Betrayed you.
Said I'd given up on you. Sent you flying to a park in a thunderstorm.
That I've been wrong about you all along- saw something in your face each time you faded to your past, when the opposite was true.
That all this time you've been lost and that I won't get a second chance to find you.
Amelia your name is a song. It's a name you can't say without smiling or crying, without casting both shadows and light. But there are too many places to hide or get lost in a name like Amelia.
So this is me shouting that name. They say nobody ever escapes from a black hole. They don't know the strength in my Amelia. The strength in your grip when you want to stay out dancing- the strength in your wicked smile.

Riley ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

P.S. I will give you a clue about the person I'm interested in. She gets a very cute dimple in her right cheek when she's trying not to smile. She has a very cute way of pronouncing th, and she wears a cute hat on cold days, which is like a French beret. I once had an appointment with her to Gaze into the Girl's Eyes, which she went and cancelled on me, and I've been waiting all term for a chance to Kiss the Girl. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

When she got back from taking Cassie to school Fancy knew that she ought to be working on her wilderness romance. She had promised thirty thousand words to her editor by tomorrow, and she had only written eleven. Specifically:
His rhinoceros smelled like a poppadom: sweaty, salty, strange and strong.
Her editor would cut that line. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

P.P.S. AND YOU CAN TALK. "Just say the word." JUST SAY THE WORD? What kind of expression is that? WHAT WORD WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SAY ANYWAY? MORON?
Letter from Emily to Charles. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I was still seeing pirates in my old way, as almost-imaginary, adventure-story people with parrots on their shoulders, rather than the kind who shoot cannons at parents. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Mrs. Cheerson, our old teacher? She gave us an essay to write over the holiday. It was on To Kill a Mockingbird, which I read and it was good, and I think it's stupid to spoil a good book by writing an essay on it. So I didn't do it. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Ah, even sitting here on my front porch, looking out over the fields, there's a part of me aches to see him walking. To conjure him out of the sunlight in the distance. The shape of my dad, I can almost see it, crossing the field toward me. Come to put his arm around me, reach out an arm to my mother as well, and I'll close my eyes and just breathe. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

You're making me nervous by being so weird.
But your weirdness is what I like about you. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

This is what I want you all to do. I want you to open a new document and type up a list of three problems in your life. Not the universe's life - your own. Underneath, type the solutions."
"If we know the solutions," said Belle, "they're not problems."
"Exactly," said Denny. "You do know the answers to most of your problems. Somewhere deep inside, you know. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I was just peeling some potatoes for dinner and they all looked like crisp white potatoes until I cut them in half. Every single one had a rotten, gray core. [ ... ] I feel like the whole world is black, rotting, and evil. Even when it looks crisp on the outside, that's a lie, because you can't trust anything - on the inside it's nothing like mold. [ ... ] So, see, nothing good is ever going to happen, and anyone who says it is, is lying to you. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Her parents were going to a conference for the weekend. The conference was called "Lawyers are Lovely, Great and Superb: so Why Does Everyone Think that They are Liars, Greedy and Scum?" and Mr Thomson was doing a speech called "Ten Tips to Make Lawyers as Popular as Doctors. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Where was she now, the girl with the thunderstorm heart? ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

It's a vicious cycle. It's like a washing machine with the lid jammed down. -Christina Kratovac (pg 53)
~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Having read several prize-winning novels, Fancy was confident that she now knew the recipe:
1. Write a simple narrative.
2. Make a long list.
3. Scatter the contents of your list throughout your narrative. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

And if we can change things that have already happened if those planes can fly in uneasy formation if that splinter moon can blow away the shadows then anything, anything at all. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

She's always getting into trouble because she gets bored really really easily. [ ... ]
My mum says it's because Celia has an attention span the size of a sesame seed.
Celia's mum says it's because Celia's identity is unfurling itself slowly, like a tulip bud, and it's a breathtakingly beautiful thing to see. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I never saw anything like it. He was like the bit in the movie where Tom Cruise is a lawyer and he's decided he's really going to win this case, for the sake of justice and the American way, and that? And it's suddenly like bang-bang-bang - grabbing files off shelves and slamming them down on the desk and punching numbers in the telephone and shaking out the phone cord dramatically , and you know, snapping out instructions to all the assistants around the desk, like: "Get me all the phone records of the President of the United States for the last fifty years," and "Get me the names of every client who ever ate a banana," and "Let's get some Chinese take-out up here, on the double! ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

There was plenty of green light left in that orange light Em. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

It's tricky being shy. You blame yourself for it, and other people blame you too. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Here come the colours of Madeleine, thought Jack, and the colours went right through his bloodstream now, sailing on tiny boats - spinnakers fixed with little toothpicks. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

And she looks at me with her eyes open wide and a face that says: Oh my God, I'm muckin' around in my sexy Jesus-boots, in my crazy dreamworld, and I've opened the door and let you in on my crazy dreamworld and that's so embarrassing but, actually, who cares? because it's funny. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Emily said ... Well, I read that it's important to sleep. While you sleep, the hippopotamus in your brain replays things that happend during the day, e.g. what you studied. So therefore it remembers it for you. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

t was beautiful, being there with Elliott. It was like there was nothing except him and me. I remember his palms, his chest, his chin, but it was like we were more than just our bodies. As if our essence was there in the darkness. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Are you sure you want me to go after Christina? Lately I've kind of thought I might just give up on that. Plus, didn't you and I need to gaze into each other's eyes first? How will I know how to gaze at Christina? And my pebble kicking? Disaster. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

How about we meet at midnight tomorrow and try this. I close my eyes, believe in you, and there you'll be. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

And then something happened. It was a fragment of time, a breath of time. It was like being in a car in pouring rain and driving under an overpass, and for just that second there is a profound, powerful sense of reprieve- the utter silence of non-rain. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

We needed fish, really, but I could not speak Fish. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Sure, we sparkled and glittered and flew through the world, but it was only an illusion of flight. We were trapped in the orbit of a man who was no longer truly there. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Madeleine Tully turned fourteen yesterday, but today she did not turn anything. Oh, wait. She turned a page. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I hope you feel better today. Please ring me at work if you are dead. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

There was something in the moonlight tonight. It was stroking the stonework and spires, leaning into cracks between the cobblestones, caressing the stained-glass windows. She felt her heart lift with magic. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Emily: YOU CAN'T SPEAK AND TYPE AT THE SAME TIME, BINDY!
Bindy: Watch me. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Distance is the journey. Displacement is the result. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I'm screwed up, mixed up, messed around, dive-bombing, crashing and burning. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I saw your name in lights last night. It's the middle of the night, and I can't sleep, thinking all my trumpeting thoughts, and I get out of bed, open the curtains, and look into the night full of stars, and you know what I saw? Your name. Like the stars joined up and spelled the word for me. Like a sign. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Dear Complete and Utter Stranger,
The first thing that I have to say is that I hate oatmeal. I really hate it. And you know what? If you like oatmeal at all? I mean even the tiniest bit? I mean, say you were lost in the Himalayas, right, and you hadn't eaten anything except a Mars Bar for about seven years, right, and you're really cold and your fingers are all dropping off, right, and you look behind this rock, and there's this bowl of oatmeal?
Say you would even think about eating the oatmeal?
Well, JUST DON'T BOTHER WRITING TO ME, OKAY? ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

I think I know you absolutely. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Do you think there could be a universe next door? ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

She left behind her giant M, she's not getting my cabinet
-Toby ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

Where are they now? she thought. Her iPod, her iPhone, her iPad, the I-ness of her life? Her mind stretched around in its memories, searching for her things: She saw her phone on the hotel bedside table in Paris; her iPad in her Louis Vuitton urban satchel; her iPod slipping from her pocket in the restaurant, the night before she ran away. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

A choice had to be made when your husband said something unkind. Specifically: be cruel, be strong, or sulk. 'Be cruel' by saying an unkind thing back. 'Be strong' by choosing not to mind. But to do this, you have to use up a piece of your love. You have to shave off enough of the love to forgive. After a while, the piece might grow back, but sometimes not. And if you shave off all the soft curves, you'll be left with a sharp-edged love. 'Sulk' by sulking. Sulking is simply delaying the choice to be cruel or strong. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty

She accumulates stuff to insulate herself from the world, ~ Liane Moriarty

They were still out on the sidewalk of West Eighty-sixth Street, the taxi pulling way, when Louise put down her travel bag, raised both arms and declared herself in love with New York City. 'It's exactly as I imagined it!' She let her arms fall and looked out at the street, at the honking, halting parade of cars, headlights bright in the dusking air. She turned to Cora with glistening eyes. 'I've always known it, my whole life. This is where I'm meant to be. ~ Laura Moriarty

It's intimidating to try and pull your home together if you don't have an interior designer. ~ Jaclyn Smith

I've been a fortunate girl: I grew up in a family that loved me from day one. I feel well grounded and lucky from that. So everything else is a bonus, because I grew up in this family that I adored, and adored me, and I think when you have that, you are already ahead of the game in the sense of how you feel about yourself. ~ Jaclyn Smith

Br>
'Yes, OK, but so what if I was!' Interrupted Jane. 'What if I was! That's my point. What if I was a bit overweight and not especially pretty? Why is that so terrible? So disgusting? Why is that the end of the world?'
Madeline found herself without words. To be fat and ugly actually would be the end of the world for her.
'It's because A woman's entire self-worth rests on her looks,' said Jane. 'That's why. it's because we live in a beauty-obsessed society where the most important thing a women can do is make herself attractive to men.
. ~ Liane Moriarty

I want gunshots and canned laughter and dog food commercials. Nothing seems too tragic when the television is blaring. ~ Liane Moriarty

God, I'm hungry. Have you tried the 5:2 diet? This is my fast day. I am dying of starvation. ~ Liane Moriarty

Did she have to go to parties on her own again now? She remembered that raw sensation she'd felt after previous relationships had ended. For months afterward, it had felt like she'd lost a layer of skin. If she'd felt like that after those meaningless boys, what would she feel like after breaking with Nick? She'd been so cozy in the cocoon of their relationship. She assumed she got to stay there forever. ~ Liane Moriarty

That's what's so embarrassing about all this. Each time I sobbed for a lost baby, it was like sobbing over the end of a relationship when I'd never even gone out with the guy. My babies weren't babies. They were just microscopic clusters of cells that weren't ever going to be anything else. they were just my own desperate hopes. Dream babies. And people have to give up on dreams. ~ Liane Moriarty

A slut is someone, usually a woman, who's stepped outside of the very narrow lane that good girls are supposed to stay within. Sluts are loud. We're messy. We don't behave. In fact, the original definition of "slut" meant "untidy woman." But since we live in a world that relies on women to be tidy in all ways, to be quiet and obedient and agreeable and available (but never aggressive), those of us who color outside of the lines get called sluts. And that word is meant to keep us in line. ~ Jaclyn Friedman

Frances longed to Google it. How was she going to cope for ten days without instant answers to idle questions? ~ Liane Moriarty

Bonnie and her mum are both members of Amnesty International," said Abigail.
"Of course they are," murmured Madeline. This must be how Jennifer Aniston feels, thought Madeline, whenever she hears about Angelina and Brad adopting another orphan or two. ~ Liane Moriarty

Would there be that subtle one-upmanship like there was between mothers? "It's so stressful having a gifted child." What would be the equivalent for a prison wife? "It's such a strain when your husband is a model prisoner! The others are constantly beating him up! ~ Liane Moriarty

My point is that things become weird and pointless if you examine them for too long. ~ Liane Moriarty

She was busy thinking about the concept of forgiveness. It was such a lovely, generous idea when it wasn't linked to something awful that needed forgiving. ~ Liane Moriarty

If you didn't suspect you had social anxiety, you wouldn't bother doing the quiz; you'd be too busy chatting with the receptionist. ~ Liane Moriarty

For someone who didn't want children, Erika had a wealth of parenting expertise she felt obliged to share. You ~ Liane Moriarty

It was so strange to be in a state of intense conflict with a person she barely knew. ~ Liane Moriarty

Marriage to Perry meant she was always ready to justify her actions, constantly monitoring what she'd just said or done, while simultaneously feeling defensive about the defensiveness, her thoughts and feelings twisting into impenetrable knots, so that sometimes, like right now, sitting in a room with normal people, all the things she couldn't say rose in her throat and for a moment she couldn't breathe. ~ Liane Moriarty

The children had become wriggly and giggly, almost as if they were drunk. They seemed unable to sit still. They were sliding of their chairs, constantly knocking cutlery onto the floor, and talking in high-pitched voices over the top of one another. Alice didn't know if this was normal behavior or not. It wasn't exactly relaxing. Nick had his jaw clenched, as if this dinner were a horrible medical procedure he had to endure. ~ Liane Moriarty

Only an idiot guesses or reasons or deduces,' the Professor said, patiently. ~ Kim Newman

I made mistakes. I let other people influence me and make decisions, sometimes without my knowledge. ~ Cathy Moriarty

I remembered going to confession to a great priest, Father Moriarty of South William Street. I told him, "I shot a man, Father." "Did you think you were doing right? Had you no qualms about it?" he asked me. I told him I didn't have any qualms, I thought I was doing right, and he said, "Carry on with the good work," and gave me absolution. ~ Tim Pat Coogan

The family crest of none other than Professor James Moriarty." The very name filled me with fear, and my trousers with something that was certainly not fear. ~ Robert Thomas

To someone who grows up by the stockyards, that smell just smells like air. You don't know what a younger person might someday think of you, and whatever stench we still breathe in without noticing. ~ Laura Moriarty

Did one act define who you were forever? ~ Liane Moriarty

I was just average, I'm afraid. Too dreamy. After school, ~ Liane Moriarty

She has that euphoric feeling you get at the airport after you've checked in your luggage. Nothing can stop your journey. ~ Liane Moriarty

There is no special protection when you cross that invisible line from your ordinary life to that parallel world where tragedies happen. It happens just like this. You don't become someone else. You're still exactly the same. Everything around you still smells and looks and feels exactly the same. ~ Liane Moriarty

None of us ever know all the possible courses our lives could have and maybe should have taken. It's probably just as well. Some secrets are meant to stay secret forever. Just ask Pandora. ~ Liane Moriarty

My horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration at his skill. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle

Someone needs to give the Pope thirteen babies. Just for a week or so. See how he likes no birth control then. ~ Laura Moriarty

Pandora. Zeus sends her off to marry Epimetheus, a not especially bright man she's never even met, along with a mysterious covered jar. Nobody tells Pandora a word about the jar. Nobody tells her not to open the jar. Naturally, she opens the jar. ~ Liane Moriarty

Women are like the Olympic athletes of grudges. ~ Liane Moriarty

If anyone uses the words 'marvelous imagery' or 'narrative arc,' slap them for me. ~ Liane Moriarty

There was no point saying, You mustn't feel responsible. Of course she felt responsible. Denying her regret would be like denying her loss. ~ Liane Moriarty

We should Google it. Don't sneer at me. ~ Liane Moriarty

missions. A moment later she heard the sound of the television start up. The clever little thing had worked out how to use the remote control. 'Not till August,' said Lauren. 'We've got lots to sort out. Visas and so on. We'll have to find an apartment, a nanny for Jacob.' A nanny for Jacob. 'Job for me.' Rob sounded a little nervous. 'Oh, yes, darling,' said Rachel. She did try to take her son seriously. She really did. 'A job for you. In real estate, do you think?' 'Not sure yet,' said Rob. 'We'll have to see. I might end up being a house husband.' 'So sorry I never taught him how to cook,' said Rachel to Lauren, not especially sorry. Rachel had never been much interested in cooking or that good at it; it was just another chore that had to be done, like the laundry. The way people went on these days about cooking. 'That's okay,' beamed Lauren. 'We'll probably eat out a lot in New York. The city that never sleeps, ~ Liane Moriarty

I was the first actress who branded her own line at a time when everyone just lent their name to a product. Everyone said I shouldn't do it, but it was probably the best thing I've ever done. ~ Jaclyn Smith

As long as I'm an hour away from a major airport, I can get to that job. ~ Michael Moriarty

It's easy to think the minefield wasn't that bad once you're safely watching other people get blown up. ~ Liane Moriarty

How horrible it was to be despised. To feel yourself to be despicable. ~ Liane Moriarty

When I saw Paul Scofield do 'Love's Labor's Lost at Stratford,' that's when I saw the potential of the level of truth that could go on up there on a stage. I said, 'This is what I want to do.' ~ Michael Moriarty

Clementine learned to feel bad about her white middle-class privilege long before it became fashionable. ~ Liane Moriarty

You'll be fine, said Jane, giving ~ Liane Moriarty