Great Throughts Treasury

"Why would she do that? Jason loves her, I can see it, they?re happy. I can?t believe she would do that to him, he doesn?t deserve that. I feel a real sense of disappointment, I feel as though I have been cheated. A familiar ache fills my chest. I have felt this way before. On a larger scale, to a more intense degree, of course, but I remember the quality of the pain. You don?t forget it."

"Writing an important email to a colleague at the office in New York, or a carefully worded break-up message to his girlfriend."

"Whenever I became a desire to oblivion whenever you become less able it."

"Where is it written that it is always good to heed what the heart dictates you?"

"Who?s to say that once I run, I?ll find that isn?t enough? Who?s to say I won?t end up feeling exactly the way I do right now - not safe, but stifled? Maybe I?ll want to run again, and again, and eventually I?ll end up back by those old tracks, because there?s nowhere left to go. Maybe. Maybe not. You have to take the risk, don?t you?"

"Who was it said that following your heart is a good thing? It is pure egotism, a selfishness to conquer all."

"You lied to me, I say. You told me everything was my fault. You made me believe that I was worthless. You watched me suffer,"

"Yesterday ? sensible, clear-headed, right-thinking ? I decided I must accept that my part in this story was over. But my better angels lost again, defeated by drink, by the person I am when I drink. Drunk Rachel sees no consequences, she is either excessively expansive and optimistic or wrapped up in hate."

"You have to be true to yourself, don't you? That's all I'm doing, being true to my real self."

"You?re like one of those dogs, the unwanted ones that have been mistreated all their lives. You can kick them and kick them, but they?ll still come back to you, cringing and wagging their tails. Begging. Hoping that this time it?ll be different, that this time they?ll do something right and you?ll love them."

"You can?t step directly into a cold stream of water, it?s too shocking, too brutal, but if you get there gradually, you hardly notice it; it?s like boiling a frog in reverse."

"You?re not some grieving, lost child any longer. You?re a completely different person. You?re stronger. You?re an adult now. You don?t have to be afraid of being alone. It?s not the worst thing, is it?"