“Real life doesn’t have many happy endings. Why shouldn’t books make up the difference?”

“I've been an idiot to think that real life could have a happy ending”

“Life isn't a book. There's no guarantee of a happy ending.”

“That’s why love stories don’t have endings! They don’t have endings because love doesn’t end.”

“Hard-covered books break up friendships. You loan a hard covered book to a friend and when he doesn’t return it you get mad at him. It makes you mean and petty. But twenty-five cent books are different.”

“There's a serendipity to real life that the Internet can't duplicate. Do you use the library? For anything? Well, sometimes you end up picking up the book next to the one you were looking for, and it's that book that changes your life.”

“Life is boring. People are vengeful. Good things always end. We do so many things and we don’t know why, and if we do find out why, it’s decades later and knowing why doesn’t matter any more.”

“But there are not many players in the world who will make a real difference.”

“He knew that there was a difference between something that makes you happy and something that
doesn’t make you unhappy. The trick was convincing yourself these were one and the same.”

“Success on that scale don't make for happiness. Look at Asquith. Why does he drink? I wouldn't want you to end up a drunkard like that.”