241 Quotes by Hanya Yanagihara

He had understood the wisdom of this, and still did, but really, the self was what they all craved, because the more you acted, the further and further you drifted from who you thought you were, and the harder and harder it was to find your way back.

Everyone thought they would be friends for decades, forever. But for most people, of course, that hadn't happened. As you got older, you realized that the qualities you valued in the people you slept with or dated weren't necessarily the ones you wanted to live with, or be with, or plod through your days with. If you were smart, and if you were lucky, you learned this and accepted this. You figured out what was most important to you and you looked for it, and you learned to be realistic.

They have been having sex for eighteen months now (he realizes he has to make himself stop counting, as if his sexual life is a prison term, and he is working toward its completion).

He had never done it before, and so he had no real understanding of how slow, and sad, and difficult it was to end a friendship.

I don’t think the reader needs protecting. If you guide the reader steadily, they’ll follow you.

If I were a different kind of person, I might say this whole incident is a metaphor for life in general: things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.

If I were a different kind of person, I might say this whole incident is a metaphor for life in general: things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully. (Harold Stein)

..didn't everyone only tell their lives - truly tell their lives - to one person?

It's a good story,' he said. He even grinned at me. 'I'll tell you.''Please,' I said.And then he did.