Everyone wanted to be rich and beautiful, but the truly rich and beautiful had to pretend they were just the same as everyone else.
Liane MoriartyIf parents had children who were good sleepers, they assumed this was due to their good parenting, not good luck.
Liane MoriartyGoogle is my best friend and my worst enemy. It's fabulous for research, but then it becomes addictive. I'll have a character eating an orange, and next thing I'm Googling types of oranges, I'm visiting chat rooms about oranges, I'm learning the history of the orange.
Liane MoriartyYouโve been here before. It wonโt kill you. It feels like you canโt breathe, but you actually are breathing. It feels like youโll never stop crying, but you actually will.
Liane MoriartyPerhaps nothing was ever โmeant to be.โ There was just life, and right now, and doing your best. Being a bit โbendy.
Liane MoriartyThey say it's good to let your grudges go, but I don't know, I'm quite fond of my grudge. I tend it like a little pet.
Liane MoriartyMarriage was a form of insanity; love hovering permanently on the edge of aggravation.
Liane MoriartyThe medication, the hormones and the relentless frustrations of our lives make us bitchy and you're not allowed to be bitchy in public or people won't like you.
Liane MoriartyIt was like she was thinking, How far can I go with this? How much more can I fit in my life without losing control?
Liane MoriartyThen he kissed her so deeply and so completely that she felt like she was falling, floating, spiraling down, down, down, like Alice in Wonderland.
Liane MoriartyThey would think she was savoring the taste (blueberries, cinnamon, cream-excellent), but she was actually savoring the whole morning, trying to catch it, pin it down, keep it safe before all those precious moments became yet another memory.
Liane MoriartyWe'd traveled, we'd been to lots of parties, lots of movies and concerts, we'd slept in. We'd done all those things that people with children seem to miss so passionately. We didn't want those things anymore. We wanted a baby.
Liane MoriartyNone 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 MoriartyAll these years there had been a Tupperware container of bad language in her head, and now she opened it and all those crisp, crunchy words were fresh and lovely, ready to be used.
Liane MoriartyEarly love is exciting and exhilarating. It's light and bubbly. Anyone can love like that. But after three children, after a separation and a near-divorce, after you've hurt each other and forgiven each other, bored each other and surprised each other, after you've seen the worst and the best-- well, that sort of love is ineffable. It deserves its own word.
Liane MoriartyWhy did she give up wine for Lent? Polly was more sensible. She had given up strawberry jam. Cecilia had never seen Polly show more than a passing interest in strawberry jam, although now, of course, she was always catching her standing at the open fridge, staring at it longingly. The power of denial.
Liane MoriartyThere were worse things to be than sexist. For example, you could be the sort of person who pinched your fingers together while using the words โteeny weeny.
Liane MoriartyHe got Alice, the way we did, or maybe even more so than us. He made her more confident, funnier, smarter. He brought out all the things that were there already and let her be fully herself, so she seemed to shine with this inner light.
Liane MoriartyShe didnโt understand a damned thing about life except that it was arbitrary and cruel, and some people got away with murder while others made one tiny, careless mistake and paid a terrible price.
Liane MoriartyNobody ever told you that being a mother is all about making what seemed like thousands of tiny decisions.
Liane MoriartyA red traffic light loomed, and Cecilia slammed her foot on the brake. The fact that Polly no longer wanted a pirate party was breathtakingly insignificant in comparison to that poor man (thirty!) crashing to the ground for the freedom that Cecilia took for granted, but right now, she couldnโt pause to honor his memory, because a last-minute change of party theme was unacceptable. Thatโs what happened when you had freedom. You lost your mind over a pirate party.
Liane MoriartyI see lots of differences between Australians and Americans - but as mothers, I think were pretty much alike!
Liane MoriartyWhat if I was! Thatโs 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?
Liane MoriartyThey could fall in love with fresh, new people, or they could have the courage and humility to tear off some essential layer of themselves and reveal to each other a whole new level of otherness, a level far beyond what sort of music they liked. It seemed to her everyone had too much self-protective pride to truly strip down to their souls in front of their long-term partners. It was easier to pretend there was nothing more to know, to fall into an easygoing companionship. It was almost embarrassing to
Liane MoriartySo now I just assume that it won't work, and that if it does work, I'll lose it anyway. This is meant to protect me, although it doesn't, because somehow the hope sneakily finds its way in. I'm never aware of the hope until it's gone, whooshed away like a rug pulled from under my feet, each time I hear another "I'm sorry.
Liane Moriarty