Home > Author > Allison Larkin
1 " We checked ourselves in the mirror before we left. We were flushed and a little rumpled, but in a good way. We looked vibrant, wild, happy. The hair and the clothes and the makeup made me feel like someone new, but the happy is what made me unrecognizable. "
― Allison Larkin , Why Can't I Be You
2 " If someone changes so much that they're barely the same person, who are you even missing? "
― Allison Larkin , The People We Keep
3 " We have people we get to keep, who won’t ever let us go. And that’s the most important part. "
4 " You're the gift that came from two broken people. They were weak, and hurt, and cowardly, and somehow managed to make this miracle girl who is so full of piss and vinegar that she survived it all. "
5 " We all have our weepy wine nights,” he says. “It’s what makes us human. "
6 " The best way to keep your heart from getting broken is not to get your hopes up in the first place. "
7 " It's hard to look at it like that, isn't it? Because if you can be a better parent than the ones you had, you have to face the fact that your parents had that choice too. If you're not fated to be an awful parent, they weren't either. And," I said feeling my throat tighten, "it's easier to believe that we're all just [f*'d] than it is to know there are choices." I rubbed my hands together to try to get my fingers to warm up. "It hurts less to think they couldn't have done any better than they did, doesn't it? "
8 " It's easy to fall in love with someone when you need them, but that doesn't make it real or right. "
9 " I want to believe there will still be newness in the world for me. That it's not all faded and dusty. "
10 " You gotta learn the ropes. And if you know the ropes, it's your job to teach them. "
11 " It's so weird, the way that even the most ordinary looking people can hide things. "
12 " I wonder if maybe all you do is meet people & lose them & your smile fades the further you go because you have to carry the space they leave. Maybe it all turns to old pictures on a bookshelf, engaged rings, memories of sticking stars to a ceiling & maybe the space gets bigger & heavier every year. "
13 " It’s a mayflower,” she tells me. “It’s the good stuff that comes after too many storms. "
14 " I think maybe everyone is scared to be alone,” I tell her. “Maybe when you get down to it, that’s why everybody does everything. Maybe all we’re doing is trying to be less alone. "
15 " I say that it's amazing how much you can miss people you only got to be with for one tiny perfect bit of time; how a place where you barely got to live can be the closest thing you've ever had to home. "
16 " I like him. I swear, I do. But it’s hard to like someone. It’s a job that’s never quite finished. "
17 " Sometimes when an opportunity is in front of you, you’re so busy asking if you’re good enough for the challenge, you forget to ask if it’s good enough for you "
18 " My well of worry for you goes all the way to the core of the Earth, girlie. "
19 " I love about bar people. We have to put on a show all the time for everyone else, and when the crowd isn’t around, we don’t ask too many questions or expect big answers. It’s just good chatter. People like Arnie are the best kind of break. "
20 " Justin looks so defeated. It’s real hurt that his dad won’t pay for him to have fun. I can’t imagine his world. He probably can’t imagine mine either. But I do understand feeling stuck and misunderstood. "
