Home > Work > Love Story (Love Story, #1)
1 " And then I did what I had never done in his presence, much less in his arms. I cried. "
― Erich Segal , Love Story (Love Story, #1)
2 " The pain of not knowing what to do was exceeded only by that of knowing what I had done. "
3 " What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? "
4 " I wanted to keep looking at her because I wanted to never take my eyes from her, but still I had tolower my eyes, I was so ashamed that even now Jenny was reading my mind so perfectly.'Listen, that's the only goddamn thing I'm asking, Ollie. Otherwise, I know you'll be okay.' That thing in my gut was stirring again, so I was afraid to even speak the word 'okay.' I justlooked mutely at Jenny. "
5 " There was a brief silence. I think I heard snow falling. "
6 " Love means never having to say you're sorry. "
7 " I was afraid of being rejected, yes. I was also afraid of being accepted for the wrong reasons. "
8 " Her handwriting was curious small sharp little letters with no capitals (who did she think she was, e. e. cummings?). "
9 " Please, if one of us cries, let both of us cry. But preferably neither of us. "
10 " What the hell makes you smart?" I asked."I wouldn't go for coffee with you.""Listen - I wouldn't ask you.""That," she replied, "is what makes you stupid. "
11 " Now would you do me a favor?' From somewhere inside me came this devastating assault to make me cry. But I withstood. I would not cry. I would merely indicate to Jennifer - by the affirmative nodding of my head - that I would be happy to do her any favor whatsoever.'Would you please hold me very tight?' she asked.I put my hand on her forearm - Christ, so thin - and gave it a little squeeze.'No, Oliver,' she said, 'really hold me. Next to me.'I was very, very careful - of the tubes and things - as I got onto the bed with her and put my arms around her.'Thanks, Ollie.'Those were her last words. "
12 " What the hell makes you so smart?" I asked. "I wouldn't go for coffee with you, " she answered. "Listen -- I wouldn't ask you." "That, "she replied "is what makes you stupid. "
13 " He had then warned his daughter not to violate the Eleventh Commandment."Which one is that?" I asked her."Do not bullshit thy father," she said. "
14 " You don't know about falling off cliffs, Preppie,' she said. 'You never fell off one in your goddamn life.''Yeah,' I said, recovering the power of speech. 'When I met you. "
15 " What term do you employ when you speak of your progenitor?"I answered with the term I'd always wanted to employ."Sonovabitch.""To his face?" she asked."I never see his face.""He wears a mask?""In a way, yes. Of stone. Of absolute stone. "
16 " Jenny, if you're so convinced I'm a loser, why did you bulldoze me into buying you coffee?'She looked me straight in the eye and smiled.'I like your body,' she said. "
17 " Either way I don't come first, which for some stupid reason bothers hell out of me, having grown up with the notion that I always had to be number one. Family heritage, don't you know? "
18 " I think the Peace Corps is a fine thing, don't you?" he said."Well," I replied, "it's certainly better than War Corps. "
19 " I began to think about God. I mean, the notion of a Supreme Being existing somewhere began to creep into my private thoughts. Not because I wanted to strike Him on the face, to punch Him out for what He was about to do to me - to Jenny, that is. No, the kind of religious thoughts I had were just the opposite. Like, when I woke up in the morning and Jenny was there. Still there. I'm sorry, embarrassed even, but I hoped there was a God I could say thank you to. "
20 " But what does he do to qualify as a sonovabitch?” Jenny asked.“Make me”, I replied.“Beg pardon?”“Make me”, I repeated.Her eyes widened like saucers. “You mean like incest?” she asked.“Don’t give me your family problems, Jen. I have enough of my own.”“Like what, Oliver?” she asked, “like just what is it he makes you do?”“The ‘right things’”, I said. “What’s wrong with the ‘right things’?” she asked, delighting in the apparent paradox. "