Rainbow Rowell Quotes

“I don't like you, Park," she said, sounding for a second like she actually meant it. "I..." - her voice nearly disappeared - "think I live for you."
He closed his eyes and pressed his head back into his pillow.
"I don't think I even breathe when we're not together," she whispered. "Which means, when I see you on Monday morning, it's been like sixty hours since I've taken a breath. That's probably why I'm so crabby, and why I snap at you. All I do when we're apart is think about you, and all I do when we're together is panic. Because every second feels so important. And because I'm so out of control, I can't help myself. I'm not even mine anymore, I'm yours, and what if you decide that you don't want me? How could you want me like I want you?"
He was quiet. He wanted everything she'd just said to be the last thing he heard. He wanted to fall asleep with 'I want you' in his ears.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“You can be Han Solo," he said, kissing her throat. "And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“Nothing before you counts," he said. "And I can't even imagine an after."

She shook her head. "Don't."

"What?"

"Don't talk about after."

"I just meant that... I want to be the last person who ever kisses you, too.... That sounds bad, like a death threat or something. What I'm trying to say is, you're it. This is it for me.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“Damn, damn, damn," she said. "I never said why I like you, and now I have to go."
"That's okay," he said.
"It's because you're kind," she said. "And because you get all my jokes..."
"Okay." He laughed.
"And you're smarter than I am."
"I am not."
"And you look like a protagonist." She was talking as fast as she could think. "You look like the person who wins in the end. You're so pretty, and so good. You have magic eyes," she whispered. "And you make me feel like a cannibal."
"You're crazy."
"I have to go." She leaned over so the receiver was close to the base.
"Eleanor - wait," Park said. She could hear her dad in the kitchen and her heartbeat everywhere.
"Eleanor - wait - I love you.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“She smiled, and her eyes started to drift downward.
"Cather..."
Back up to his eyes.
"You know that I'm falling in love with you, right?”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“What do you want to show me?"

"Nothing, really. I just want to be alone with you for a minute."

He pulled her to the back of the driveway, where they were almost completely hidden by a line of trees and the RV and the garage.

"Seriously?" she said. "That was so lame."

"I know," he said, turning to her. "Next time, I'll just say, 'Eleanor, follow me down this dark alley, I want to kiss you.'"

She didn't roll her eyes. She took a breath, then closed her mouth. He was learning how to catch her off guard.

She pushed her hands deeper in her pockets, so he put his hands on her elbows. "Next time," he said, "I'll just say, 'Eleanor, duck behind these bushes with me, I'm going to lose my mind if I don't kiss you.'"

She didn't move, so he thought it was probably okay to touch her face. Her skin was as soft as it looked, white and smooth as freckled porcelain.

"I'll just say, 'Eleanor, follow me down this rabbit hole...'"

He laid his thumb on her lips to see if she'd pull away. She didn't. He leaned closer. He wanted to close his eyes, but he didn't trust her not to leave him standing there.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“No, I know,” Levi said. “But it’s not you. You don’t push through every moment. You pay attention. You take everything in. I like that about you—I like that better.”

Cath closed her eyes and felt tears catch on her cheeks.

“I like your glasses,” he said. “I like your Simon Snow T-shirts. I like that you don’t smile at everyone, because then, when you smile at me.… Cather.” He kissed her mouth. “Look at me.”

She did.

“I choose you over everyone.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“I love you," he said.

She looked up at him, her eyes shiny and black, then looked away. "I know," she said.

He pulled one of his arms out from under her and traced her outline against the couch. He could spend all day like this, running his hand down her ribs, into her waist, out to her hips and back again.... If he had all day, he would. If she weren't made of so many other miracles.

"You know?" he repeated. She smiled, so he kissed her. "You're not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know."

"I'm totally the Han Solo," she whispered. It was good to hear her. It was good to remember it was Eleanor under all this new flesh.

"Well, I'm not the Princess Leia," he said.

"Don't get so hung up on gender roles," Eleanor said.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“Carry on, Simon.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Carry On

“Then Park reached up and wrapped one of her red curls around his honey finger.

"Back to missing you," he said, letting it go.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“What’s wrong with Starbucks?"
“It's a big, faceless corporation.” He raised a good-natured brow. “So far, they've let me keep my face.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“At Watford, Magic is just the air we breathe. It's not what separates us from each other; it's what keeps us together.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Carry On

“You're beautiful," she said.
"That's you."
"Don't argue with me. You're beautiful.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“The problem with playing hide-and-seek with your sister is that sometimes she gets bored and stops looking for you.And there you are—under the couch, in the closet, wedged behind the lilac tree—and you don’t want to give up,because maybe she’s just biding her time. But maybe she’s wandered off.…Maybe she’s downstairs watching TV and eating the rest of the Pringles.You wait. You wait until you forget that you’re waiting, until you forget that there’s anything to you beyond stillnessand quiet; an ant crawls over your knee, and you don’t flinch. And it doesn’t matter now whether she’s coming for you— the hiding is enough. (You win when no one finds you, even if they’re not looking.)When you break from behind the tree, it’s because you want to. It’s the first breath after a long dive. Branches snapunder your feet, and the world is hotter and brighter.
Ready or not, here I come. Here I come, ready or not.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“Why do I write?
To be somewhere else
To get free of ourselves
To stop
To stop being anything or anywhere at all
To disappear”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“I'm always holding on by a thread! I thought the important thing was that I'm holding on!”
― Rainbow Rowell, Any Way the Wind Blows

“I mean..." Levi leaned forward, hands still fisted in his pockets. "I mean, I spent four months trying to kiss you and the last six weeks trying to figure out how I managed to fuck everything up. All I want now is to make it right, to make you see how sorry I am and why you should give me another chance. And I just want to know - are you rooting for me? Are you hoping I pull this off?"
Cath's eyes settled on his, tentatively, like they'd fly away if he moved.
She nodded her head.
The right side of his mouth pulled up.
"I'm rooting for you", she whispered.
She wasn't even sure he could hear from the bed.
Levi's smile broke free and devoured his whole face.
It started to devour her face, too.
Cath had to look away.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“All through first and second and third hour, Eleanor rubbed her palm. Nothing happened.

How could it be possible that there were that many never ending all in one place?

And were they always there, or did they just flip on wherever they felt like it? Because, if they were always there, how did she manage to turn doorknobs without fainting?

Maybe this was why so many people said it felt better to drive a stick shift.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“Baz is standing in front of a full-length mirror, wearing—I swear to Merlin—a flowered suit.”
― Wayward Son, Rainbow Rowell

“Everything starts with a little truth, then I spin my webs around it—sometimes I spin completely away from it. But the point is, I don't start with nothing.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“The point is...' he said softly. Something about the storm made them both talk softly. 'There are different kinds of talent. Maybe your talent is in interpretation. Maybe you're a stylist.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“Bigger yields, brighter fields”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“And then it was like looking at the person you expected to see comforting you when you woke up from a nightmare.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“i'm glad that you're out there somewhere reading this, eventually reading this, it makes me feel better.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“Isn't the best revenge supposed to be a life well-lived?”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,' Wren said. 'It's the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“She was just there, all the time. All day. Real life was something happening in her peripheral vision.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“The plane was flying so low, moving so sluggishly through the sky, you'd think it was just choosing the perfect rooftop to land on.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“Why did I have to fight the Humdrum?
The Mage has answered that question a dozen different ways over the years:
Because I was chosen. Because I was prophecied. Because the Humdrum won’t leave me alone.
But none of those are real answers. Penelope has given me the only answer that I know what to do with...
“Because you can, Simon. And someone has to.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Carry On

“So, what if, instead of thinking about solving your whole life, you just think about adding additional good things. One at a time. Just let your pile of good things grow.”
― Rainbow Rowell, Attachments