Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from Do Not Disturb:
“Maybe we used up all our happiness. Maybe everybody only gets so much.”
“You don’t even realize you have everything until your whole life falls apart.”
“But he seems nice. Harmless. Like he wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“I’m not dead. Did you think I was? That I’m some corpse my husband propped up in front of the second-floor window to frighten his guests? I’m not. I’m very much alive. And I’m afraid my husband is a murderer.”
“I love mirrors,” Greta tells me. “Mirrors are the barrier between the conscious and unconscious mind. Everyone has an inner concept of themselves, but mirrors are reality. What you see right now—that is the truth that everyone else sees.”
“Or more likely, Derek’s mother comes by for absolutely no reason at all except to count all the ways I’m an unsatisfactory wife. (To be fair, this time she would be absolutely right.)”
“Bernie liked his corn dogs and curly fries. You did not have to be a psychic to know it would do him in.”
“If you are going on a trip, it is important to pack socks.”
“That is your choice. But even if you do not know your fortune, that does not keep it from coming true.” “If you know your fortune, are you able to stop it? Or do you just have to try to look surprised when it happens?”
“Then I have to decide if I’ll forgive him. I probably will. It gets easier each time, and I have to admit, I don’t know what I would do without him.”
“I hang up the phone and drop it down onto the center of the bed. Back when I was a kid, we used to have a real phone. A landline. And when you were mad at someone, you could slam it down. It’s just not the same with a cell phone.”
“Well, long story short, I hate my sister. Surprise, surprise.”
“Yes, it’s true. I’ve been sleeping with my sister’s husband for the last six months.”
“He looks down at the woman, out cold on the floor. “Little did I know, my wife is a ninja.”
“And, of course, after one of our huge fights, Derek would always fall over himself to apologize. There would be flowers, expensive jewelry, maybe a dinner out at a nice restaurant. He would be nice for weeks until I forgot the fight and remembered the man I had fallen in love with. So I stayed. When I was younger, before I met Derek, I would hear stories about women stuck in abusive relationships. I never understood why any of them stayed. I thought they were foolish or weak. It never made sense to me until it became my life.”
“Oh. He knows about the old lady. Damn.”
“isn’t”
“It’s not like I did this with any kind of well-thought-out plan. I didn’t wake up this morning and say to myself, Hey, I’m going to kill my husband today! If I had done something like that, I would have filled up my gas tank beforehand, for starters.”
“love mirrors,” Greta tells me. “Mirrors are the barrier between the conscious and unconscious mind. Everyone has an inner concept of themselves, but mirrors are reality. What you see right now—that is the truth that everyone else sees.”
“right”
“Because a couple of years ago, a woman was murdered in there.”
“Nick always leaves 201 empty.”
“I hardly ever think about our parents anymore. It’s been an eternity since they died. I can’t even imagine the sound of my mother’s voice anymore. I forget whether my father had a beard or not. It feels like I knew them in another lifetime. But I still come here sometimes. I bring flowers.”
“But even if you do not know your fortune, that does not keep it from coming true.”
“When we walk into our house, I sit at the kitchen table, but Nick just stands there. He doesn’t say anything for several seconds, but it’s obvious he has something to say. I look up at him, waiting. And then he says it. “So it’s just a possibility, right?” He folds his arms across his chest. “That doesn’t mean if you get pregnant again, you’re definitely going to get worse.” I knew that’s what he was thinking. I knew it, but I wasn’t sure if he would have the gall to say it. I mean, it’s easy for him to be glib about it. He’s not the one whose body is literally attacking itself.”
“The headline jumps out at me: Woman Found Murdered in New Hampshire Motel. The woman in question was twenty-five-year-old Christina Marsh.”
“Sure,” I say. You could be on the run after killing your husband. Or maybe you didn’t kill him, and he’s coming after you. So yes, things could be worse.”
“Iwant to make one thing clear. I killed him. I’m not going to claim it was the butler or a one-armed man. I did it. I killed my husband.”
“remember”
“Claudia’s laundry. I found it tucked between two shirts.”
