Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from Love, Theoretically:
“Have you considered that maybe you’re already the way I want you to be? That maybe there are no signals because nothing needs to be changed”
“You could be my entire world,” he whispers in my ear before moving to my collarbone. “If you let me.”
“In my fantasies, you allow me to keep an eye on you.” I feel his lips at my temple. “And when I really let go, I imagine that you let me take care of you, too.”
“Bold of you to assume that the real me is my best hand.”“Foolish of you to think it isn’t.”
“I want you, Elsie. All the time. I think of you. All. The. Fucking. Time. I’m distracted. I’m shit at work. And my first instinct, the very first time I saw you, was to run away. Because I knew that if we’d start doing this, we would never stop. And that’s exactly how it is. There is no universe in which I’m going to let you go. I want to be with you, on you, every second of every day. I think – I dream of crazy things. I want you to marry me tomorrow so you can go on my health insurance. I want to lock you in my room for a couple of weeks. I want to buy groceries based on what you like. I want to play it cool, like I’m attracted to you and not obsessed out of my mind, but that’s not where I’m at. Not at all. And I need you to keep us in check. I need you to pace us, because wherever it is that we’re going… I’m here. I’m already right here.”
“I like to see you. When you’re not trying to be someone else.”
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Or makes you resent your pathological inability to set boundaries, one or the two.”
“Elsie, it’s the bare minimum. The bar’s so low, you could pick it up and beat him with it.”
“It’s easier like that, isn’t it? [...] Never showing anyone who you really are. [...] That way if something goes wrong, if someone rejects you, then it’s not about you, is it? When you’re yourself, that’s when you’re exposed. Vulnerable.”
“There is no universe in which I’m going to let you go. I want to be with you, on you, every second of every day.”
“I don’t want to be work. I don’t want you to feel that I’m work.”“Somewhere along the way your wires got crossed. Your brain decided that you’re not worth people’s time and effort, and that if you ask for anything, they won’t just say no, they’ll also leave you. That’s not how love works, Elsie.”
“You are the most magnificent thing that ever happened to me,”
“Be gentle with me, Elsie. That’s all I ask.”
“Not everyone wants you to be someone else, Elsie. And I definitely wouldn’t want you to be George.”“And why is that?”“It would be a waste.”“A waste of what?”“Of you.”
“There is something about you. That you tirelessly study people. Figure out who they are, what they want, and then mold yourself into whatever shape you think will fit them. I’ve seen you play half a dozen different roles for half a dozen different situations, switching personalities like you’re channel surfing, and I still have no idea who you are.”
“It’s easier like that, isn’t it?”“What is?”“Never showing anyone who you really are. That way if something goes wrong, if someone rejects you, then it’s not about you, is it? When you’re yourself, that’s when you’re exposed. Vulnerable. But if you hold back … Losing a game’s always painful, but knowing that you haven’t played your best hand makes it bearable.”
“What do you loathe?”“The way you seem to always get under my skin.”“Elsie. You think you don’t live under mine.”
“He studies my face for several moments, like he cannot stop on the cover or the first page, like he needs to read the whole book every time.”
“I’m a mess. A work in progress. I’m two steps forward and one step back. I hoard my cheese, and I can’t efficiently load the dishwasher, and I’m going to struggle with the truth until the day I croak. Jack knows all of this, and he loves me. Not anyway, but because.”
“How can you always tell what’s in my head?”“Same way you can tell what’s in everyone’s head.”“I just look. Try to pay attention to what people want.”“That’s what I do. Except that I don’t care much about most people, but I can’t stop paying attention to you. So I look.”
“He gives me a confused, curious look. Like he knows that I’m complicated, but he doesn’t mind. Like he’d rather spend the rest of his life studying an inch of me than discovering the mysteries behind the universe.”
“You could be my entire world. If you let me.”
“Have I been doing it all wrong? Maybe instead of getting people to think that I’m worth their time, I should stop giving a shit about them?”
“I’d give everyone the me they wanted, needed, craved, and in exchange they’d care about me.”
“I want to play it cool, like I’m attracted to you and not obsessed out of my mind, but that’s not where I’m at. Not at all. And I need you to keep us in check. I need you to pace us, because wherever it is that we’re going…I’m here. I’m already right here.”
“In my fantasies, you allow me to keep an eye on you. And when I really let go, I imagine that you let me take care of you, too.”“Why?”“Because in my head, no one has done it before.”
“Somewhere along the way your wires got crossed. Your brain decided that you’re not worth people’s time and effort, and that if you ask for anything, they won’t just say no, they’ll also leave you.” He says it matter-of-fact, like he’s Archimedes of Syracuse repeating his findings about upward buoyant forces to the acropolis for the tenth time. “That’s not how love works, Elsie. But don’t worry for now. I’ll show you.”
“Physics is like sex: it may yield practical results, but often that’s not why we do it.”
“A coupon for a mud bath? Lovely. It’ll feel like practice for when I’m lowered in my grave and you all fight over my money.” It’s on brand:”
“Can I take you out?"The words don't immediately compute. For several seconds they float in my brain like driftwood, aimless, unparsable, and then this meaning dawns on me. "You mean you want to...murder me."He winces. "Once again, what happened to you?”
