“Off the Page” by Jodi Picoult

The terrible thing about falling in love is that real life always gets in the way.

Well, you have to find that rare someone for whom you're not putting on a show. Someone who shines a spotlight in your direction—not because you're who they need you to be, or who they want you to be… just because you're you.

—Jodi Picoult in Off the Page

What if we did get so lucky that we're due for something terrible?

—Jodi Picoult in Off the Page

Love isn't what you expect it to be. You imagine being drunk on happiness, but the truth is, you worry all the time. Is she ill? Hurt? Might she meet someone else? There's a moment when you realize that you've gotten everything you wished for. And right on its heels is the understanding that this means you have so much more to lose.

—Jodi Picoult in Off the Page

You've seen those pictures of couples kissing in front of a Christmas tree, or clasping hands on their wedding day, or holding a newborn baby between them—a snapshot of joy. But what do you really know about them? Just that at the second the shutter clicked, they loved each other. You have no idea what trials and tribulations came before, or after. You don't know if one of them cheated, if they grew apart, if a divorce loomed on the horizon. You simply see that in one static moment, they were happy.

—Jodi Picoult in Off the Page

About Jodi Picoult

Jodi Lynn Picoult ( PEE-koh; born 1966) is an American writer. As of 2026, Picoult has published 30 novels, several short stories, and has also written several issues of Wonder Woman. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide and have been translated into 34 languages. In 2003, she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction.

[from Wikipedia]

See more quotations from Jodi Picoult on Quodid