“The Storyteller” by Jodi Picoult - Quodid

I believe that having something to hope for—even if it's just a better tomorrow—is the most powerful drug on this planet.

—Jodi Picoult in The Storyteller

power hope better

I don't know what it is about death that makes it so hard. I suppose it's the one-sided communication; the fact that we never get to ask our loved one if she suffered, if she is happy wherever she is now…if she is somewhere. It's the question mark that comes with death that we can't face, not the period.

—Jodi Picoult in The Storyteller

love communication happiness death unknown

It's a little convenient, isn't it, to say that the reason you did something horrible was because someone else told you to. That doesn't make it any less wrong. No matter how many people are telling you to jump off a bridge, you always have the option to turn around and walk away.

—Jodi Picoult in The Storyteller

choice wrong reason convenience

You would be surprised at the lengths you will go to believe the best about someone if you truly love him.

—Jodi Picoult in The Storyteller

love optimism deception self-deception

Forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying, 'You're not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.' It's saying, 'You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future.

—Jodi Picoult in The Storyteller

What he did was wrong. He doesn't deserve your love. But he does deserve your forgiveness, because otherwise he will grow like a weed in your heart until it's choked and overrun. The only person who suffers, when you squirrel away all that hate, is you.

—Jodi Picoult in The Storyteller

love hate forgiveness suffering

About Jodi Picoult

Picture of 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