You can't undo something that's happened; you can't take back a word that's already been said out loud.

—Jodi Picoult in Nineteen Minutes

time change permanence speech

About Jodi Picoult

Portrait 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...

More quotations from Jodi Picoult

Eventually, I told myself not to expect anything from him, and as a result it has gotten easier for me to take what comes.

—Jodi Picoult in My Sister's Keeper

Who I am and what I am capable of doing has always managed to surprise me.

—Jodi Picoult in Vanishing Acts

When I see him, his frame filling the doorway, I do not feel passion, excitement. I can't remember if I ever have. He makes me feel comfortable, like a favorite pair of shoes.

—Jodi Picoult in Songs of the Humpback Whale

Besides the obvious difference, there was not much distinction between losing a best friend and losing a lover: it was all about intimacy. One moment, you had someone to share your biggest triumphs and fatal flaws with; the next minute, you had to keep them bottled inside. One moment, you'd start to call her to tell her a snippet of news or to vent about your awful day before realizing you did not have that right anymore; the next, you could not remember the digits of her phone number.

—Jodi Picoult in Handle With Care

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

More quotations tagged with “speech”

Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.

—Napoleon Bonaparte

If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.

—Marcus Aurelius

truth right ethics speech

In a free state there should be freedom of speech and thought.

Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts.

—Thomas Carlyle

Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.

History

27 Nov 2015 Added