On his way to a Harvard degree and a promising career in law, Oliver Barrett IV, falls for a working class beauty, Jenny Cavilleri who is sharp-tongued and independent. Jenny is studying music at Radcliffe.
Oliver and Jenny, though opposites in every way, fall deeply for each other. Their love s the kind that happens once in a millennium. However, this has to end soon.
A story of unconditional love, devotion, and loss, is a story everyone must read at least once.
In today’s post, we will be sharing some of our favorite quotes from Love Story by Erich Segal.
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Best quotes from Love Story by Erich Segal
- True love comes quietly
“True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.”
- The conversation
“What the hell makes you so smart?” I asked. “I wouldn’t go for coffee with you, ” she answered. “Listen — I wouldn’t ask you.” “That, “she replied “is what makes you stupid.”
- Being accepted for all the wrong reasons
“I was afraid of being rejected, yes. I was also afraid of being accepted for the wrong reasons.”
- The wounded healers
“We have turned doctors into gods and worship their deity by offering up our bodies and our souls – not to mention our worldly goods.
And yet paradoxically, they are the most vulnerable of human beings. Their suicide rate is eight times the national average. Their percentage of drug addiction is one hundred times higher
And because they are painfully aware that they cannot live up to our expectations, their anguish is unquantifiably intense. They have aptly been called ‘wounded healers.’ “
- Those were her last words
“Now would you do me a favor?’ From somewhere inside me came this devastating assault to make me cry. But I withstood. I would not cry. I would merely indicate to Jennifer – by the affirmative nodding of my head – that I would be happy to do her any favor whatsoever.
‘Would you please hold me very tight?’ she asked.
I put my hand on her forearm – Christ, so thin – and gave it a little squeeze.
‘No, Oliver,’ she said, ‘really hold me. Next to me.’ I was very, very careful – of the tubes and things – as I got onto the bed with her and put my arms around her.
‘Thanks, Ollie.’
Those were her last words.”
- Turning any defeat into victory
“Part of being a big winner is the ability to be a big loser. There is no paradox involved. It is a distinctly Harvard thing to be able to turn any defeat into victory”
- I was afraid to even speak the word
“I wanted to keep looking at her because I wanted to never take my eyes from her, but still I had to
lower my eyes, I was so ashamed that even now Jenny was reading my mind so perfectly.
‘Listen, that’s the only goddamn thing I’m asking, Ollie. Otherwise, I know you’ll be okay.’ That thing in my gut was stirring again, so I was afraid to even speak the word ‘okay.’ I just
looked mutely at Jenny.”
- Live by logic, listen to reason
“The explanations for the things we do in life are many and complex. Supposedly mature adults should live by logic, listen to their reason. Think things out before they act.
But maybe they never heard what Dr. London told me one, Freud said that for the little things in life we should react according to our reason. But for really big decisions, we should heed what our unconscious tells us.”
- An eternal quest for reasons
“He had spent most of his lifetime studying the art of medicine and realized now that he would never really understand its mysteries.
For medicine is an eternal quest for reasons – causes that explain effects.
Science cannot comprehend a miracle.”
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- Delighting in the apparent paradox
“But what does he do to qualify as a sonovabitch?” Jenny asked.
“Make me”, I replied.
“Beg pardon?”
“Make me”, I repeated.
Her eyes widened like saucers. “You mean like incest?” she asked.
“Don’t give me your family problems, Jen. I have enough of my own.”
“Like what, Oliver?” she asked, “like just what is it he makes you do?”
“The ‘right things’”, I said.
“What’s wrong with the ‘right things’?” she asked, delighting in the apparent paradox.”
- A god I could say thank you too
“I began to think about God. I mean, the notion of a Supreme Being existing somewhere began to creep into my private thoughts. Not because I wanted to strike Him on the face, to punch Him out for what He was about to do to me – to Jenny, that is. No, the kind of religious thoughts I had were just the opposite. Like, when I woke up in the morning and Jenny was there. Still there. I’m sorry, embarrassed even, but I hoped there was a God I could say thank you to.”
- To know Jenny is to love Jenny
“I mean, imagine for a second Olivero Barretto, some nice Italian kid from down the block in Cranston, Rhode Island. He comes to see Mr. Cavilleri, a wage-earning pastry chef of that city, and says, “I would like to marry your only daughter, Jennifer.” What would the old man’s first question be? (He would not question Barretto’s love, since to know Jenny is to love Jenny; it’s a universal truth). No, Mr. Cavilleri would say something like, “Barretto, how are you going to support her?”
- A gift of happiness that’s almost magical
But Anya, you’re not any girl, you are someone very special. You have a gift of happiness that’s almost magical”.
To Anya the gentle fluttering of new life within reminded her that Adam had not only been there in Stockholm but would remain with her forever.
“It is completely possible. Idiopathic reversals of ovarian failure are well documented in the literature.”
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That is all we have on today’s post on the best quotes from Love Story by Erich Segal. Did you like what you just read? Let us know in the comment section below.
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See you again next time.
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