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Quote by Matt Haig

“And one into infinity is a very small fraction indeed.”

Quote by Matt Haig

Book:The Midnight Library

Work

The Midnight Library

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Author

Matt Haig is a British novelist born in 1975. His works are known for their humor and profound emotional insight, enjoying great popularity among readers. Haig's writing spans a variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and realism. more

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“Do you need another look at The Book of Regrets?' Nora scrunched her nose and gave a minute shake of her head. She remembered the feeling of being suffocated by so much regret. 'No.' 'What about your cat? What was his name again?' 'Voltaire. It was a bit pretentious, and he wasn't really a pretentious cat, so I just called him Volts for short. Sometimes Voltsy, if I was feeling jovial. Which was rare, obviously. I couldn't even finalise a name for a cat.”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“Why did you lie?' 'I wasn't lying. I asked you what your cat's name was. I never said I didn't know what your cat's name was. Do you understand the difference? I just wanted you to say his name, so that you would feel something.”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“Well, you don't see yourself as a bad cat owner any more. You looked after him as well as he could have been looked after. He loved you as much as you loved him, and maybe he didn't want you to see him die. You see, cats know. They understand when their time is up. He went outside because he was going to die, and he knew it.”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“I knew then that I hadn't stopped believing in God. I'd just stopped believing God cared. There might be a God, Clary, and there might not, but I don't think it matters. Either way we're on our own.”

Book:City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“Once she had flicked to the last page, she saw one of her very last regrets — 'I was bad at looking after Voltaire' — slowly disappear from the page. The letters fading like retreating strangers in a fog.”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“So, you see? Sometimes regrets aren't based on fact at all. Sometimes regrets are just...' She searched for the appropriate term and found it. 'A load of bullshit.”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“But I still don't get why you let me go into that life if you knew Volts was going to be dead anyway? You could have told me. You could have just told me I wasn't a bad cat owner. Why didn't you?' 'Because, Nora, sometimes they only way to learn is to live.”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“I still don't like this. One life of sadness was enough. What is the point of risking more?”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“She handed it to Nora, affectionately, as if it was a birthday gift.”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library

“What if I am dead?' 'Sorry?' 'I mean, in another life. There must be other lives in which I died before today.' Mrs. Elm looked intrigued. 'Isn't that what you wanted?' 'Well, yes, but—' 'You have died an infinite number of times before today, yes. Car accident, drug overdose, drowning, a bout of fatal food poisoning, choking on an apple, choking on a cookie, choking on a vegan hot dog, choking on a non-vegan hot dog, every illness it was possible for you to catch or contract...You have died in every way you can, at any time you could.' 'So, I could open a book and just die?' 'No. Not instantaneously. As with Voltaire, the only lives available here are, well, lives. I mean, you could die in that life, but you won't have died before you enter the life because this Midnight Library is not one of ghosts. It is not a library of corpses. It is a library of possibility. And death is the opposite of possibility. Understand?”

Matt Haig The Midnight Library

Book:The Midnight Library

Source: The Midnight Library