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If Only Quotes

Browse 21 quotes about If Only.

If Only Quotes

“Here was another 'if only' — if only he had acted quickly, spontaneously, throwing 'tact' and 'good form' to the winds. Just then she had needed him, and he had failed. This bitter reflection positively, for a time, hindered his strange friendship with Louise, he avoided her almost to the point of boorishness, almost deliberately seeming to have lost his interest and his affection. The pain of his 'might have been' led him instinctively to devalue his loss, make it not a loss but something inconceivable and nil.”

FriendshipRelationshipIris MurdochUnrequited LoveInactionThe Green KnightIf Only
Book:The Green Knight
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“Beyond her declaration of love she could not see. But as she rehearsed the intensity of her passion she thought that he must, when the time came, respond. The desire to, at the right time, tell him became, as the years moved forward toward that time, increasingly painful, like a poisoned wound that must heal itself by breaking open. She now thought in anguish of the times, the recent times, when she could have told him, and had been afraid to, and had clumsily withdrawn, when she could have attracted him and drawn his attention to her. When she had watched over him when he was sleeping in the sedan-chair and could have wakened him with a kiss. If only she had let him know, then she could more easily have borne his not preferring her. He was ready to fall in love — and if he had known — he must have loved her — if he had known how much she loved him. The pain of this loss burnt her in every waking moment, that awful 'if only'. She had lost him, and lost him through her own fault. There were no more pleasures now in life.”

SufferingLossIris MurdochUnrequited LoveHeartbrokenUnspokenThe Green KnightMissed OpportunityIf OnlyMissed Chance
Book:The Green Knight
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“There were so many places in my time with Rogerson that I wished I could go back to, hitting the stop button at just one moment to stop everything that came after. I had so many If Onlys, but each place I thought to stop meant missing something that came later. I needed it all, in the end, to make my own story find its finish.”

GrowingAcceptanceRegretStoryWhat IfExperiencesMissing SomethingIf OnlyTurn Back TimeDo OverGo Back
Book:Dreamland
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“When we are ready to let go of our old controls, we admit that we were powerless over the incest or abuse...We have often thought, 'If only I could have stopped it,' but we could not have stopped it. We let go of the 'if only' now and sit still with our stark powerlessness…In our surrender to powerlessness, we touch ourselves with the gift of truth.”

TruthHealingLetting GoAbuseSurvivorChild AbusePowerlessChild Sexual AbuseAbuse SurvivorsPowerlessnessIncestSurvivors Of AbuseAbuse RecoveryChild Sexual Abuse SurvivorIf OnlySurvivor Of Abuse
Book:Beyond Survival: A Writing Journey for Healing Childhood Sexual Abuse
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“If… if back then in the past, Dia didn’t summon him during that stormy night, and attended the following year’s ball…— —what kind of future would they have? When she wondered about such things, it was as if her chest would burst. In the last 13 years she had lived along with despair, Dia acknowledged that she had indeed ruined her future with her own hands. However, the sharp pain that ran through her chest—she didn’t feel it for the first time. …It’s been a long time since that ball. It felt awkward to walk around while clutching her painful chest everywhere she went. She wondered if her footsteps of today were still steeped in the blood of that night. That stormy night…”

RegretPainfulWhat IfIf OnlyRuined Future
Book:長い夜の国と最後の舞踏会 1 ～ひとりぼっちの公爵令嬢と真夜中の精霊～
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“A drunk [once] said to me, "Drugs and alcohol are not our problem, reality is our problem; drugs and alcohol are our solution to that problem." [...] Aren't we all, in one way or another, trying to find a solution to the problem of reality? If I get this job, this girl, this guy, these shoes. If I pass this exam, eat this pizza, drink this booze, go on this holiday. [...] Isn't there always some kind of condition to contentment? Isn't it always placed in the future, wrapped up in some object, either physical or ideological?”

RealityConditionsAddictionDrugsDrugs And AlcoholMisguidedConditionalIf OnlyConditional Living
Book:Revolution
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