From an evolutionary point of view, most emotions - fear, desire, anger - serve some practical purpose, but nostalgia is a useless, futile thing because it is a longing for something that is permanently lost. . . .

— David Nicholls

Generally speaking, I resolve to change my life on average maybe thirty to forty times a week, usually at about two a.m, drunk, ore early the next morning, hungover.

— David Nicholls

...grief is as much about regret for what you've never had as sadness for what you've lost.

— David Nicholls

Happy. Well, happy isn't so bad.'' It's the most we can hope for.

— David Nicholls

He could feel her laughter against his chest, and at that moment he thought that there was no better feeling than making Emma Morley laugh.

— David Nicholls

[He] didn’t like to think of himself as vain, but there were definitely times when he wished there was someone on hand to take his photograph.

— David Nicholls

He had always imagined that some sort of emotional mental equipment was meant to arrive, when he was forty-five, say, or fifty, a kind of kit that would enable him to deal with the impending loss of a parent. If he were only in possession of this equipment, he would be just fine. He would be noble and selfless, wise and philosophical. Perhaps he would even have kids of his own, and would presumably possess the kind of maturity that comes with fatherhood, the understanding of life as a process.

— David Nicholls

He hadn't been this nervous since the last disastrous night at the improve, and he firmly told himself to calm down as he blotted at the tablecloth, glancing upwards to see Emma wriggling out of her summer jacket, pushing her shoulders back and her chest forward in that way that women do without realizing the ache they cause.

— David Nicholls

He put one hand lightly on the back of her neck, and simultaneously she placed one hand lightly on his hip, and they kissed in the street as all around them people hurried home in the summer light, and it was the sweetest kiss that either of them would ever know. This is where it all begins. Everything starts here, today. And then it was over.

— David Nicholls

He swatted at her with his book. "Shut up and read, will you?" He lay back down and closed his eyes. Emma glanced over to check that he was smiling, and smiled too.

— David Nicholls