Pulling Away Quotes

1. "He put his hand to my cheek, just touching the fingertips to my skin before pulling away. "You are."
Author: A.C. Gaughen

2. "I keep my eyes down, looking now at my fingers as they twist the fabric into a knot."I'm sorry. About the way I acted yesterday." When I straighten up, Ky has already moved on."Don't be," Ky says, pulling a tangle of climbing green vines away from a shrub so that we can pass through. He throws the vines at me and I catch them in surprise. "It's good to see you jealous once in a while." He smiles,"
Author: Ally Condie

3. "Pulling me into his arms, he trailed light kisses from my ear to my neck, almost making me forget how late I was running.I pushed him away. "You better stop that, or we're never getting out of here.""My thoughts exactly."
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

4. "Usually in stories there are big problems in the beginning or couples are pulling away, there's a lot of bitterness."
Author: Amy Ryan

5. "We are all instruments pulling the bows across our own lungs. Windmills, still startling in every storm. Have you ever seen a newborn blinking at the light? I wanna do that every day. I wanna know what the kite called itself when it got away, when it escaped into the night..."
Author: Andrea Gibson

6. "Having a few half fish in my family tree keeps my vision from blurring through the pudgy tears-I can perfectly see the solid yellow line on the road as I walk it. When I hear him following, I rip off my heels and start sprinting. Two months ago, this kind of abuse to my feet would leave them bleeding and with who-knows-what embedded in them. But with the convenience of my new thick skin, running barefoot is like running in Nike's latest kicks.Galen is apparently a flying fish though-his hand wraps around my arm, braking my own sad attempt at flight. He whirls me around. Pulling me to him, he lifts my chin with the pad of his thumb. When I jerk away, he grasps it tight, forcing me to look at him. The old Emma would be bruised within the next ten minutes. The new one is just pissed off."Let go!" I screech, pushing against his chest. Somehow this just gets me closer to him."Emma," he growls as I stomp his foot. "What would you have done?"Okay, that's unexpected. I stop flailing. "What?"
Author: Anna Banks

7. "She froze. He reached up and took her hand in his, pulling the knife away, making her drop it on the floor. "Show me how much you hate me," he whispered against her mouth. "Prove it to me."
Author: Anne Stuart

8. "There just didn't seem to be anything to hold on to. We weren't going anywhere, and we weren't pulling away. We were just floating, suspended in liquid. And I guess I want more. And I don't know what he wants."
Author: Augusten Burroughs

9. "Letting go maybe hard, but it's the best thing possible for you to do when you can't take anymore pain! Whether you're letting go of a person, a pet, or the past. No matter how hard it is to forget, to let go, you have to do it! Take that weight of your shoulders, kill that selected memory that hurts you and move on. No matter how hard it is to forget about that person, that pet, or that memory, in the long run it will be for the best! Why should you let go? You should let go because, you will be free from that pain it brings you, you will be free to move on from the past, you will be free from it all and not have to worry about the troubles it may have brought. It all starts with you! Make that change in your life that need to be done, because if you don't it will just be an anchor dragging you down, pulling you farther away from the shore in which your dreams, and your goals lie. Just let go of what you want to forget, let go of that you need to forget. It all starts with you!"
Author: Benjamin Ford Crouch

10. "The first handkerchief was tied to a second, yellow handkerchief. He fed both through the window and kept pulling. Attached to it was a red one. Then a green one. "Go away, you goddamn clown!" Jenny ordered. But Benny the Clown continued to pull out handkerchief after handkerchief. Five…ten…fifteen…then… That's not a handkerchief."
Author: Blake Crouch

11. "Any more questions?" I ask, poking him gently in the ribs."Do you still love me any?" Eliot asks, putting his hand over mine. "A little." "A little?" he asks, pulling away from me."A lot.""How much?" he asks."More than chocolate chip cookies.""Mmm" he says, kissing my shoulder."More than walking on the beach." Eliot kisses me on the neck."More than . . ." I pause, turning to look at him."More than?" he asks, kissing my lips.I turn toward him. "Anything."
Author: Brad Barkley

12. "It was just regular growing up, of course, the kind everyone does - but it still hurt him, I know, like the memory I have of the time he dropped me off at the train station when I was going back to Chicago. I could see him through the window of the train, but he couldn't see me through the tinted glass. I waved, trying to get his attention as he walked up and down the platform trying to figure out where I was sitting. From up in the train, he looked so small. If he'd seen me, he would have smiled and waved, but he didn't know I could see him, and the sadness on his face was exposed to me then. He looked lost. He stood there on the platform a long time, even after my train started pulling away, still trying to catch a glimpse of me waving back."
Author: Catherine Chung

13. "I was so thrilled about being human it took half a day for me to realize that Kelsey was nervously pulling away. What am I doing wrong?#Ren"
Author: Colleen Houck

14. "I remember how covered in blood Rhys was. All over his shirt, his jeans, caked on his neck, his hands. I didn't even think about it then, but it must have belonged to his mother, father. For seven days, he wore their deaths and he never said a word to any of us about it. I feel so bad for him and I don't know how to tell him, so I reach for his hand and hold it as hard as I can, crushing his fingers in mine. It's a futile attempt to redirect his pain. He lets me hurt him for a few minutes before gently pulling away."
Author: Courtney Summers

15. "A belligerent samurai, an old Japanese tale goes, once challenged a Zen master to explain the concept of heaven and hell. The monk replied with scorn, "You're nothing but a lout - I can't waste my time with the likes of you!"His very honor attacked, the samurai flew into a rage and, pulling his sword from its scabbard, yelled "I could kill you for your impertinence.""That," the monk calmly replied, "is hell."Startled at seeing the truth in what the master pointed out about the fury that had him in its grip, the samurai calmed down, sheathed his sword, and bowed, thanking the monk for the insight."And that,"said the monk "is heaven."The sudden awakening of the samurai to his own agitated state illustrates the crucial difference between being caught up in a feeling and becoming aware that you are being swept away by it. Socrates's injunction "Know thyself" speaks to the keystone of emotional intelligence: awareness of one's own feelings as they occur."
Author: Daniel Goleman

16. "Or rather, I dreamed of her constantly, only as absence, not presence: a breeze blowing through a just-vacated house, her handwriting on a notepad, the smell of her perfume, streets in strange lost towns where I knew she'd been walking only a moment before but had just vanished, a shadow moving away against a sunstruck wall. Sometimes I spotted her in a crowd, or in a taxicab pulling away, and these glimpses of her I treasured despite the fact that I was never able to catch up with her."
Author: Donna Tartt

17. "Dalt's in sixty?" I asked."Done," he said. "You want to bring the board?""Depends...you okay with humiliation?""Bring the board.""See you soon."I hung up and ran to the shower. Thirty minutes later I was out the door, cribbage board in hand.""Bye, Piri!" I shouted. I was already in my car and pulling away when I saw Piri appear on the threshold, tossing a cup of water out after me, "so luck would flow like water in my direction."Madness."
Author: Hilary Duff

18. "Why don't we just say it already?" He smirked. "I mean come on now."I eyed him carefully not knowing where to step. "What is it you think we want to say?""That we love each other. I kick myself every time I stopped myself from saying it. And I know you love me and that's all that matters," he said, pulling me close instead of away this time. We stared at the water in a shared silence.My mind wished I could say the same thing, but knowing if I wanted to was the problem. Did I even know how?"
Author: Holly Hood

19. "There is much to do, pulling people away, right up until the Coast Guard comes and orders us to stop. Scott is dead. My cell phone is dead. My mother must think me dead. So it goes. I pick up the papers that have drifted down on the boat and have become plastered there, these relics from great buildings that no longer stand. The first one I grab is an insurance document. Listen: What I tell you here is true. The first line on the first page I pick up, it begins: In the event of damage to the building… So it goes."
Author: Hugh Howey

20. "Can I keep you? he whispered, laughing and pulling away from her as soon as the words came out. "Whats wrong with me? I'm quoting Casper."
Author: J.M. Darhower

21. "Shouldn't someone give a pep talk or something?" Minho asked, pulling Thomas's attention away from Alby."Go ahead," Newt replied.Minho nodded and faced the crowd. "Be careful," he said dryly. "Don't die."
Author: James Dashner

22. "Pulling seven people away from their work for an hour is worth seven hours of lost productivity."
Author: Jason Fried

23. "Goats and oxen, pulling carts in from the field, left their big, smelly plops all over. these got cleaned up eventually-someone came and scraped them into buckets and took them away-but often this didn't happen until halfway through the morning, and people had to step carefully until then and breathe in that powerful smell."
Author: Jeanne DuPrau

24. "Hot." The last word, barely a whisper, lost itself in my hair as he pressed his lips to that spot just below my ear that can, apparently, flip the off switch in my brain. Before I realized it my hands were inside that jacket, stroking the hard planes of his chest and stomach. And then, as if moving without any prompting from me they reached down, undid his belt, pulled it loose, and…"Ahhh, that feels great," I moaned."I am completely grossed out over here!" Cassandra informed us.Vayl, who'd been peering down at me with an expression of utter disbelief, stared at Cassandra over the top of my head. "It is not what you think," he assured her."As if I'd do something that disgusting," I said, pulling away from him, but keeping the belt, because the buckle relieved the itching so much better than fingernails. I continued using it to scratch the inflamed skin across my stomach as I sat down by Cassandra."You are pathetic," she told me."I'd get all offended, but I'm pretty sure you're right."
Author: Jennifer Rardin

25. "Leeda knew friends never turned out to be what you expected. They came and went in waves, pulling away and coming back, leaving you feeling safe one minute and lost the next."
Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson

26. "...one half leaning in, one half pulling away."
Author: Jodi Picoult

27. "Seven years ago, I joined a support group. The loneliness of my Clemlessness—privately, that's what I called it—had become so acute that I could feel it pulling me away, like an undertow, from the people I loved who were still alive. (I angered easily. I wanted to yell at them, "You don't fucking know!"—not just about what they might lose but about anything, everything: politics, art, laundry, taxes. I saw them as not just ignorant but smug, not just naïve but stupid."
Author: Julia Glass

28. "Then I looked right at Mama, for the first time in what seemed like forever, and she wasn't looking at me, but into me. She was pulling me to her with her eyes, like she used to do. All of a sudden I could see the light that was Mama's shining out of her eyes. I couldn't help smiling at it.'Be careful,' my heart warned me.But I was having a hard time remembering that there as anything to be careful about. Because if I just looked at Mama's eyes...I could tell that the part of her I thought had gone away forever was still there and glowing, only from deep down inside her."
Author: Katherine Hannigan

29. "Chloe, wake up. I really, really, really need to pee."I moan and sink deeper into Jorge's arms, pulling my hand back."Chloe, wake up. I'm dying here. I have to pee."Ugh, why won't that voice go away? I crack my eyes open and see Ringo by the bed prancing around doing the doggy version of a potty dance.Ringo starts prancing toward the bedroom door. "Thank goodness. I've got to go."
Author: Katya Armock

30. "I leaned down and looked at his handsome face. I wanted to kiss him in a way that would remain soft and true on his lips, all the while help him from escaping the overwhelming sense of sadnes that he felt. I pressed forward and kissed him, tasting the saltiness of fish against his lips, and the disappointment that he held so very deeply inside. I kissed him long and wide, yet limp and yielding, pulling myself away from reality to only drown in the fantasy of our love. I touched his mouth in such a loving way, that not even his incapability to reach into my soul, could tear us away from exchanging such romance. He immediately gave into the kiss, his sadness slowly giving way to the moment that we so intimately shared. It amazed me what a merman could do, even when flowing tears streamed down his face. Through the bridge of kissing, I had healed him, and he had healed me in return."
Author: Keira D. Skye

31. "Funnier still how much faith her parents put in him, considering the fact that Jay would officially be younger than Violet in less than a week.Violet was about to turn seventeen, while Jay would still be sixteen for nearly two full months/Jay liked that, the whole older-woman thing. He also liked to joke about the fact that Violet would soon be dating a younger man.One night, when Violet's parents had gone out, he teased her about it, whispering against his throat, "I should probably be dating girls my own age now that you'll be over-the-hill." Jay was stretched out on Violet's bed as she curled against him.Violet laughed, rising to the bait. "Fine," she challenged, pulling away and leaning up on her elbow. "I'm sure there are plenty of men my own age who would be willing to finish what you've started."
Author: Kimberly Derting

32. "I opened the door of my mother's stand-alone wardrobe and let the smell of her wash over me. I loved having this one unspoiled part of her left just for me. I leaned forward, slipped my face in between the hanging silks and chiffons. Her scent was warm and possessive. If my idea of home had a smell, this would be it.Home. Mother. Oh God, please. My face crumpled, and my knees gave out. I pitched forward into her hanging clothes, grabbing at her blouses and dresses, smelling of gardenias and dusk. I fell to the closet floor, pulling some with me. I toppled amongst her shoes; stinging eyes squeezed shut, mouth frozen open in a silent "O." They were out there somewhere, their lifeless bodies, still and cold, and they would never be coming home again. I curled my legs inside the wardrobe and pulled the door closed, shutting myself away with her memory."
Author: Kirby Howell

33. "They were close enough that he could feel the hurried beat of her heart. He could feel Charlotte's indecision in every word she didn't say and every move she didn't make. She was tense with uncertainty, quivering with irresolution. She might not be leaning into him, but she wasn't pulling away, either."
Author: Lauren Willig

34. "Christopher felt a smile -his first genuine smile in a long time- pulling at his lips. "Does Miss Hathaway have many suitors?""Oh, yes. But none of them want to marry her.""Why is that, do you imagine?""They don't want to get shot," the child said, shrugging."Pardon?" Christopher's brows lifted."Before you marry, you have to get shot by an arrow and fall in love," the boy explained."
Author: Lisa Kleypas

35. "Then everyone will be out by the end of the week,and...God,I'm almost afraid to say it..everything will be back to normal."Lucy rapped her knuckles three times on the wooden desk and crossed her fingers."In the meantime," Heath said, standing up and pulling her with him, "the night is young-""Actually," Lucy replied with a nervous laugh, trying to shake her hands free of his, "the night is quite,quite mature, and I'm falling asleep standing up-""I know how to wake you." He bent his head, and she turned away abruptly."
Author: Lisa Kleypas

36. "Listen, she said, "cherubim have come to my planet before.""I know that. Where do you think I got my information?""What do you know about us?""I have heard that your host planet is shadowed, that it is troubled.""It is beautiful," Meg said defensively.She felt a rippling of his wings. "In the middle of your cities?""Well-no-but I don't live in a city.""And is your planet peaceful?""Well-no-it isn't very peaceful.""I had the idea," Proginoskes moved reluctantly within her mind, "that there are wars on your planet. People fighting and killing each other.""Yes, that's so, but-""And children go hungry.""Yes.""And people don't understand each other.""Not always.""And there's-there's hate?""Yes."She felt Proginoskes pulling away. "All I want to do," he was murmuring to himself, "is go some place quiet and recite the names of the stars..."
Author: Madeleine L'Engle

37. "She attempted to turn again; I held on. I wasn't holding tight enough to keep her, but she wasn't pulling hard enough to get away."
Author: Maggie Stiefvater

38. "I ceased the search to listen again, what the problem was. What's going on at home? Why was Luccas calling out Jane's name? What happened? Why could I hear him without connecting directly to him? I shook my head, but screams pierced through. I moved the shelf on its side, a loud crashing that startled the men outside. Falling to my knees, I covered my ears to them. My head banged against the metal and stayed there. "What in the name of Hera am I going to do?" I asked the air. The screams stopped but for how long? How long would silence be until they resumed? I raised my head, gently pulling my hands away and listened. Silence. Where were the men chasing me? Did they give in and go home? No, that would have been too easy. Saain would slay each man for leaving a traitor alive."
Author: Millicent Ashby

39. "Maybe the first time you saw her you were ten. She was standing in the sun scratching her legs. Or tracing letters in the dirt with a stick. Her hair was being pulled. Or she was pulling someone's hair. And a part of you was drawn to her, and a part of you resisted--wanting to ride off on your bicycle, kick a stone, remain uncomplicated. In the same breath you felt the strength of a man, and a self-pity that made you feel small and hurt. Part of you thought: Please don't look at me. If you don't, I can still turn away. And part of you thought: Look at me."
Author: Nicole Krauss

40. "Whenever he saw Eleanor, he couldn't think about pulling away. He couldn't think about anything at all. Except touching her. Except doing whatever he could or had to, to make her happy."
Author: Rainbow Rowell

41. "A rowboat, without oars. An outboard motor. As you can sit there for years, forever, with that outboard motor, pulling again, and yet again, that rope, or cord, or wire, or whatever it is, and winding yet again, and each time, every single time, the motor, though it may give a cough or two, will fail to start, though if it starts, and when it starts, you are, at whatever speed you choose, within the engine's limits and the hazards of the course, well on your way, until it starts you are no nearer where you were going on the fifteenth try than on the first; the enterprise may last forever, and never yet quite begin. The fact seems to be, however, that unless some apparently unrelated event should intervene -- a bullet, a heart attack, a cry from shore that dinner's ready, or company has come, or junior's run away -- the engine will eventually start. In the meantime, though, while you have been intensely busy, it is difficult to account for how the time is spent."
Author: Renata Adler

42. "You remember how he used to be girl on either arm? You really don't see that guy too much anymore. Why do you think that is? He's waiting for you. I know you're dealing with stuff but you cannot ask him to wait forever! Unless of course, you're okay with him pulling away.""What if it doesn't work out? What if it ends up like you and Javier?""Well at least we gave it a shot. And so it didn't work out, so what? Now, we can move on give or take the occasional booty call.""I just don't wanna lose what we have, you know?""Girl please! What exactly do you have, really?""A friendship.""No. What you and I have is a friendship. What you and castle have is a holding pattern. How long can you circle before the fuel runs out?"
Author: Richard Castle

43. "Those who don't feel this Love pulling them like a river, those who don't drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take sunset like supper, those who don't want to change, let them sleep. This Love is beyond the study of theology,that old trickery and hypocrisy.If you want to improve your mind that way sleep on. I've given up on my brain.I've torn the cloth to shreds and thrown it away. If you're not completely naked wrap your beautiful robe of wordsaround you,and sleep."
Author: Rumi

44. "There was a present on the front seat of Ethan's car, a Gap box tied with a white ribbon. "Happy birthday, Jenna," Ethan said, leaning over to kiss me, his lips cool from the iced chai he stopped for every morning. I opened the box and pulled out an orange sweater with a cream-colored stripe down the arms."Thank you. I love it.""I know," he said, pulling away from the curb. "That's what you said when you handed it to me at the store and told me to get it for your birthday.""I'm sorry," I said, holding the sweater in my lap. I knew he was just teasing, but I wanted to be the kind of person who could enjoy surprises. I wanted to be as spontaneous and free as everyone else seemed to be and not feel all the time like if I didn't follow some kind of specific map of daily life, disaster would be right there waiting. "I just...really liked it.""And wanted to make sure you got it," he said, smiling. "So basically you're greedy.""Basically."
Author: Sara Zarr

45. "He took a quick step forward and caught my wrist, pulling me firmly to him. Wedging himself up against me, he pressed his mouth down on mine. I tried to turn away but he released my wrist and grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking me back with a jerk. His mouth was pungent,tasting of alcohol, and his groping hand was rough and unrelenting. I flinched forward as the cold metal of the gun raked across my back…"
Author: Sharon Ricklin Jones

46. "Pulling her eyes away, she figured it was best to keep such questions to herself. "You could have just, you know, asked me out instead," she offered, though she wasn't sure why. John let out a soft chuckle. "Very true. I guess I just…I wanted to keep you safe.""Safe? From what?" Evangeline suddenly felt heat rush her face. Was this man just paranoid or what? "Safe from this? Or from you?"He looked up, placing his fork down on the plate. His stare was expressionless and she suddenly regretted her brazen accusation. "Both." His reply had been simple, direct, stern. "Those people who did this to me, they'll do worse to you if they think that we're involved…if they think that their message wasn't clear enough."
Author: Shawn Kirsten Maravel

47. "Strange, how such a small realization can affect everyone's life forever. In movies there is always a carefully staged moment - a big crescendo of music, close- ups of the actors' faces, the camera slowly pulling away to let all this sink in for the viewer...but, in real life, most all of the extraordinary things happen with no more loudness than a whisper."
Author: Silas House

48. "He felt, rather than saw, her chin lift toward him. But instead of pulling her hand from his grip and turning away, she tightened her own fingers and unceremoniously, unexpectedly, threw herself down the incline, dragging him with her.Dragging him with her!"
Author: V.S. Carnes

49. "Cole steps forward, his fingers reaching around my shoulders, and kisses me. It is sudden and smooth and soft as air against my lips. The wind whips around us, tugging at the fabric of our clothes, but not pulling us apart. And then it's gone, the cool pressure against my lips, and my eyes are open and looking into two gray eyes like river rocks."/That's/ what you wanted to show me?""No," he says, his fingers slipping down my arms as he leads me off the path and out, away from Near. "That was just in case."
Author: Victoria Schwab

50. "Pulling away from your parents, that's the natural thing to do; that's how life progresses."
Author: Wendi McLendon Covey

Pulling Away Quotes Pictures