Quotes from Alexandra Potter

And in that moment, I know I will love him forever for doing that. Not love in the romantic sense, but love in the true, deep sense of the word. Without even being asked, he's driven through the night to be here for me. So I can lean on him when I need to lean on someone the most in my life. In the most desperate of times. When I thought I was alone. He was here. Waiting for me. And if that's not real love, I don't know what is.

I'm not saying this to be trite or to make you feel better, but believe me when I say this: the people who matter will see you, no matter what.

you can grieve for someone and the past, but you've also got to live,

I've found friends and acquaintances keep their distance because they don't want to upset you or say the wrong thing. What they don't realize is you're already upset beyond anything they could ever say or do. It's their silence that upsets you. You feel isolated. Abandoned.

I lie here for a few moments, willing it to go away. I'd hoped that by moving back to London I could leave it behind, with no forwarding address. But now it's found me and it's not giving up without a fight. But neither am I. Summoning my courage, I throw back my duvet. Because if there's one thing I do know, it's that you must never give in to a bully. And The Fear is the very worst kind.

The women whom I love and admire for their strength and grace did not get that way because shit worked out. They got that way because shit went wrong and they handled it. They handled it in a thousand different ways on a thousand different days, but they handled it. Those women are my superheroes. ELIZABETH GILBERT

I've always found that the best experiences in life are the ones you didn't plan, the ones you stumble across and they just happen

You know, it never looks like you want it to, your hair's never perfect and it'll probably rain, but it doesn't matter. Those are your good old days. It's those times you always remember

I'm grateful for: My wine, which was so delicious I had to order two more glasses.

but having witnessed Cricket's heartbreak, there seems to be little comfort to be gained when someone you love dies. It's just a case of necessity. Of getting on with it. Of putting one foot in front of the other, and breathing in and out.

What is it with men and women and the constant battle over the central heating? Growing up, I can remember how every winter my dad turned into Chief Inspector Stevens of the Heating Police, constantly policing the thermostat and turning down the dial a click. Only for him to go to work and Mum to turn it back up two notches. Back and forth it went for my entire childhood.

I can't help feeling as if there's something missing in my life. But I don't know what it is. And the harder I look, the more I can't find it because there's just too much pressure and not enough time.

You're not too old, it's not too late, and yes you can.

Nature teaches you to have patience and faith. Life's just a cycle, you know. Things might seem dead, but they always come back to life . . .

But you love that house.' 'I do, yes, but it holds so many memories of Monty.' 'Isn't that good?' I reason. 'In many ways, yes, it can be of great comfort . . .' She pauses, then gestures around her. 'But life isn't a museum, Nell. I don't want to live in the past.

You want to be the one making the decisions. Sitting on the fence is one thing, but what happens when the fence is taken away from you? Do you jump off joyfully or fall crashing to the floor?

Because if what started out as me just trying to be truthful and tell it like it is has struck a chord with other people feeling just as flawed and confused as I do – and if in some small way it's helped by showing them they're not alone; that I'm here and I hear them – then that's the biggest bonus of all.

We're encouraged to be our true, authentic selves, but being told to feel happy when you're just not feeling it, only encourages us to be the exact opposite. Life can be wonderful but it can also be scary and hard. We should be free to feel sad or gloomy or just downright bloody miserable, without feeling like there's something wrong with us

Life doesn't hang around, it keeps moving and if you don't keep up you can lose things.

Life isn't complicated. It's very simple, really. It's us who make it complicated.

Time has a funny way of airbrushing relationships, removing all the things that were wrong so when you look back it looks much better than it really was.

If the worst is going to happen, it'll happen. Worrying can't protect you from that. And if it doesn't happen then you've missed out on all the time that when you could have been having fun

C'mon, you're gonna get upset sometimes. Breaking up is a shitty business. Someone always gets hurt. This time it happens to be you.

I was in love with the idea of him. An ideal of him. Of who I thought he was. Of who he used to be.