“Books are more than doctors, of course. Some novels are loving, lifelong companions; some give you a clip around the ear; others are friends who wrap you in warm towels when you've got those autumn blues. And some...well, some are pink candy floss that tingles in your brain for three seconds and leaves a blissful voice. Like a short, torrid love affair.”
―
Nina George,
The Little Paris Bookshop
“We cannot decide to love. We cannot compel anyone to love us. There's no secret recipe, only love itself. And we are at its mercy--there's nothing we can do.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Do you know that there's a halfway world between each ending and each new beginning? It's called the hurting time, Jean Perdu. It's a bog; it's where your dreams and worries and forgotten plans gather. Your steps are heavier during that time. Don't underestimate the transition, Jeanno, between farewell and new departure. Give yourself the time you need. Some thresholds are too wide to be taken in one stride.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Loving requires so much courage and so little expectation.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Memories are like wolves. You can’t lock them away and hope they leave you alone.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Perdu reflected that is was a common misconception that booksellers looked after books. They look after people.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Reading—an endless journey; a long, indeed never-ending journey that made one more temperate as well as more loving and kind.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Kästner was one reason I called my book barge the Literary Apothecary,” said Perdu. “I wanted to treat feelings that are not recognized as afflictions and are never diagnosed by doctors. All those little feelings and emotions no therapist is interested in, because they are apparently too minor and intangible. The feeling that washes over you when another summer nears its end. Or when you recognize that you haven’t got your whole life left to find out where you belong. Or the slight sense of grief when a friendship doesn’t develop as you thought, and you have to continue your search for a lifelong companion. Or those birthday morning blues. Nostalgia for the air of your childhood. Things like that.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Do we only decide in retrospect that we've been happy? Don't we notice when we're happy, or do we realize only much later that we were?” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“With all due respect, what you read is more important in the long term than the man you marry, ma chère Madame.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only… A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Often it’s not we who shape words, but the words we use that shape us.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“All the love, all the dead, all the people we've known. They are the rivers that feed our sea of souls. If we refuse to remember them, that sea will dry up too.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Habit is a vain and treacherous goddess. She lets nothing disrupt her rule. She smothers one desire after another: the desire to travel, the desire for a better job or a new love. She stops us from living as we would like, because habit prevents us from asking ourselves whether we continue to enjoy doing what we do.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Books keep stupidity at bay. And vain hopes. And vain men. They undress you with love, strength and knowledge. It’s love from within. Make your choice: book or…” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“The trouble is that so many people, most of them women, think they have to have a perfect body to be loved. But all it has to do is be capable of loving—and being loved.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Women tell you more about the world. Men only tell you about themselves.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Books aren’t eggs, you know. Simply because a book has aged a bit doesn’t mean it’s gone bad.” There was now an edge to Monsieur Perdu’s voice too. “What is wrong with old? Age isn’t a disease. We all grow old, even books. But are you, is anyone, worth less, or less important, because they’ve been around for longer?” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“To carry them within us - that is our task. We carry them all inside us, all our dead and shattered loves. Only they make us whole. If we begin to forget or cast aside those we've lost, then...then we are no longer present either.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“We cannot decide to love. We cannot compel anyone to love us. There's no secret recipe, only love itself. And we are at its mercy--there's nothing we can do.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Do you know that there's a halfway world between each ending and each new beginning? It's called the hurting time, Jean Perdu. It's a bog; it's where your dreams and worries and forgotten plans gather. Your steps are heavier during that time. Don't underestimate the transition, Jeanno, between farewell and new departure. Give yourself the time you need. Some thresholds are too wide to be taken in one stride.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Loving requires so much courage and so little expectation.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Memories are like wolves. You can’t lock them away and hope they leave you alone.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Perdu reflected that is was a common misconception that booksellers looked after books. They look after people.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Reading—an endless journey; a long, indeed never-ending journey that made one more temperate as well as more loving and kind.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Kästner was one reason I called my book barge the Literary Apothecary,” said Perdu. “I wanted to treat feelings that are not recognized as afflictions and are never diagnosed by doctors. All those little feelings and emotions no therapist is interested in, because they are apparently too minor and intangible. The feeling that washes over you when another summer nears its end. Or when you recognize that you haven’t got your whole life left to find out where you belong. Or the slight sense of grief when a friendship doesn’t develop as you thought, and you have to continue your search for a lifelong companion. Or those birthday morning blues. Nostalgia for the air of your childhood. Things like that.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Do we only decide in retrospect that we've been happy? Don't we notice when we're happy, or do we realize only much later that we were?” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“With all due respect, what you read is more important in the long term than the man you marry, ma chère Madame.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only… A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Often it’s not we who shape words, but the words we use that shape us.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“All the love, all the dead, all the people we've known. They are the rivers that feed our sea of souls. If we refuse to remember them, that sea will dry up too.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Habit is a vain and treacherous goddess. She lets nothing disrupt her rule. She smothers one desire after another: the desire to travel, the desire for a better job or a new love. She stops us from living as we would like, because habit prevents us from asking ourselves whether we continue to enjoy doing what we do.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Books keep stupidity at bay. And vain hopes. And vain men. They undress you with love, strength and knowledge. It’s love from within. Make your choice: book or…” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“The trouble is that so many people, most of them women, think they have to have a perfect body to be loved. But all it has to do is be capable of loving—and being loved.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Women tell you more about the world. Men only tell you about themselves.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“Books aren’t eggs, you know. Simply because a book has aged a bit doesn’t mean it’s gone bad.” There was now an edge to Monsieur Perdu’s voice too. “What is wrong with old? Age isn’t a disease. We all grow old, even books. But are you, is anyone, worth less, or less important, because they’ve been around for longer?” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
“To carry them within us - that is our task. We carry them all inside us, all our dead and shattered loves. Only they make us whole. If we begin to forget or cast aside those we've lost, then...then we are no longer present either.” ― Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
