Top 500 Liane Moriarty Quotes (2026 Update)
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401. “When he first met her odd, detached parents he understood that Heather had grown up starved of love, and when you’re starved of something you should receive in abundance, you never quite trust it.”

— Liane Moriarty

402. “Scans showed that the brain activity of someone who had taken psilocybin bore striking similarities to the brain of an experienced meditator during deep meditation.”

— Liane Moriarty

403. “As Jane looked around her, she felt that dissatisfied feeling she often experienced when she was somewhere new and lovely. She couldn’t quite articulate it except with the words “if only I were here”. This little beachside cafe was so exquisite, she longed to really be there – except, of course, she was there, so it didn’t make sense.”

— Liane Moriarty

404. “She thought it was illegal to watch television when the sun was shining.”

— Liane Moriarty

405. “The children had become wriggly and giggly, almost as if they were drunk. They seemed unable to sit still. They were sliding of their chairs, constantly knocking cutlery onto the floor, and talking in high-pitched voices over the top of one another. Alice didn’t know if this was normal behavior or not. It wasn’t exactly relaxing. Nick had his jaw clenched, as if this dinner were a horrible medical procedure he had to endure.”

— Liane Moriarty

406. “She looked at her nine guests, all of whom had their eyes obediently closed as they waited her instructions. Their destinies were in her hands. She was going to change them not just temporarily, but forever.”

— Liane Moriarty

407. “It felt like it was all still there, that time of their lives, somewhere metaphysical, accessible through some magical means other than memory.”

— Liane Moriarty

408. “Now here they were. She couldn’t exactly say if Savannah had caught them on an upswing or a downswing, or if they’d finally found an equilibrium that would last them until death did them part. Sometimes it felt like their relationship ebbed and flowed over a day, or even a conversation. She could feel affection followed by resentment in the space of ten minutes.”

— Liane Moriarty

409. “You know, Madison, people are going to say mean things to you all through your life, and if you keep reacting like that, you’re going to end up in jail.”

— Liane Moriarty

410. “She remembered her friend Ines talking about how, after her divorce, she’d constructed a desk from an IKEA flatpack on her own while playing ‘I Am Woman’, but then, after she was done, all she’d wanted to do was call her ex and tell him about it.”

— Liane Moriarty

411. “Listeria, wisteria. Ha. Funny words. She.”

— Liane Moriarty

412. “Then how is it that not a single one of you can maintain a long-term relationship? Did your father and I not set a good example to you? Of a good marriage?’ Her children all dropped their heads as if she’d called for volunteers for an unpleasant task. ‘So your dad and I weren’t.”

— Liane Moriarty

413. “When you divorce someone, you divorce the whole family.”

— Liane Moriarty

414. “Sometimes it was exhilaratingly easy to be happy again. Other times they found that they did have to “try”.”

— Liane Moriarty

415. “Detoxing is a myth, darling, it’s been debunked! Your liver does it for you. Or maybe it’s your kidneys. It’s all taken care of somehow.”

— Liane Moriarty

416. “It had felt like she was starting a new job: her job as a primary school mother. There would be rules and paperwork and procedures to learn.”

— Liane Moriarty

417. “My God, she despised spaghetti bolognese. Night after night after night, plate after plate after plate. The laundry, the ironing, the mopping, the sweeping, the driving. She’d never resented it at the time but now she resented every moment, every single bloody lamb chop.”

— Liane Moriarty

418. “She has never been loved by someone who is happy just to see her happy.”

— Liane Moriarty

419. “Alice walked into the kitchen one day and found Tom carefully stuffing his nose with frozen peas. I wanted to see if the peas would come out of my eyeballs, he told the doctor.”

— Liane Moriarty

420. “Her mother specialized in the tiny razor-sharp dig wrapped in a soft compliment, so you didn’t notice the blood until afterward.”

— Liane Moriarty

421. “Harry Potter deserved to feel fear and confusion, because he was legally, morally and spiritually in the wrong. It happened so rarely that you knew that you were right and the other guy was wrong; Troy was Spider-Man, the Hulk, Captain America. He was goddamned Batman. He had never felt better.”

— Liane Moriarty

422. “Then I said those words I’d heard Mum say to some women, with more conviction than any of her other predictions. I said, “I see you leaving.” I see you leaving. It’s what my mother would say to women who cried into soggy, balled-up handkerchiefs while they asked, “Will I ever be happy, Madame Mae?” She’d say it over and over, at every reading: I see you leaving, I see you leaving, I see you leaving. Until finally they saw themselves leaving too.”

— Liane Moriarty

423. “In case she can’t get what’s in her head and her heart on the canvas. Maybe she’s afraid of being afraid. That she’ll be so paralyzed by fear she won’t do a thing, she’ll just stand there with her paintbrush, feeling like a fraud.”

— Liane Moriarty

424. “You won’t necessarily win against fate, but you should at least put up a fight.”

— Liane Moriarty

425. “That’s true,” she’d said, amazed and terrified by the thought. A toddler: an actual miniature person, created by them, belonging to them, separate from them.”

— Liane Moriarty

426. “On the surface they seemed loving and cheerful but she could sense dysfunction bubbling ominously beneath their sporty, matter-of-fact demeanours.”

— Liane Moriarty

427. “Many people are convinced the Big Banana was secretly replaced by a smaller version, so much so that journalists have written articles about it, but it’s not true. It just looks smaller when we visit again as grown-ups. Nothing dazzles like the first time.”

— Liane Moriarty

428. “Grandmothers died. It was to be expected. You weren’t even allowed to be that upset about it. Please don’t let Frannie have died. Please don’t let anyone have died. “Nobody else in our family will.”

— Liane Moriarty

429. “She believed men’s egos were as fragile as eggs.”

— Liane Moriarty

430. “The last time she had had anything close to an enemy, she was in primary school herself. It had never crossed her mind that sending your child to school would be like going back to school yourself.”

— Liane Moriarty

431. “Remember your ABC?” he’d ask, so often it got irritating. “Accept nothing. Believe nothing. Check everything,” Christina would answer.”

— Liane Moriarty

432. “Those were her last words. They were excellent last words, Mum. Well done. An hour later, she took a breath. We waited. There were no more breaths.”

— Liane Moriarty

433. “It’s excellent.” Lars took another sip, trying to get the full picture. Wine could fool you: all sunshine and apples and spaghetti and then nothing but sour disappointment and empty promises.”

— Liane Moriarty

434. “Feel like driving your car into the nearest telegraph pole? Therapist Dr Jeremy Hodges can steer you in a better direction. FREE bottle of anti-depressants for the first ten appointments. Or.”

— Liane Moriarty

435. “She had the kind of thin bony body and hard face that speaks of addiction and the streets. There was a nearly healed cut over one eye with faint purplish bruising, and Troy tried to feel the sympathy she obviously deserved, but his heart was as hard and suspicious as an ex-girlfriend’s.”

— Liane Moriarty

436. “Negativity hid fear.”

— Liane Moriarty

437. “It was extraordinary the way her body knew how to do things – the mobile phone, the makeup, the lock – without her mind remembering her ever having done them before.”

— Liane Moriarty

438. “But that’s the thing about life: both your wildest dreams and your worst nightmares can come true.”

— Liane Moriarty

439. “When he’s not being a psychotic monster,” said Dominick.”

— Liane Moriarty

440. “He just randomly, arbitrarily, idiotically broke her heart.”

— Liane Moriarty

441. “Amy once told Joy that she had no idea how lonely it felt to be single. Joy had wanted to tell her that you could still be lonely when you were married, that there had been times when she had woken up day after day crushed with loneliness, and still made breakfast for four children.”

— Liane Moriarty

442. “It’s not romantic being poor, it’s dreadful.”

— Liane Moriarty

443. “It felt pointless celebrating without other people, as if the whole objective had always been to perform the festivities for an audience.”

— Liane Moriarty

444. “Alice had yearned to be a little disruptive, but she couldn’t work out how you got started.”

— Liane Moriarty

445. “The other night I dreamed I saw my parents dancing and they turned and saw me, and held out their arms. I ran to them, fast as the wind, like a child.”

— Liane Moriarty

446. “It was so fast and violent and unexpected. Like a dear friend suddenly punching you in the face. Like some cruel god had done it on purpose. To be nasty. Picked up the tree and slammed it across the Mini in a fit of temper.”

— Liane Moriarty

447. “He hated Harry for dumping his father even more than he hated him for cheating.”

— Liane Moriarty

448. “You were sad and hurt. Maybe your heart was broken, but you weren’t broken.”

— Liane Moriarty

449. “Parents do tend to judge each other. I don’t know why. Maybe because none of us really know what we’re doing?”

— Liane Moriarty

450. “She was getting far too used to having someone cook and clean for her. This was what it must be like to be a celebrity. No wonder they were so charismatic and cheerful on talk shows. Joy could feel herself becoming more charismatic and cheerful by the day.”

— Liane Moriarty