Top 100 Lisa Genova Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Our brains are wired differently, and we have to figure out how to make them work.”

— Lisa Genova

52. “At some point, there would simply be no point.”

— Lisa Genova

53. “Her mother was Jewish, but her father had insisted that she and Anne be raised Catholic. So she went to mass every Sunday as a child, received communion, went to confession, and was confirmed, but because her mother never participated in any of this, Alice began questioning the validity of these beliefs at a young age. And without a satisfying answer from either her father or the Catholic Church, she never developed a true faith.”

— Lisa Genova

54. “A flower doesn’t blossom from a seed without the persistent love of sun and water.”

— Lisa Genova

55. “Location matters in destiny as much as it does in real estate.”

— Lisa Genova

56. “I smile, loving him for changing with me, for going where my Neglect has taken us, for getting the new me.”

— Lisa Genova

57. “Her unfulfilled life has always been a prison of her own making, the thoughts she chose and believed, the fear and blame, paralyzing her in her unhappiness, telling her that her dreams were too big, too impractical, too unlikely, too hard to achieve, that she didn’t deserve them, that she shouldn’t want them, that she didn’t need them.”

— Lisa Genova

58. “You can be in Downward Dog, hating every second of it. Or you can be in this pose, peaceful and nonreactive, breathing calmly. Either way, you’re in this pose. You decide the quality of your experience. Be the thermostat, not the temperature.”

— Lisa Genova

59. “Her baby boy would play little league baseball, star in the school play and be good at math. She didn’t know then that she should have had much simpler dreams for her beautiful son, that she should have looked upon her newborn baby boy and thought ‘I hope you learn to talk and use the bathroom by the time you’re seven.”

— Lisa Genova

60. “Her parents’ professional lives served as shining examples of what could be gained from setting lofty and individually unique goals and pursuing them with passion and hard work.”

— Lisa Genova

61. “She’s said she doesn’t want to. Go ahead and ask her. Just because she has Alzheimer’s doesn’t mean she doesn’t know what she does and doesn’t want. At three in the morning, she wanted scrambled eggs and toast, and she didn’t want to go back to bed. You’re choosing to dismiss what she wants because she has Alzheimer’s.”

— Lisa Genova

62. “You’ve had the power all along, girl. Go live your dreams.”

— Lisa Genova

63. “The thought of being immersed in the jazz scene in New Orleans, that magical hodgepodge of Delta-blues guitar riffs, brassy ragtime horns, and sultry French Gypsy music is too painful for Karina to stomach. Every girl loves a wedding unless the groom is the lost love of her life.”

— Lisa Genova

64. “They walk together, listing and pitching, bumping off the hallway walls and each other’s hips. A drunk wife and a husband with HD. They make a fine pair. As they lurch down the hallway and finally make it to the kitchen, it occurs to Joe that this is the best anyone can hope for in life. Someone you love to stagger through the hard times with.”

— Lisa Genova

65. “And you, Mom. I loved you. You’ve asked if i felt and understood that you loved me. of course I did. And you know this. I loved your love because it kept me safe and happy and wanted, and it existed beyond words and hugs and eyes.”

— Lisa Genova

66. “Anyone could be seduced by research when the results poured in. The trick was to love it when the results weren’t forthcoming, and the reasons why were elusive.”

— Lisa Genova

67. “What she knew and understood, what she liked and disliked, how she felt and perceived; was also like a soap bubble, ever higher in the sky and more difficult to identify...”

— Lisa Genova

68. “But reading her journals has helped her to remember more than that morning. There was more to Anthony’s life than his death. And there was more to Anthony than his autism. So much more. She can think about Anthony now and not be consumed by autism or grief.”

— Lisa Genova

69. “On the road to any great achievement are a thousand missteps, a thousand more dead ends. Success cannot be born without the life and death of failure.”

— Lisa Genova

70. “Why weren’t they brave enough to celebrate a life that included autism? She wanted to, and she thinks she eventually got there, but it took her too long. Just as she was ready to dance, the music stopped playing.”

— Lisa Genova

71. “As they lurch down the hallway and finally make it to the kitchen, it occurs to Joe that this is the best anyone can hope for in life. Someone you love to stagger through the hard times with.”

— Lisa Genova

72. “Prioritizing hurt, a reminder that the clock was ticking, that some things would be left undone.”

— Lisa Genova

73. “Voleva uccidersi. Pensieri impulsivi di suicidio le si presentarono rapidi e con forza, allontanando e spingendo via ogni altra idea, intrappolandola per giorni in un angolo oscuro e disperato.”

— Lisa Genova

74. “I know what you’re going through is terrifying and unfair and really hard. But you have to go through it. Right now, you’re just standing still. You’re sinking in it. Let me hold your hand and go through it with you.”

— Lisa Genova

75. “This is why mothers have more babies. We forget about the pain and discomfort and wild inconvenience of pregnancy and childbirth so we can feel that heavenly feeling of holding a warm baby snuggled and content against our chests again. It’s like nothing else in this world.”

— Lisa Genova

76. “Reality depends on perspective, on what is paid attention to.”

— Lisa Genova

77. “Every breath is a risk. Love is why we breathe.” –Katie O’Brien She.”

— Lisa Genova

78. “He laughs again. “You still have the discriminating palate of a farm animal.”

— Lisa Genova

79. “Concern is a thin hair on the head of pity.”

— Lisa Genova

80. “For a split second every morning, she forgets. And then the black heaviness is there, and she wonders what it is, and then she remembers.”

— Lisa Genova

81. “Thank you for all your guidance and wisdom, for setting the bar so much higher than I thought I could reach, and for giving me plenty of room to run with my own ideas. You’ve been best teacher I’ve ever had. If I achieve in my life a fraction of what you’ve accomplished in yours, i’ll consider my life a success.”

— Lisa Genova

82. “Bach, Chopin, Schumann, these composers have mastered the art of listening. Richard hears Debussy’s “Clair de lune,” and every cell in his body has a broken heart and bare feet dancing in the moonlight. Playing Brahms is communing with God.”

— Lisa Genova

83. “Everything begins and ends. Every day and night, every concerto, every relationship, every life. Everything ends eventually.”

— Lisa Genova

84. “And, like a lightning strike, there is his example. His mother before him. The lesson that she passed down for him to pass on to his children – the courage to face every breath with love and gratitude.”

— Lisa Genova

85. “The majority of women in Welmont with children Charlie’s age never miss a soccer game and don’t earn special good mother status for being there. This is simply what good mothers do. These same mothers herald it an exceptional event if any of the dads leave the office early to catch a game. The fathers cheering on the sidelines are upheld as great dads. Fathers who miss the games are working. Mothers who miss the games, like me, are bad mothers.”

— Lisa Genova

86. “And she’d apologize for being so sensitive and moody lately. His warm hand on her hip brought her into the curve of his body. With his breath on her neck, she fell into a deep sleep, convinced that she was safe.”

— Lisa Genova

87. “The spectrum is long and wide, and we’re all on it. Once you believe this, it becomes easy to see how we’re all connected.”

— Lisa Genova

88. “Millennials. They’re all afraid to make a mistake.”

— Lisa Genova

89. “Her unfulfilled life has always been a prison of her own making.”

— Lisa Genova

90. “The room does feel strange, oppressive even, with the TV off. In fact, Katie can’t remember ever being in this room without it on. It’s as if they’re missing their fifth sibling, the one who never shuts up and demands all the attention.”

— Lisa Genova

91. “Lotus flowers blossom while rooted in mud, a reminder that beauty and grace can rise above something ugly.”

— Lisa Genova

92. “She imagines the keys under her fingers as she plays along with her mind’s ear, the motor plan unfolded like an old family recipe, still legible after so many years.”

— Lisa Genova

93. “Why couldn’t they do that? Why couldn’t they hold on to each other and block out the world? Why couldn’t they surrender to what they couldn’t control? Why weren’t they brave enough to celebrate a life that included autism? She wanted to, and she thinks she eventually got there, but it took her too long. Just as she was ready to dance, the music stopped playing.”

— Lisa Genova

94. “As she waited for the applause to subside, she thought of the statistic that said people feared public speaking more than they feared death. She loved it. She enjoyed all of the concatenated moments of presenting in front of a listening audience – teaching, performing, telling a story, teeing up a heated debate. She also loved the adrenaline rush. The bigger the stakes, the more sophisticated or hostile the audience, the more the whole experience thrilled her.”

— Lisa Genova

95. “She was brought up strict Irish Catholic... Protestants were evil, monstrous people and somehow probably contagious, and Katie grew up fearing them, praying to God she’d never see one.”

— Lisa Genova

96. “Making him wrong allows her to feel right, and feeling right is her drug of choice.”

— Lisa Genova

97. “Someday, scientists will discover a vaccine, a prophylactic, a cure, and people will talk about ALS the way they talk about polio. Parents will tell their children that people used to get something called ALS, and they died from it. It was a horrible disease that paralyzed its victims. Children will vaguely imagine the horror of it for a moment before skipping along to a sunnier topic, fleetingly grateful for a reality that will never include those three letters.”

— Lisa Genova

98. “Jazz improvisation is a speech without a script. It’s twelve notes and doing anything she pleases. There are no rules, no boundaries. Verbs don’t have to follow nouns. There is no gravity. Up can be down.”

— Lisa Genova

99. “Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. But she hasn’t been big enough or spiritually evolved enough or brave enough to do it. Richard is sick and dying, and she still can’t let him off the.”

— Lisa Genova

100. “Nearing the shortest day of the year, it changes from day to night in the blink of an eye, reminding me of how everything can change in an unnoticed moment.”

— Lisa Genova