Top 100 Tia Williams Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Like Elizabeth Taylor said, ‘Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.”

— Tia Williams

2. “My mom told me. And you were young and scared and trying to be tough – and I promised you that you’d never go back. I promised. And she sent you back.” She gulped dryly. “Shane, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything I said yesterday. I’m sorry for blaming you for all these years. For hating you. I hated you so much.”

— Tia Williams

3. “Just be kind to yourself.”

— Tia Williams

4. “I wanna be everything,” he said, his mouth against her ear. “Wanna be the reason you light up. I wanna make you laugh, make you moan, make you safe.”

— Tia Williams

5. “A tree grows its branches out until it touches the tips of the next closest tree. And they’re linked forever. Because if they’re really close, their roots grow together. They’re so intertwined underneath that no matter what happens above ground, they stay connected.”

— Tia Williams

6. “Shane cupped her face in his hands. “It never ends, does it? Loving you never ends. Whether you’re Genevieve or Eva. Whether I lose you for years or wake up to your face every morning. I love you. You’re my home. And I want you forever.”

— Tia Williams

7. “You can’t imagine the utter bottomlessness of my disinterest in your opinion.”

— Tia Williams

8. “I want to know without words. I want to fall so violently that I risk breaking into a million pieces. I want to love so desperately it’s indecent. I want it to be wild and fated and forever. A no-choice connection.”

— Tia Williams

9. “No matter how perilous the journey, it’s never over for true soul mates.”

— Tia Williams

10. “I idealize you in fiction because I idealized you in real life,” he continued.”

— Tia Williams

11. “Because I barely survived Shane Hall. I barely survived myself. It was a dark time. My home life was traumatic. I was a chaotic, angry kid. Why reminisce?”

— Tia Williams

12. “Running away wasn’t empowering. An empowered woman would’ve indulged.”

— Tia Williams

13. “Women didn’t get to be bad boys.”

— Tia Williams

14. “I don’t want these clinical, awkward setups. I don’t feel like doing this twenty more times. I can’t imagine meeting my soulmate through an interview process. I want to know without words. I want fall so violently that I risk breaking into a million pieces. I want to love so desperately it’s indecent. I want it to be wild and fated and forever. A no choice connection.”

— Tia Williams

15. “The world was too loud for little-boy Shane. What he didn’t know was that he was training himself to be a deeply empathetic writer – understanding nuanced emotion, spying humanity in unexpected places, seeing past the obvious. He was taking notes for his future self, who would write it all down.”

— Tia Williams

16. “An angel among mortals.”

— Tia Williams

17. “Acting sober is an art,” he explained. “The trick is to say very little and be very still.”

— Tia Williams

18. “I’m alone. When I’m comatose from writing and mothering, when I’m hurting too badly to cook, talk, or smile, I curl up with ‘alone’ like a security blanket. Alone doesn’t care that I don’t shave my legs in the winter. Alone never gets disappointed by me.” Eva sighed. “It’s the best relationship I’ve ever been in.”

— Tia Williams

19. “History doesn’t repeat itself,” said Shane. “But it rhymes.” “Who said that? Nas?” “Mark Twain.”

— Tia Williams

20. “Yeah, but like, I just wanna ask her if she wants to go with me to Cold Stone or whatever. Get some ice cream,” grumbled Ty. “You’re doing too much.” “See, you don’t even need my help! You got a plan,” said Shane encouragingly. “Just ask her out tomorrow. And be confident with it. If you believe you’re that dude, she will, too.” “Maybe I should ask her if she’s lactose intolerant first.” “Under no circumstances should you do that.” “Nah, you right.”

— Tia Williams

21. “Damn, he’s an Aries. The thots of the zodiac.”

— Tia Williams

22. “I want to be the thought that lulls you to sleep. The memory that gets you off.”

— Tia Williams

23. “Adult social stuff can’t be harder than seventh grade. It’s not hard to make friends. Just be an active listener. If you listen hard enough, you can tell what a person needs from you. And if you give them what they need, you’ve got a friend for life.”

— Tia Williams

24. “I stayed alive for you, and you. But you killed me anyway.”

— Tia Williams

25. “Destigmatizing male vulnerability is the first step toward rebuilding the absolute ruin that straight men have left the world in.”

— Tia Williams

26. “I wanna be where all your paths end.” He nipped her earlobe. “I wanna do everything you do to me.” He pulsed his finger then, and she came with a shuddery cry. “You’re hired,” she breathed.”

— Tia Williams

27. “When bad things happened over and over, it was a sign. God was telling you to change. Your attitude, your hair, your address.”

— Tia Williams

28. “No matter how perilous the journey, it’s never over for true soul mates. Who doesn’t want a connection that burns forever, despite distance, time, and curses?”

— Tia Williams

29. “I’m not good at normal-people small talk. I always want to get weird. Start a conversation about wildly unfounded conspiracy theories. Liminal spaces. Dermoids.”

— Tia Williams

30. “I’ve been roaming around forever, and I’ve never been anywhere I wasn’t itching to leave.”

— Tia Williams

31. “When someone went too long without touch, they became hypersensitive to the slightest graze. There was truth to it. Last weekend, Eva had almost had an orgasm when her hairstylist shampooed her. And her hairstylist was a grandmother of six.”

— Tia Williams

32. “A mantra’s like a magic spell for your brain, telling it to chill.”

— Tia Williams

33. “Isn’t it obvious?” “Apparently not.” “I’m not just writing about you,” said Shane. “I’m writing to you.”

— Tia Williams

34. “She has the complexion of a wealthy infant.”

— Tia Williams

35. “Go ’head and judge me, miss. I fear nothing but the pitiless gaze of the Almighty. You could be Mommie Dearest or Clair Huxtable – don’t matter what kind of mother you are; daughters always blame moms for every mess they make.”

— Tia Williams

36. “Adulthood is a lie, Audre. We’re all just tall toddlers.”

— Tia Williams

37. “If you have the opportunity to make a moment meaningful, why not take it?”

— Tia Williams

38. “Then he met Eva, and she breathed the same air. She stuck to his bones, imprinted herself on his brain – and thoroughly rearranged his world, in the best way.”

— Tia Williams

39. “This is that family feeling, he thought. Of total acceptance, belonging to people. A connection that eclipsed everything.”

— Tia Williams

40. “Are you speaking metaphorically,” asked Cece, “or are you dating a man named Alone?” “You can’t be serious.” “My doorman is a SoundCloud rapper named Sincere. One never knows.”

— Tia Williams

41. “I’ve always loved you,” he whispered. “What a coincidence,” she whispered back. “I’ve always loved you, too.”

— Tia Williams

42. “Moving to New York was about reinvention. If you didn’t want that, you stayed in Kenosha, Wisconsin.”

— Tia Williams

43. “Now, I never got married. No, no, no, I ain’t one of those funny ladies. I just won’t fold myself up tiny so as not to put off no man.”

— Tia Williams

44. “You’re a sane person reacting to an insane situation.”

— Tia Williams

45. “I thought you were a problem that needed solving. But you don’t need solving. You need understanding.”

— Tia Williams

46. “Know why I have nice skin? No man stressing me out.”

— Tia Williams

47. “Religion. Hmm. I guess it’s like fire. In good hands, fire can be used to do positive things, like keep you warm. Make s’mores. In bad hands, it can burn a witch at the stake. Lynch a Black body.”

— Tia Williams

48. “Maybe that’s what real adult love was. Being fearless enough to hold each other close no matter how catastrophic the world became.”

— Tia Williams

49. “I just keep waiting for it not to hurt so bad. Every time I meet a woman, I want her to be you. And these sweet, pretty, smart girls fail so miserably. There’s nothing wrong with them; they’re just not you. You know that ‘other half’ people spend their life looking for? I already found her. She’s somewhere watching Inside the Actor’s Studio and eating yellow Skittles without me. I know who she is. But I can’t have her.”

— Tia Williams

50. “Prison is the school of the unlearned lesson.”

— Tia Williams