Love, Theoretically Quotes

“Have you considered that maybe you’re already the way I want you to be? That maybe there are no signals because nothing needs to be changed”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“You could be my entire world,” he whispers in my ear before moving to my collarbone. “If you let me.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“In my fantasies, you allow me to keep an eye on you.” I feel his lips at my temple. “And when I really let go, I imagine that you let me take care of you, too.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Bold of you to assume that the real me is my best hand.”
“Foolish of you to think it isn’t.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“I want you, Elsie. All the time. I think of you. All. The. Fucking. Time. I’m distracted. I’m shit at work. And my first instinct, the very first time I saw you, was to run away. Because I knew that if we’d start doing this, we would never stop. And that’s exactly how it is. There is no universe in which I’m going to let you go. I want to be with you, on you, every second of every day. I think – I dream of crazy things. I want you to marry me tomorrow so you can go on my health insurance. I want to lock you in my room for a couple of weeks. I want to buy groceries based on what you like. I want to play it cool, like I’m attracted to you and not obsessed out of my mind, but that’s not where I’m at. Not at all. And I need you to keep us in check. I need you to pace us, because wherever it is that we’re going… I’m here. I’m already right here.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“I like to see you. When you’re not trying to be someone else.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Or makes you resent your pathological inability to set boundaries, one or the two.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Elsie, it’s the bare minimum. The bar’s so low, you could pick it up and beat him with it.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“It’s easier like that, isn’t it? [...] Never showing anyone who you really are. [...] That way if something goes wrong, if someone rejects you, then it’s not about you, is it? When you’re yourself, that’s when you’re exposed. Vulnerable.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“There is no universe in which I’m going to let you go. I want to be with you, on you, every second of every day.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“I don’t want to be work. I don’t want you to feel that I’m work.”
“Somewhere along the way your wires got crossed. Your brain decided that you’re not worth people’s time and effort, and that if you ask for anything, they won’t just say no, they’ll also leave you. That’s not how love works, Elsie.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“You are the most magnificent thing that ever happened to me,”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Be gentle with me, Elsie. That’s all I ask.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Not everyone wants you to be someone else, Elsie. And I definitely wouldn’t want you to be George.”
“And why is that?”
“It would be a waste.”
“A waste of what?”
“Of you.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“There is something about you. That you tirelessly study people. Figure out who they are, what they want, and then mold yourself into whatever shape you think will fit them. I’ve seen you play half a dozen different roles for half a dozen different situations, switching personalities like you’re channel surfing, and I still have no idea who you are.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“It’s easier like that, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“Never showing anyone who you really are. That way if something goes wrong, if someone rejects you, then it’s not about you, is it? When you’re yourself, that’s when you’re exposed. Vulnerable. But if you hold back … Losing a game’s always painful, but knowing that you haven’t played your best hand makes it bearable.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“What do you loathe?”
“The way you seem to always get under my skin.”
“Elsie. You think you don’t live under mine.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“He studies my face for several moments, like he cannot stop on the cover or the first page, like he needs to read the whole book every time.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“How can you always tell what’s in my head?”
“Same way you can tell what’s in everyone’s head.”
“I just look. Try to pay attention to what people want.”
“That’s what I do. Except that I don’t care much about most people, but I can’t stop paying attention to you. So I look.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“I’m a mess. A work in progress. I’m two steps forward and one step back. I hoard my cheese, and I can’t efficiently load the dishwasher, and I’m going to struggle with the truth until the day I croak.
Jack knows all of this, and he loves me. Not anyway, but because.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“He gives me a confused, curious look. Like he knows that I’m complicated, but he doesn’t mind. Like he’d rather spend the rest of his life studying an inch of me than discovering the mysteries behind the universe.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Have I been doing it all wrong? Maybe instead of getting people to think that I’m worth their time, I should stop giving a shit about them?”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“You could be my entire world. If you let me.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“I’d give everyone the me they wanted, needed, craved, and in exchange they’d care about me.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“I want to play it cool, like I’m attracted to you and not obsessed out of my mind, but that’s not where I’m at. Not at all. And I need you to keep us in check. I need you to pace us, because wherever it is that we’re going…I’m here. I’m already right here.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Physics is like sex: it may yield practical results, but often that’s not why we do it.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Somewhere along the way your wires got crossed. Your brain decided that you’re not worth people’s time and effort, and that if you ask for anything, they won’t just say no, they’ll also leave you.” He says it matter-of-fact, like he’s Archimedes of Syracuse repeating his findings about upward buoyant forces to the acropolis for the tenth time. “That’s not how love works, Elsie. But don’t worry for now. I’ll show you.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“In my fantasies, you allow me to keep an eye on you. And when I really let go, I imagine that you let me take care of you, too.”
“Why?”
“Because in my head, no one has done it before.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Guy being the operative word. Because when you’re a woman talking about your research, there are anywhere between one and a million STEMlords ready to exploit every little weakness—every little sign that you’re not a lean, mean science machine. The you people want is sharp, impeccable, perfect enough to justify your intrusion in a field that for centuries has been “rightfully” male. But not too perfect, because apparently only “stone-cold bitches” are like that, and they do not make for congenial, affable colleagues. STEM culture has been a boys’ club for so long, I often feel like I can be allowed to play only if I follow the rules men made. And those rules? They downright suck.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“A coupon for a mud bath? Lovely. It’ll feel like practice for when I’m lowered in my grave and you all fight over my money.” It’s on brand:”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically