Love Eleanor Oliphant and want to remember the very best Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Quotes? These are some of my favourites, grouped into the categories of loneliness, depression, social normals, men and women and hope.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman became a bestseller upon its release in 2017 and has remained a favourite of readers since then. Lovely Eleanor with her blunt observations of those around her and pure soul captured the hearts of many.
It’s a beautifully written debut novel with so many quotable passages. It’s the kind of book that you’ll find covered in sticky tabs once you’re done with it. So I’ve gathered my favourite and what I think are the very best Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine quotes.
Reminisce about this wonderful story whilst reading through!
And if you haven’t read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine yet then what are you waiting for?
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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Quotes about Loneliness and Solitude
When we first meet Eleanor Oliphant, she is a character without any friends, who speaks only to her critical mother.
Her anti-social behaviour doesn’t help matters but no one has ever taken a chance on Eleanor.
She is deeply lonely and my heart ached for her at times.
Here are some of my favourite Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine quotes about loneliness.
“I took one of my hands in the other, tried to imagine what it would feel like if it was another person’s hand holding mine. There have been times where I felt that I might die of loneliness.”
“These days, loneliness is the new cancer—a shameful, embarrassing thing, brought upon yourself in some obscure way. A fearful, incurable thing, so horrifying that you dare not mention it; other people don’t want to hear the word spoken aloud for fear that they might too be afflicted, or that it might tempt fate into visiting a similar horror upon them.”
“Some people, weak people, fear solitude. What they fail to understand is that you don’t need anyone, you can take care of yourself.”
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Quotes About Depression
The main character Eleanor is clearly very depressed. She doesn’t know the joy that life can bring, having never really experienced it herself.
It’s deeply sad and moving to read, and watching Eleanor move away from suicidal thoughts and begin to open up is really heartwarming.
Here are my favourite Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine quotes about depression.
“I simply didn’t know how to make things better. I could not solve the puzzle of me.”
“Sometimes you simply needed someone kind to sit with you while you dealt with things.”
“In the end, what matters is this: I survived.”
“Time only blunts the pain of loss. It doesn’t erase it.”
“Grief is the price we pay for love, so they say. The price is far too high.”
“When you’re struggling hard to manage your own emotions, it becomes unbearable to have to witness other people’s, to have to try and manage theirs too.”
“There are days when I feel so lightly connected to the earth that the threads that tether me to the planet are gossamer thin, spun sugar. A strong gust of wind could dislodge me completely, and I’d lift off and blow away, like one of those seeds in a dandelion clock. The threads tighten slightly from Monday to Friday.”
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Quotes about People, Society and Social Norms
One of the things I loved most about Eleanor, is her blunt observations on other people and social norms.
She is rather antisocial when we first meet her and throughout the book, she undergoes a transformation through which she learns how other “normal” people interact with each other. But a lot of it doesn’t make sense to her.
And, to be honest, I have to agree with a lot of her opinions. Her blunt assessment of some of the absurdities of society kept me amused and made me love Eleanor all the more.
Here are some of my favourite Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine quotes about people and society.
“I have often noticed that people who routinely wear sportswear are the least likely sort to participate in athletic activity.”
“But, by careful observation from the sidelines, I’d worked out that social success is often built on pretending just a little. Popular people sometimes have to laugh at things they don’t find very funny, do things they don’t particularly want to, with people whose company they don’t particularly enjoy. Not me. I had decided, years ago, that if the choice was between that or flying solo, then I’d fly solo. It was safer that way.”
“It turned out that if you saw the same person with some degree of regularity, then the conversation was immediately pleasant and comfortable—you could pick up where you left off, as it were, rather than having to start afresh each time.”
“If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.”
“Was this how it worked, then, successful social integration? Was it really that simple? Wear some lipstick, go to the hairdressers and alternate the clothes you wear?”
“I find lateness exceptionally rude; it’s so disrespectful, implying unambiguously that you consider yourself and your own time to be so much more valuable than the other person’s.”
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Quotes about Men and Women
Having had very few interactions with other people, Eleanor is inexperienced when it comes to the games played between men and women. As above, she keenly observes the absurdities of dating and the expectations placed upon women.
“Did men ever look in the mirror, I wondered, and find themselves wanting in deeply fundamental ways? When they opened a newspaper or watched a film, were they presented with nothing but exceptionally handsome young men, and did this make them feel intimidated, inferior, because they were not as young, not as handsome? Did they then read newspaper articles ridiculing those same handsome men if they gained weight or wore something unflattering?”
“A woman who knew her own mind and scorned the conventions of polite society. We were going to get along just fine.”
“She had tried to steer me towards vertiginous heels again – why are these people so incredibly keen on crippling their female customers? I began to wonder if cobblers and chiropractors had established some fiendish cartel.”
“No thank you,” I said. “I don’t want to accept a drink from you, because then I would be obliged to purchase one for you in return, and I’m afraid I’m simply not interested in spending two drinks’ worth of time with you.”
“Men like Raymond, pedestrial dullards, would always be distracted by women who looked like her, having neither the wit nor the sophistication to see beyond mammaries and peroxide.”
“I feel sorry for beautiful people. Beauty, from the moment you possess it, is already slipping away, ephemeral. That must be difficult.”
Beautiful Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Quotes
The subject matter of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is quite tough and dark at times. But Gail Honeyman has a way with words and writes some of the most beautiful and poetic lines of modern literature.
“The moment hung in time like a drop of honey from a spoon, heavy, golden.”
“Your voice changes when you’re smiling, it alters the sound somehow.”
“Although it’s good to try new things and to keep an open mind, it’s also extremely important to stay true to who you really are.”
“In principle and reality, libraries are life-enhancing palaces of wonder.”
“I have always enjoyed reading, but I’ve never been sure how to select appropriate material. There are so many books in the world–how do you tell them all apart? How do you know which one will match your tastes and interests?”
Hopeful Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Quotes
Whilst Eleanor Oliphant begins as a deeply lonely, depressed, even suicidal character, the book has a much more hopeful ending. Through friendship, Eleanor discovers the petite joys of life and things start to look up for her. I’ve finished this post with some of my favourite hopeful Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine quotes.
“I suppose one of the reasons we’re all able to continue to exist for our allotted span in this green and blue vale of tears is that there is always, however remote it might seem, the possibility of change.”
“I allowed my mind to wander. I’ve found this to be a very effective way of passing the time; you take a situation or a person and start to imagine nice things that might happen. You can make anything happen, anything at all, inside a daydream.”
“…when you took a moment to see what was around you, noticed all the little things, it made you feel…. lighter.”
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What’s your favourite Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine quote?
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Laura
Founder & Editor of What’s Hot?
Favbookshelf
Saturday 11th of September 2021
I have seen this book on many bookstgram accounts. Always wondered what this book is like. Seems like a good book from quotes.