The Time Traveler's Wife Quotes

Find quotes from this novel, with commentary from Shmoop.  Pick a theme below to begin.

Love Quotes

[Clare:] "Do you love her?" [Henry:] "Very much" […] I'm astonished to see that tears are streaming across her face […] [Clare:] "It's just that I thought maybe you were married to me."...

Time Quotes

[Clare:] I keep myself busy. Time goes faster that way. (Prologue.2)

Fate vs. Free Will Quotes

[Henry:] I hate to be where [Clare] is not, when [Clare] is not. And yet, I am always going, and she cannot follow. (Prologue.15)

Family Quotes

[Sharon to Henry:] "I think you've got the only nice one." (1.9.100)

Sex Quotes

[Clare to Henry:] "When I was a teenager I tried to get you to make love to me, and you never would, which of course made me much more determined about it. I think you thought you were going to war...

Marriage Quotes

[Grandma to Clare:] "Goodness, Clare, why in the world would you want to marry such a person? Think of the children you would have! Popping into next week and back before breakfast." (1.7.6.)

Versions of Reality Quotes

[Clare:] I'm at a loss because I am in love with a man who is standing before me with no memories of me at all. [...] I'm flooded with years of knowledge of Henry, while he's looking at me, perplex...

Memory and the Past Quotes

[Clare:] Henry is glancing around us, worrying that readers, co-workers are noticing us, searching his memory, realizing that some future self of his has met this radiantly happy girl standing in f...

Identity Quotes

[Henry:] When I am out there, in time, I am inverted, changed into a desperate version of myself. I become a thief, a vagrant, an animal who runs and hides. (Prologue.11)

Mortality Quotes

[Henry:] "It's not good to know things ahead. It screws up your life."[Clare:] "Yes. But you can't half tell me." [Henry:] "There's nothing to tell". [Clare:] I'm really beginning to panic. "She ki...