How we cite our quotes: (Page number)
Quote #1
Still, getting over him didn't take that long at all. And that's the thing that makes me wary. Where did all those feelings go? People spend their whole lives looking for love. Poems and songs and entire novels are written about it. But how can you trust something that can end as suddenly as it begins? (58)
When readers first meet Natasha, she’s decided she doesn’t believe in love because it doesn’t always last forever. By the end of her Very Important Day with Daniel, she acknowledges that “meant to be” doesn’t have to mean “forever,” and she tells Daniel she loves him.
Quote #2
Love is just chemicals and coincidence. So why does Daniel feel like something more? (105)
It’s honestly impressive how committed Natasha is to explaining all her feelings away with science. She’s falling hard for this guy at the worst possible time, but she’s still convinced it’s just a coincidence that they happened to meet in the first place.
Quote #3
There's a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn't mean love at first sight. It's close to love at second sight. It's the feeling when you meet someone that you're going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don't love them right away, but it's inevitable that you will. (74)
Awww. Leave it to Daniel the aspiring poet to drop some sentimentality into discussions about the Novikov self-consistency principle. Koi no yokan is a much less stalker-y concept than “love at first sight” anyway.
Quote #4
Besides the fact that I'm being deported today, I am really not a girl to fall in love with. For one thing, I don't like temporary, no provable things, and romantic love is both temporary and non provable. The other, secret thing that I don't say to anyone is this: I'm not sure I'm capable of love. Even temporarily. (75)
This quote gives readers a little more insight into Natasha’s psyche. She dismisses other people’s love stories as anecdotal, non-scientific evidence that love exists, but because she personally hasn’t fallen in love, she’s convinced it doesn’t. If we were going to make that concept into a philosophical principle, we’d call it the comfort zone paradox: Just because you personally haven’t experienced something—love, faith, sexism, racism, etc.—your perspective doesn’t invalidate others who have experienced it. We’ll get off our soapbox now and return you to your regular Shmoop programming.
Quote #5
To be honest, I didn't really believe the article when I read it. You can't just make people fall in love, right? Love is way more complicated than that. It's not just a matter of choosing a couple of people and making them ask each other some questions, and then love blossoms. The moon and the stars are involved. I'm certain of it. (80)
What about the sun, Daniel? Sorry, we couldn’t resist a good title-check. Anyway, this quote sets up the entire premise of the novel: Daniel’s going to use a questionnaire from a real New York Times article to get Natasha to fall in love with him.
Quote #6
"Well," he says after he realizes that I'm not kidding, "My ingredients are friendship, intimacy, moral compatibility, physical attraction, and the X factor."
"What's the X factor?"
"Don't worry," he says. "We already have it."
"Good to know," I say, laughing. "I'm still not going to fall in love with you." (83)
Mad props to Daniel for this smooth “X-factor” line. As the youths say, he is #bae. And also Bae.
Quote #7
She comes close again and I barrel ahead, because apparently that's who I am with this girl. Maybe part of falling in love with someone else is also falling in love with yourself. I like who I am with her. I like that I say what's on my mind. I like that I barrel ahead despite the obstacles she raises. Normally I would give up, but not today. (150)
Good thing Daniel isn’t giving up, since today is all he and Natasha have (although he doesn’t know that yet). For anyone questioning the practicality of Daniel upending his entire future based on a single day, this quote explains his logic. Now that Daniel knows who he is with Natasha—unafraid, direct, and passionate—he doesn’t want that side of his personality to disappear.
Quote #8
All of which isn't to say that Jeremy Fitzgerald did the right thing or the wrong thing. It's only to say this: love always changes everything. (297)
This quote appears after Yoon describes all the consequences of Jeremy’s actions: bad for his ex-wife and kids, good for his future wife Hannah and their future kids. The outcome of their story doesn’t negate the betrayal of their affair, but it’s nice to know that Hannah is not just Jeremy’s side chick, and they stay together for the rest of their lives.
Quote #9
I know for sure that I will always compare every city skyline to New York's. Just as I will always compare every boy to Daniel. (313)
First loves tend to leave an impression no matter how your story ends, but when that ending is “I met my soulmate and we spent the most incredible day together before I was forced to return to Jamaica”—yeah, nobody else will be able to top that.
Quote #10
There are things to say to him, and Natasha doesn't know where, doesn't know how to begin. Maybe that's why Daniel wants to be a poet, so he can find the right words.
"I love you, Daniel," she says at last.
He grins at her. "I guess the questionnaire worked."
She smiles. "Yay, science."
A moment passes.
"I know," Daniel says, finally. "I already know." (332)
Aww. Maybe the silver lining to Natasha’s deportation is that it forced her to confront her feelings for Daniel almost immediately. If she’d been able to stay in NYC and they’d started dating, she’d probably be the type to wait two years to say “I love you” just on principle.