“Life can only be understood looking backward. It must be lived forward
“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed, is you.”
“I want to remember us, just as we are now.”
My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everyone else was aging, I was gettin' younger... all alone.
It's funny how sometimes the people we remember the least make the greatest impression on us
Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life.
It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you.
Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.
Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it.
If only one thing had happened differently: if that shoelace hadn't broken; or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier; or that package had been wrapped and ready, because the girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend; or that man had set his alarm and got up five minutes earlier; or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee; or that woman had remembered her coat, and got into an earlier cab, Daisy and her friend would've crossed the street, and the taxi would've driven by. But life being what it is — a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control — that taxi did not go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted, and that taxi hit Daisy, and her leg was crushed.
I think, right there and then, she realized none of us is perfect forever.
For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.
I promise you, I'll never lose myself to self-pity again.
Everyone ends up in diapers at some point, sweetie.
And in the spring, 2003, he looked at me. And I knew — that he knew — who I was. And then he closed his eyes, as if to go to sleep.
I know the circumstances and I've accepted that. Loving you is worth all of it. -Daisy.
“You never know what’s coming for you.”
“In the end, you have to let go.”
“I look a lot older than I really am.”
“We are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss”
“You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went, you can curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go.”
“We were meant to lose people. How else would we know how important they are?”
“Have I ever told you I’ve been struck by lightning seven times?”
“Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel . Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance.”
The letter to his daughter (submitted by Amanda)
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”
