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He had been my almost. My might-have-been. I was afraid of what I wanted most - His kiss. Still, I collected kiss stories. -Susie Salmon
Alice Sebold
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the bittersweet feelings of yearning for an unattainable love.

In this quote, Susie Salmon expresses her emotional struggle with longing for a love that is just out of reach. She refers to the person as her 'almost' and 'might-have-been', indicating that although she desires him, fear holds her back from fully embracing her feelings. The mention of 'collected kiss stories' reveals her imagination and nostalgia for the romantic possibilities that never materialized, encapsulating the pain and beauty of unfulfilled love.

Themes

LoveLongingFearKissStoriesAlmost

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be shared during a discussion about lost love or longing for someone.

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