Quotes From The Time Traveler's Wife Book To Compare To The HBO Series

Fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger have been eagerly awaiting the premiere of the popular novel turned TV series on HBO on Sunday, May 15. Starring Theo James and Rose Leslie as Henry and Clare, the six-episode series will follow the pair as they navigate an unconventional relationship complicated by Henry’s genetic disorder — an abnormality which makes him time travel at unexpected times. If you want to compare the series to the novel which started it all, these quotes from The Time Traveler’s Wife book will give you some idea of what to expect from the title characters on-screen when the highly-anticipated series airs.

While The Time Traveler’s Wife was previously made into a 2009 movie starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, Henry and Clare’s non-linear love story will be further explored in the HBO series. Considering the main characters meet at often inconvenient points in their lives (Clare first meets Henry when she’s only 6), and there’s a lot of confusion when one characters knows more about their present (or future) than the other one does. At the heart of The Time Traveler’s Wife is the longing the pair feels when they’re separated by anther bout of Henry’s time traveling episodes. Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of The Time Traveler’s Wife quotes about absence, time, and lost love as Henry and Clare try to figure out how to have a normal relationship amidst their unusual circumstances. Only time will tell how HBO adapts The Time Traveler’s Wife into a series, but judging from these swoon-worthy quotes from The Time Traveler’s Wife, you can expect plenty of romance.

1. “I look at him, look at the book, remember, this book, this moment, the first book I ever loved.”
2. “Every minute of his life since then has been marked by her absence, every action has lacked dimension because she is not there to measure against. And when I was young I didn't understand, but now, I know, how absence can be present, like a damaged nerve, like a dark bird.”
3. “When the woman you live with is an artist, every day is a surprise.”
4. “Henry loves my hair almost as though it is a creature unto itself, as though it has a soul to call its own, as though it could love him back.”
5. “It's living up to being happy that's the most difficult part.”
6. Very few people meet their soulmates at age six. So you gotta pass the time somehow.:
7. “My apartment is basically a couch, an armchair, and about 4,000 books.”
8. “The compelling thing about making art—or making anything, I suppose—is the moment when the vaporous, insubstantial idea becomes a solid there, a thing, a substance in a world of substances.
9. “It's hard being left behind. It's hard to be the one who stays. Why is love intensified by absence?”
10. “When we met I was wrecked, blasted, and damned, and I am slowly pulling myself together because I can see that you are a human being and I would like to be one, too.”
11. “Tell me, Clare, why on earth would a lovely girl like you want to marry Henry?’”
12. “I love you, always. Time is nothing.”
13. “It comes out so quietly that I have to ask her to repeat it: ‘It’s just that I thought maybe you were married to me.’”
14. “The best love is the kind that weakens the soul, that makes us reach for more. That plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.”
15. “Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each moment I can see infinite moments line up, waiting. Why has he gone where I cannot follow?”