Jessica Pan Quotes

• “It's not that we want others to fail, but we need to know that our own sorrows have echoes in others people's lives. That's what connects us. Strength may be impressive, but it's vulnerability that builds friendships.”

  Jessica Pan

  10 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “There's a simplicity and a sense of adventure to being alone, and I sometimes envy you for having it, as you explore Paris. Even when you're getting your heart broken, you can still wake up and not know what's going to happen next.”

  Jessica Pan

  9 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “nothing was ever accomplished by someone who sits in their apartment alone waiting for life to begin.”

  Jessica Pan

  7 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “The interlude before anything begins is always my favorite moment. So much unknown, but everything is already set up and we both know something is going to happen--but we just don't know how or when yet.”

  Jessica Pan

  4 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “Loneliness, on the other hand, has no age bracket. I used to think that exciting countries could keep you happy and warm on novelty alone. Now I know: you can move to Paris, delight in the city, drink your cafe au lait, but no matter how pretty the buildings and balconies are, eventually you're going to find yourself hugging the lamp posts for company like you're in Les Miserables.”

  Jessica Pan

  4 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “Social anxiety is a completely normal experience. We are social animals. We want to be accepted by our peer groups and we do not want to be rejected. If people do not have any social anxiety, something is seriously wrong with them.”

  Jessica Pan

  4 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “That’s the truth of the world, Jessica,” he says, casually full-naming me to let me know something big is coming. “Nobody waves—but everybody waves back."
  
  I hear his mic drop all the way from Chicago.”

  Jessica Pan

  3 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I’m in search of something more than a new place, though. I’m in search of a feeling and a state of being: that magical time when you can’t possibly predict what’s going to happen next or whom you are going to meet or where they are going to take you. In this state, everything flows, every surprise is a delight, and new people guide you to special adventures.”

  Jessica Pan

  3 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “I also have no idea how to be a girlfriend. I love sleeping alone and I avoid sick people at all costs. I don't even cook for myself, so I need someone who appreciates a lovingly baked frozen pizza.”

  Jessica Pan

  2 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I fell in love with him. But I don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available. I stay with him because I choose to everyday that I wake up, everyday that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.”

  Jessica Pan

  2 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “And you have to remind yourself that new opportunities exist, and will always exist.”

  Jessica Pan

  2 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I have been gone for some time now. It's hard to see my family only once or twice a year. I thought it would get easier as time passed, but it feels like as I get older, it makes me more sad. Sometimes I wake up in my apartment and really remember that most of my friends and family are more than six thousand miles away from me and I get a pang of loneliness.”

  Jessica Pan

  2 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “I don't know exactly what drove me to stray, but I think there's a certain sadness to finally getting what you want.”

  Jessica Pan

  2 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I'm tired of starting over in new countries. The first two times were exciting, but the next place I go, I want to stay for a long time. Each time, it gets harder and harder to leave behind my friends, my work, and all of my connections. I'd love to be in a place where I can have 113 books without giving them all away in a year or buy something that weighs more than five pounds.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “We've both moved our lives across the world and when it comes to what we are looking for, I think we're getting warmer.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I watched my first penalty shoot-out during the World Cup 2014 (Brazil vs. Chile): men cried, I cried, Neymar cried. I was done for. I loved it.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement

• “A man in his thirties raises his hand. “But people don’t always want to share their personal feelings and life, right? Some people might hate that.” Mark turns to him. He tells him, sure, maybe, but the fear of being intrusive is hugely exaggerated. The more important point is this: what we should actually fear is being boring and dying having never connected with anyone. Then he stares at all of us, meaningfully, and says it again, slowly. “The fear and bleak reality of being boring and dying having never connected with anyone is vastly underestimated.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I want to tell [him] everything - everything that has ever happened to me, every observation I have ever had, and I want to share every book, song, or movie I have ever loved”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “I had that very strange sensation of not recognizing my own life.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “It was raining and we sat huddled on the front steps of our porch and drank and laughed about how we had no idea what we were doing with our lives but we had ten more months to figure it out. Those were the days, my friend! We had it so good!”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “Sometimes when I have been low, very low, I have emerged from the slump by forcing myself to go on an escapade with an outgoing friend who really listens and cares. I know that sounds too simple, but I promise it gives you perspective - more perspective than watching TV alone.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I have to make a fool of myself daily to get anything done, including buying food and toiletries. Because of this, I'm losing my self-conscious shell, and it's so freeing.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “Every single person I've met, Astrid has also met. No one has met just me as me. I'm always in addition to her.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I am also trying to apply for real jobs, and the advice everyone always gives is to network. Network! Network! Not sure what this means, because apparently my version of networking comes off as flirting.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “I want to walk to a café after class and see you sitting there with your copper-tinted hair and dark blue eyes buried in a book...I wonder who's sitting in our usual places there now.”

  Jessica Pan

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement