How we cite our quotes: (Page number)
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.