They hate people and their stories; they have hated for so long and with such intensity that in the end the darkness enveloped their whole bodies until their shapes were no longer discernible. That is also why they are so difficult to defeat, because they can disappear into walls or into the ground or float up. They're ferocious and bloodthirsty, and if you're bitten by one you don't just die; a far more serious and terrible fate lies in store: you lose your imagination. (talking about shadows)

— Fredrik Backman

To love someone is like moving into a house," Sonja used to say. "At first you fall in love in everything new, you wonder every morning that this is one's own, as if they are afraid that someone will suddenly come tumbling through the door and say that there has been a serious mistake and that it simply was not meant to would live so fine. But as the years go by, the facade worn, the wood cracks here and there, and you start to love this house not so much for all the ways it is perfect in that for all the ways it is not. You become familiar with all its nooks and crannies. How to avoid that the key gets stuck in the lock if it is cold outside. Which floorboards have some give when you step on them, and exactly how to open the doors for them not to creak. That's it, all the little secrets that make it your home. " - Fredrik Blackman, A Man Called One

— Fredrik Backman

To teach her that not all monsters are in the beginning, and not all monsters look like monsters. Some carry their monstrosity inside.

— Fredrik Backman

Until there are so many of them that no one dares to chase them anymore. Until they're an army in themselves. Because if a sufficient number of people are different, no one has to be normal.

— Fredrik Backman

We have to do it for my mum's sake. Because I'm hoping that the last sorry will be to her.

— Fredrik Backman

We thought she'd save him. We all hoped so much that she'd save him because it would have been like a fairy tale and when one had lived in the dark for so long it's very difficult not to believe in fairy tales.

— Fredrik Backman

What is a community? It is the sum total of our choices.

— Fredrik Backman

When it comes to terror, reality’s got nothing on the power of the imagination[.]

— Fredrik Backman

Winners have a tendency to be forgiven in this town.

— Fredrik Backman

You can love something without loving everything about it. You don't have to feel embarrassed about not being proud. That applies to hockey, but it also applies to friends.

— Fredrik Backman