Quotes from Sarah Dessen

From this distance, in the dimness, the model looked surreal, made up of parts filled with buildings, bordered by long stretches of empty space. It reminded me of the way cities and towns look when you are flying at night. You can't make out much. But the places where people have come together, and stayed, are collections of tiny lights, breaking up the darkness.

I planned my whole future around Adam,' she said now, quietly. 'And now I have nothing.' 'No,' I told her, 'now you just don't have Adam. There's a big difference, Lissa. You just can't see it yet.

A life isn't just the pages you know, it's everything.

I have boobs! Chloe said again, a bit too loudly— she'd already had a couple of mini bottles at the Spot. My boobs are great, goddammit. You know that? They're fantastic! My boobs are amazing.

It's you who i have thought of when i am at my weakest & you who have pulled me through

Morris was not the type to offer a hug or even hold your hand. But there was something in his quiet indignation at the universe then--and Luke, now--that was just the kind of comfort I needed. I'm such a mess, I said. We're almost off the island and I didn't even ask you where you were going. He shrugged. No place. Wherever you are.

I was tired of hanging on, taking the torn pieces to make something whole with them.

And so we stood there in the kitchen, my mother and I, facing off over everything that had built up since June, when I was willing to hand myself over free and clear. Now I needed her to return it all to me, with the faith that I could make my own way.

It's only advice. Ignore it if you want.

He's very nice. He's something I replied. She considered this zipping her purse shut. Then she said Well everyone is. Everyone is Something. For some reason that stuck with me simple and yet not every since she'd said it. It was like a puzzle as well two vague words with one clear one between them.

Forgiveness is hard. Acceptance is doable.

Get back on that bike.

I'd been running for years: there was nothing scarier, to me, than to just be still with someone. And yet, there on that dark road, going home, I was.

there were no such things as absolutes, not in life or in people. it was day by day, if not moment by moment. all you could do was take on as much weight as you can bear.and if you're lucky, there's someone close enough by to shoulder the rest.

As if he was beating me to the punch, his words living forever, while I was left speechless, no rebuttal, no words left to say.

Like so many before them, they didn't care that my dad was only the messenger. They still wanted to shoot him.

I'd seen another shade of him, and if it had been light where we were now, he'd have seen the same of me. So I was grateful, as I had been so often in my life, for the dark.

but you could also look at it the other way. Like you're saying no matter how bad things are for you, I can still relate.

You're not the kind of person who smiles for nothing, Colie. I have to earn every one.

Like life isn't complicated enough. You should at least be able to follow the signs.

We sat there, not talking, for a few minutes. He ate the Moon Pie; only skinny people can scarf down junk food like that. Finally, I said, Norman? Yeah? Are you ever going to show me the painting? Man, he said. You are, like, so impatient. I am not, I said. I've been waiting forever. Okay, okay. He stood up and went over to the corner, picking up the painting and bringing it over to rest against the bright pink belly of one of the mannequins. Then, he handed me a bandana. Tie that on.

I don't think anybody ever really knows what's going to happen, he said. We're all just out here hoping for the best.

Nothing like being scolded by a hippie.

Somewhere along the way, I started to believe it myself. I think that being brave and self confident doesn't necessarily start inside, honey. It starts with the rest of the world, and it leads back to you.