Quotes from Stephen Chbosky

It's great that you can listen and be a shoulder to someone, but what about when someone doesn't need a shoulder. What if they need the arm or something like that? You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things. Like take someone's hands when a slow song comes on for a change. Or be the one who asks someone for a date. Or tell people what you need. Or what you want.

Things get worse before they get better.

It's like all I can do is keep writing this gibberish to keep from falling apart.

I hate you No, you don't. My dad can be very calm sometimes. He's my hole world Don't ever say that about anyone again. Not even me. That was my mom. [pp.28]

You know what they say, if you make atleast one friend on your first day you're doing okay

Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.

He even let me smoke a cigarette in his office, but he urged me to quit smoking because of the health risks. He even had a pamphlet in his desk that he gave me. I now use it as a bookmark.

It's like if I blamed my Aunt Helen, I would have to blame her dad for hitting her, and the friend of the family that fooled around with her when she was little. And the person that fooled around with him. And God for not stopping this and things that much worse. And I did do that for a while, but then I just couldn't anymore. Because it wasn't going anywhere. Because it wasn't the point.

Sam tapped her hand on the steering wheel. Patrick held his hand outside the car and made air waves. And I just sat between them. After the song finished, I said something. "I feel infinite.

I was last. Sam walked up and held me for a long time. Finally she whispered in my ear. She said a lot of wonderful things about how it was okay that i wasn't ready last night and how she would miss me and how she wanted me to take care of myself while she was gone. You're my bestfriend, was all i could say in return.

It's like my very first memory, which I guess is the first time I was aware that I was alive.

I think it's nice for stars to do interviews to make us think they are just like us, but to tell you the truth, I get the feeling that it's all a big lie. The problem is I don't know who's lying.

Some people really do have it a lot worse than I do. They really do.

I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people. You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.

He was the boy that made mix tapes with themes and hand-colored covers until the day he hit my sister and stopped crying.

There's nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons

After I finished, I just laid around in my bed, looking at the ceiling, and I smiled because it was a nice kind of quiet.

And I know that my aunt Helen would still be alive today if she just bought me one present like everybody else. She would be alive if I were born on a day that didn't snow. I would do anything to make this go away. I miss her terribly. I have to stop writing now because I am too sad. Love always, Charlie

I get the feeling that it's all a big lie. The problem is I don't know who's lying.

I try to remind myself when I feel great like this that there will be another terrible week coming someday.

Sometimes, I think that the only perspective is to really be there.

It was just something that made everyone look around at each other and know that they were there. Sam and Patrick looked at me. And I looked at them. And I think they knew. Not anything specific really. They just knew. And I think that's all you can ever ask from a friend.

Patrick said that the problem was that since everything has happened already, it makes it hard to break new ground.

The one thing I did ask my dad was about the boys problems at home. Whether or not he thought the parents hit their son. He told me to mind my own business. Because he didn't know and would never ask and didn't think it mattered. Not everyone has a sob story, Charlie, and even if they do, its no excuse.