Quotes from Ned Vizzini

Adolescence is the most Technicolor time in our lives. It's the time when adulthood is new and we care most about it. It contains the highs and lows that excite me as a writer.

I think you run out of 'I love yous

Some of the most profound truths about us are things that we stop saying in the middle.

Is that the truth, Jimmy?" I ask without looking at him. "It's the truth and it come to ya!" I smile.

And when you say the truth you get stronger.

You have tremendous freedom in the young adult book world to write what you want. You can put R-rated content in a book that you can't in a similarly targeted movie.

Putting lessons in young adult books is very dangerous.

its hard to talk when you want to kill yourself

It's a huge thing, this Shift, just as big as I imagined. My brain doesn't want to think anymore; all of a sudden it wants to do.

You shouldn't be able to be alive and you are. You want to trade?

Depression starts slow.

The stuff adults tell you not to do is the easiest.

Ski. Sled. Play basketball. Jog. Run. Run. Run. Run home. Run home and enjoy. Enjoy. Take these verbs and enjoy them. They're yours, Craig. You deserve them because you chose them. You could have left them all behind but you chose to stay here. So now live for real, Craig. Live. Live. Live. Live. Live.

I want to live but I want to die. What do I do?

Sometimes when you open a book, time stops.

What am I always going to do? I'm going to go home and freak out.I'm going to sit with my family and try not to talk about myself and what's wrong. Im going to try and eat. Then I'm going to try and sleep. I dread it. I can't eat and I can't sleep. I'm not doing well in terms of being a functional human, you know?

That made me happy. That was my Anchor.

you have to be the prude or the slut, and if you pick one, other people hate you for it, and you can't trust anyone anymore, because they're all after the same thing, and you see that you can never go back to how was before…

She doesn't want to end up like me. At least I'm giving someone an example not to follow.

I feel dead, wasted, awful, broken and useless. It's not the kind of feeling you forget.

deep down I believe my year was a special year: it produced me.

The Shift is coming. The Shift has to be coming. Because if you keep living like this you'll die.

And I could have died right then. And considering how things went, I really should have.

I have a system with bathrooms. I spend a lot of time in them. They are sanctuaries, public places of peace spaced throughout the world for people like me.