Quotes from Rachel Cohn

One part of Judaism called tikkum olam. It says that the world has been broken into pieces. All this chaos, all this discord. And our job – everyone's job – is to try to put the pieces back together. To make things whole again ... Maybe we're the pieces. Maybe what we're supposed to do is come together. That's how we stop the breaking.

What else could I be? If I were a mono-thinker, I probably wouldn't be an insomniac. How is a poly-thinker supposed to fall asleep, and more importantly, stay asleep, when thoughts just won't stop darting! darting! darting! through my head?

I am listening and I am listening because what I'm playing isn't something I'm thinking about, it's something I'm feeling all over.

I wanted to like her and I wanted her to like me and that was more want than I had saddled myself with in many a moon.

Books. I'd probably spend all my time alone and lost in books if I could. It's easier that way.

He's not my step brother technically, so I think it's okay that I kissed him once.

I thought about the bigger picture of my life, and about the people—and particularly the guys—I would encounter during my lifetime. How would I ever know when that moment was right, when expectation met anticipation and formed … connection?

I mean, like most guys, you carry around this girl in your head, who is exactly who you want her to be. The person you think you will love the most. And every girl you are with gets measured against this girl in your head. So this girl with the red notebook - it makes sense. If you never met her, she never has to get measured. She can be the girl in your head.

I mean, what if love isn't a yes-or-no question? It's not either you're in love or you're not. I mean, aren't these different levels? And maybe these things, like words and expectations and whatever, don't go on top of the love. Maybe it's like a map, and they have all their own place, and when you see it from the sky - whoa.

Everyone on this island wants something kept quiet. I want to roar

Hellaciously Homely.

Maybe your unspeakable defects give you power too?

I felt especially grateful now having the red Moleskine to confide in. Just knowing a Snarl was on the other side to read it—to possibly care—inspired my pen to move quickly in answer to his question.

Can we try to be wise with each other for a very long time?

I suspected that when something was a beginning and an ending at the same time, that meant it could only exist in the present

So this chocolate princess. Her knight in shining armor is the Easter Bunny.

These humans—they are cruel monsters. Liars. Deceitful. For the first time, I want to hurt them the way they hurt me. This is so unfair. My body feels numb, my energy spent, my mind deceived and angry.

I was strictly a college-ruled man myself, having no talent for illustration and a microscopic scrawl that made wide-ruled seem roomy. The blank pages were usually the most popular

Fuck Tris. I would give body parts to have a guy write something like that for me. My kidney? Oh, both of them? Here, Nick, they're yours—just write more for me. I'll give you a start: boy in punk club asks strange girl to be his girlfriend for five minutes, girl kisses boy, boy kisses back, boy then meets girl—what did you notice about this girl? Nick, let's hear some lyrics. Please? Ready. Set. Go.

The reward is in the risk. You can't stay hidden inside Grandpa's overprotective cloak forever. You've seemed like you needed to grow out of that for a while. Mom and Dad going away, and the red notebook, these things just helped. Now it's up to you to

His absence is time gained to spool my un-truths.

My heart literally aches, that shit is not made up.

So what do you have to confess now? I don't know why I'm saying any of this, except that it's the truth. I'm confessing that I don't know if I'm ready for this. What is 'this'? Being open. Being hurt. Liking. Not being liked. Seeing the flicker on. Seeing the flicker off. Leaping. Falling. Crashing.

Well what's in your Amazonian hope chest?