Quotes from David Levithan

Let me give you some free advice. She's a runner for sure- she'll run away every time without saying a word. But here's the thing- you are not a runner. And deep down, I don't think Norah wants to run, either. She's just feels like she has to. Partly because she's a tiresome spoiled-brat smartass with no fashion sense. And partly because she's a fucking human being.

The way you argued with me, you would have thought that we were debating the existence of God or whether or not we should move in together. These kinds of fights can never be won – even if you're the victor, you've hurt the other person, and there has to be some loss associated with that.

Because when a guy's a jerk or an asshole, it's easier because you know exactly where you stand.

All sorts of yayness floods my brain. Love is such a drug.

ineffable , adj . these words will ultimately end up being the barest of reflections, devoid of the sensations words cannot convoy. Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough.

Once time is lit, it will burn whether or not you're breathing it in. Even after smoke becomes air, there is the memory of smoke. I am seeing as if by the light of a match, a glimpse of my life and having it feel right.

The world loves stupid labels. I wish we got to choose our own.

I had made it somewhere special, and I'd gotten there all on my own. Nobody had given it to me. Nobody had told me to do it. I'd climbed and climbed and climbed, and this was my reward. To watch over the world, and to be alone with myself. That, I found, was what I needed.

I know from experience that beneath every peripheral girl is a central truth. She's hiding hers away, but at the same time she wants me to see it.

Maybe there is hope in the fragments, that what is lost can always be filled in by someone who knows.

blemish, n. The slight acne scars. The penny-sized, penny-shaped birthmark right above your knee. The dot below your shoulder that must have been from when you had chicken pox in third grade. The scratch on your neck- did I do that? This brief transcript of moments, written on the body, is so deeply satisfying to read.

Maybe your history just repeats and repeats until it batters you enough to snap the seams that hold you together

I move my feet, turn away from her, try to pretend she's not there, which is the biggest fucking joke I've ever not laughed at.

It was the most amazing feeling in the world. to know that something right happened, and to know that it had happened not through luck or command but simply because it was right.

aloof , adj . It has always been my habit, ever since junior high school, to ask that question: "What are you thinking?" It is always an act of desperation, and I keep on asking, even though I know it will never work the way I want it to.

The world, right now, is only us.

But we comforted ourselves with what we really meant to say, which was: I don't normally feel this good about what I'm doing. Measure the hope of that moment, that feeling. Everything else will be measured against it.

I know the odds are all against me and I know you might not feel this way too but I know I would rather die trying to know if I could mean something to you

The tenderness between two people can turn the air tender, the room tender, time itself tender. As I step out of bed and slip on an oversize shirt, everything around me feels like it's the temperature of happiness.

Do I really have to find a word for it? Can't it just be what it is?

It is not desire. Instead it is something deeper. I don't want to be with him constantly and forever. I want to be with him for the moment, and I want the moments to go on forever.

why won't they leave me alone? don't they realize I have a tinder heart and a paper body and that any spark will turn me straight to ash?

Every two people cause and intersection. Every person alters the world.

We gather the things we learned, and they don't nearly add up to fill the space of a life. You will miss the taste of Froot Loops. You will miss the sound of traffic. You will miss your back against his. You will miss him stealing the sheets. Do not ignore these things.