Quotes from Benjamin Alire Saenz

Young men and women come of age when they look at their parents and see them not only as their parents but as people. They gain a lot of compassion, and it's easier to accept their flaws.

I wanted to tell her happy was hard for me. But I think she already knew that.

I wondered about the science of storms and how sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and how the world refused to break.

I didn't think it was my job to accept what everyone said I was and who I should be.

But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry.

I wonder if he'd been as beautiful as Dante. And I wondered why I thought that.

Dad? Dad, no. No. I can't. I can't. Why are you saying these things?""Because I can't stand watching all that loneliness that lives inside you.

Someday, I'm going to have to break some of your rules, Mom.""I know, " she said. "Try to do it behind my back, will you?¨You can bet on that, Mom.¨We both sat there and laughed.

I think writing books is a way for me to work out certain issues. I write about what matters to me, always.

Summertime, it was a song, it was a season. I wondered if that season would ever live inside of me.