Quotes About Authenticity

if you wanted to do something absolutely honest, something true, it always turned out to be a thing that had to be done alone.

The whole point of crying was to quit before you cornied it up. The whole point of grief itself was to cut it out while it was still honest, while it still meant something. Because the thing was so easily corrupted, let yourself go and you started embellishing your own sobs.

He found it so easy and so pleasant to cry that he didn't try to stop for a while, until he realized he was forcing his sobs a little, exaggerating their depth with unnecessary shudders. … The whole point of crying is to quit before you coined it up. The whole point of grief itself was to cut it out while it was still honest, while it still meant something. Because the thing was so easily corrupted

She was calm and quiet now with knowing what she had always known, what neither her parents nor Aunt Claire nor Frank nor anyone else had ever had to teach her: that if you wanted something to do something absolutely honest, something true, it always turned out to be a thing that had to be done alone.

What are you? An after school special?

Look, Rose. You don't have to keep up with the hard-to-get thing. You already got me.

Sanity's overated, my darling.

We try to do what's right, or rather what other say is right. But sometimes, when that goes against who we are...you have to choose.

Your truths are worse than your lies.

No one had ever called me unnatural before, except for the time I put ketchup on a taco.

Maybe I was in love, but I was still me, after all.

The truth, huh? No one wants to hear the truth. The truth is never sexy. But you... You are too goddamned sexy to be real. -Christian to Lissa

No one was normal, not really.

You can put on as many airs as you want, but in the end, that dress is the same as you: an old, cheap design dressed up to look like its worth more than it is.

You guys are so caught up in your polished images and your passive-aggressive comments that no one ever comes right out and says anything. Well, I'm going to.

I don't think most people take honest well. They prefer the games. They want to believe the pretty lies.

Rose was so full of life and passion that sometimes she seemed more human than I was.

But with Dimitri, I never felt like I had to be anything more what I already was. I didn't have to entertain him or think up jokes or even flirt. It was enough to just be together, to be completely comfortable in each other's presence..

Not me. Give me honesty anytime.

I thought with all this freedom and self-discovery and expression of our love stuff that we could finally stop with the whole Zen master wisdom and practical advice crap.

All those other flings I've had are just ashes in the wind, scattered and forgotten. But you . . . you're the real thing. The fire that keeps burning in my life. You're the one. There's no one else I feel this connected to. And if I could do all those things, stay with you, make love—with the lights on—tell you everything that weighs on me, I would.

We try to do what's right, or rather, what others say is right. But sometimes, when that goes against who we are...you have to choose

You can't force love, I realized. It's there or it isn't. If it's not there, you've got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you've got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.

Imperfection is endearing.