“I can’t forget things, or ignore them-bad things that happen,” I said. “I’m a lay-it-all-out person, a dwell-on-it person, an obsess-about-it person. If I hold things in and try to forget or pretend, I become a madman and have panic attacks. I have to talk.
I love the idea of the big life – the life that matters, the life that makes a difference. The life where stuff happens, where people take action. The opposite of the life where the girl can’t even speak to the boy she likes; the opposite of the life where the friends aren’t even good friends, and lots of days are wasted away feeling bored and kind of okay, like nothing matters much.
Always do what you’re afraid to do.
…
I will prove myself strong when they think I am sick.
I will prove myself brave when they think I am weak.
Silence is a protective coating over pain.
See the world as it is, not as you wish it would be
Love is when you give someone else the power to destroy you, and you trust them not to do it.
Be a little kinder than you have to.
The problem is I can think whatever I think but I still feel the way I feel.
My heart spasmed among the peonies like a trout.
What if we could stop being different colors, different backgrounds, and just be in love?
We should not accept an evil we can change.
A tomato may be a fruit, but it is a singular fruit. A savory fruit. A fruit that has ambitions far beyond the ambitions of other fruits.
We can’t know or say what other people do. You have to think what you want to do to get the situation where you want it to be.
They do sometimes go crazy, these people, because the world is telling them not to want the things they want. It can seem saner to give up-But then one goes insane from giving up.
I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools.
I can feel like a hag some days if I want! And I can tell everybody how insecure I am if I want! Or I can be pretty and pretend to think I’m a hag out of fake modesty-I can do that if I want, too. Because you, Livingston, are not the boss of me and what kind of girl I become.
Maybe a friend is someone who wants your updates. Even if they’re boring. Or sad. Or annoyingly cutesy. A friend says “Sign me up for your boring crap, yes indeed”-because he likes you anyways. He’ll tolerate your junk.
I looked at her. my lovely, tall mother with her pretty coil of hair and her hard, bitter mouth. Her veins were never open. Her heart never leapt out to flop helplessly on the lawn. She never melted into puddles. She was normal. Always. At any cost.
8. Fact: It is a bad idea to date a known cheater, because even if he doesn’t cheat on you, you will always know he’s capable of it and will never fully trust him. Then you will become even more insecure and neurotic than you already are.
Other people apologize and don’t mean t “Sorry, but you shouldn’t have…” or “Sorry, but I just didn’t…” They apologize while telling you that they were right all along, which is the opposite of an actual apology.
When you hate someone you used to love, and you think he’s done something awful – he probably has.
These guys, they were so sure of their places in life–so deeply confident of their merit and their future–they didn’t need any kind of front at all.
Someone once wrote that a novel should deliver a series of small astonishments. I get the same thing spending an hour with you.
..we’ll deal with it, because the good outweighs the bad.
You are my girlfriend,” whispered Matthew. ” You’re my girl and I’m your guy, and you’re my girl and I’m your guy. Let’s not fight.” -pg 126
