the way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost

All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

Hypothetically, if you were point A, and I were point B; we would be frantically melting into one massive point that could overcome anything.

She asked him, what kind of wedding would you want? He replied, the one that would make you my wife.

I used to be a superhero; no one could touch me, not even myself. You are like a phone booth I somehow stumbled into, and now look at me - I am just like everyone else.

So, sure, I could just close my eyes. Yeah, sure, trace and memorize but can you go back once you know?

Human skin can be hard to live in, you’ll feel better in the morning.

When you don't want to let someone go, remember they were never really yours to give away in the first place.

Most people would think that this was the time to give up. To lie it all down and pretend like it never happened. But somewhere along the line you’re going to remember. And in that very moment, you’ll sit down and you’ll smile. Because knowing that you had it sure beats the hell out of wishing that you did.

"The bad news is, your choices and intentions,
some people and places, those nights spent
awake and all you've done, can lead you to the
bottom of the pit. The good news is, thi s wouldn't
be the first time someone's crawled, tooth and
nail, out of hell."

There is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart.
Love really is everything it's cracked up to be.
It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking
everything for. And, the trouble is, if you don't risk
anything, you risk even more.

the flames and smoke climbed out of every window
and disappeared with everything that you held dear.
and you shed not a single tear for the things that
you didn't need, because you knew you were finally free.

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.

"would you give it all up? could you give it all up? if i promise to you boy that i'll never talk again and i'll never love again and i'll never write a song, no i won't even sing along"

Sometimes you’re further than the moon. Sometimes you’re closer than my skin.

Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all the management of human affairs.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.

True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well-being of one's companion."

when things go wrong, dont go with them

You were the first nice guy I met after so many bad ones. And I didn’t know if you were the one or just the first good one, so I went out and met some more guys. Some of them were fine, but none of them were you.

Is that a bulletproof vest? See, now that's so insulting. That's like saying I'm not smart enough to shoot you in the head.

You’ll know her more by your questions than by her answers. Keep looking at her long enough. One day you might see someone you know.

Some of the best things in life will happen to you by complete chance. So don't sit there trying to calculate happiness, because that is some bullshit. Just enjoy the ride, and be ready for anything.

This is why you should never, ever, give your hopes up. This is why you should see the glass as half empty. So when the whole thing spills, you aren't as devastated.

When I met you I thought I found the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with… I was done. So all the boys and all the bars and all the obvious daddy issues.. who cared? Because I was done. You left me. You chose her. I’m all glued back together now. I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke.

sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you
really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you’ll find it in
a spouse &celebrate it with your dream wedding, but there’s also the chance that the one
person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than
you know yourself is the same person who’s been standing beside you all along.

decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight, while indecision is a dull one that leaves ragged edges behind.

The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can
imagine it. because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last.
stone crumbles. wood rots. people, well, they die. but things as fragile as a thought,
a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.

"I thought our story was epic, you know, you and me. Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed. Epic. But summer's almost here, and we won't see each other at all. And then you leave town... and then it's over. I'm sorry about last summer. You know, if I could do it over..."
--"Come on. Ruined lives? Bloodshed? You really think a relationship should be that hard?"
"No one writes songs about the ones that come easy."

you're wrapped up tight in mystery. you got me so fogged in that i can't even see. my friends say i'm caught up in fairytales and dreams and i confess with you it feels like make-believe cause you're a fantasy.

The best thing though, in that museum, was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still just be finished catching those two fish, and the birds would still be on their way south. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. You'd just be different, that's all. You'd have an overcoat on this time. Or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrific fight in the bathroom. You would be different in someway, I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it.

They made a statue of us and put it on a mountain top. Now tourists come and stare at us, blow bubbles with their gum, take photographs have fun, have fun. They'll name a city after us, and later say it's all our fault.

All the books you started reading, all the boys you started seeing, every half completed sentiment that you always meant to say, gets stuck inside a memory, like a miracle unfinished and you only feel like going back to where there's no place to stay.


"In a way, it was sort of depressing, too, because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them. When they got out of school and college, I mean. You figured most of them would probably marry dopey guys. Guys that always talk about how many miles they get to a gallon in their goddam cars. Guys that get sore and childish as hell if you beat them at golf, or even just some stupid game like ping-pong. Guys that are very mean. Guys that never read books. Guys that are very boring."

I have so many things I want to tell you, but I need to keep reminding myself that it’s not the same anymore. That it’s not right for me to want you to be here for me 24/7 like last time. That I cannot keep burdening you with all my problems even though you’re still as nice to listen to my rants and comfort me. That basically we are not who we were back then. We’re not even we now. It’s just you and I. And I need to learn how to let you go, to live your own life and stop thinking of you.

Love is the most dangerous craving of all, if you ask me. It turns us into people we aren’t. It makes us feel like hell and makes us walk on water. It ruins us for anything else.

When you’re struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them it’s just as hard as what you’re going through.

It is always easier to judge someone than to figure out what might have pushed him to the point where he might do something illegal or morally reprehensible, because he honestly believes he’ll be better off.

Sometimes I think I am out of my league, and then sometimes I think I can dream. Sometimes I wish I could be the one fish that you choose out of all in the sea.

Did you know she has 7 laughs? One when something really makes her laugh. One when she’s making plans. One when she is laughing out of politeness. One when she is uncomfortable. One when she is making fun of herself. One when she’s having fun with her friends. And one, when she is thinking about you.

My heart is on my sleeve and that’s where it’ll stay until the day you’re brave enough to walk my way and tell me the things you were too stubborn to say.

Have you ever had so much to say that your mouth closed up tight struggling to harness the nuclear force coalescing within your words? Have you ever had so many thoughts churning inside you that you didn’t dare let them escape in case they blew you wide open? Have you ever been so angry that you couldn’t look in the mirror for fear of finding the face of evil glaring back at you?
don't do whatever you like-like whatever you do

you can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus

Man, I was thinking about unrequited love. I figure it’s best to just walk that shit off. Find someone else to be excited about. It’s like if you love ice cream but your ice cream man friend won’t give you any. Maybe he’s got a good reason. It cuts into profits. Who knows? But he likes you as a friend and wants to hang out anyway. It drives you crazy to hang out with that dude, even if he’s being reasonable from his point of view. So don’t hang out with him. What, you ONLY like ice cream? It’s ice cream or nothing? Don’t be an asshole. Learn to love donuts.

Some people need a red carpet rolled out in front of them in order to walk forward into friendship. They can't see the tiny outstretched hands all around them, everywhere, like leaves on trees.

I laughed and said, “Life is easy.” What I meant was, “Life is easy with you here, and when you leave, it will be hard again.”

This pain, this dying, this is just normal. This is how life is. In fact, I realize, there never was an earthquake. Life is just this way, broken, and I am crazy for dreaming of something else.

Are you angry? Punch a pillow. Was it satisfying? Not hardly. These days people are too angry for punching. What you might try is stabbing. Take an old pillow and lay it on the front lawn. Stab it with a big pointy knife. Again and again and again. Stab hard enough for the point of the knife to go into the ground. Stab until the pillow is gone and you are just stabbing the earth again and again, as if you want to kill it for continuing to spin, as if you are getting revenge for having to live on this planet day after day, alone.

People tend to stick to their own size group because it's easier on the neck. Unless they are romantically involved, in which case the size difference is sexy. It means: I am willing to go the distance for you.

Learn four new things every day: something about yourself, something about the people you love, something about the world, and something about a stranger

She’s a pretty typical teenager. Angry, insecure, confused. i want to tell her that's all going to pass, but i don't want to lie to her.  -American Beauty

She smokes like there's no tomorrow. She says it makes her feel alive. She drinks her wine like water because she feels dry inside. She drives her car like it's a bullet. She says that time is slipping away. She never thinks about her future. It's a million miles away.

The truth was, I knew, after all those flat January days, that I deserved better. I deserved "I love yous" and kiwi fruits, and flowers, and warriors coming to my door, besotted with love. I deserved pictures of my face in a million expressions and the warmth of a baby's kick under my hand. I deserved to grow, and to change, and to become all the girls I could ever be in the course of my life, each one better than the last.

The worst mistake you can make is to think you're alive when really you're asleep in life's waiting room.

Be the type of girl who changes bad boys into good ones.  The type of girl who people can always look to for an example of how lives should be lived. Be the girl who people say "I wouldn't be who I am without her".  The type of girl who has a smile to share with anyone she passes.  The type of girl who people think is beautiful because of not only her looks, but her captivating heart.  Be the girl who shows the world that God loves not only her, but everyone else too.

You think because he doesn't love you that you are worthless. You think that because he doesn't want you anymore that he is right -- that his judgement and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Don't. It's a bad word, 'belong.' Especially when you put it with somebody you love. Love shouldn't be like that. Did you ever see the way the clouds love a mountain? They circle all around it; sometimes you can't even see the mountain for the clouds. But you know what? You go up top and what do you see? His head. The clouds never cover the head. His head pokes through, beacuse the clouds let him; they don't wrap him up. They let him keep his head up high, free, with nothing to hide him or bind him. You can't own a human being. You can't lose what you don't own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don't, do you? And neither does he. You're turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him? He can't value you more than you value yourself.— Toni Morrison

Where are you now as I'm swimming through the stereo? I'm writing you a symphony of sound. Where are you now as I rearrange the songs again? This mix could burn a hole in anyone, but it was you I was thinking of.

I read your letter, the one you left when you broke into my house, retracing every step you made and you said you meant it and there's a piece of me in every single second of every single day. But if it's true, then tell me how it got this way.

So the roses lift their heads to catch a glimpse of my demise. You'll be throwing lies around like ocean waves throw down the tides and they are breaking on my shore. The rescue team won't save me now, I'm out too far.

It's a thrill I can't shake, I know we've been writing a mistake but it's hard to erase the feelings I've drawn. I was caught in an awkward silence, broken down by the sound of your prelude that you played to open our symphony.

Love is a gamble always, but waiting won't change the dice. Either you roll them or you lose your turn.

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel, but a comedy to those who think."

The idea that you might end up in a job that doesn't allow you to be who you are, over the course of a lifetime, is still one of the most chilling nightmares to me. It's a good metaphor for fears I have about losing my soul in some accidental, mundane way. So, to me, these jobs that my characters have are very loaded. They immediately suggest a complex character to me, a woman who is, say, a secretary, but also a vigilante on behalf of her own soul.