David Levithan

“It's almost heartening to think that the attachment you have can define your perception as much as any other influence.”

“If you demonize a person's pleasure, then you can control his or her life.”

“Depression has been likened to both a black cloud and a black dog. For someone like Kelsea, the black cloud is the right metaphor. She is surrounded by it, immersed within it, and there is no obvious way out. What she needs to do is try to contain it, get it into the form of the black dog. It will still follow her around wherever she goes; it will always be there. But at least it will be separate, and will follow her lead.”

“If there were no one else involved, it would be an easy choice. But isn't that always the case? And there's always someone else involved.”

“Because what's the point of something virtual if it doesn't end up being real?”

“If I'm not telling you something, it's for a reason. Just because you trust me, it doesn't mean I have to automatically trust you. Trust doesn't work like that.”

“But the thing about a cry for help is that someone else needs to be around to hear it.”

“Going through the motions gives you plenty of time to examine the motions. I used to find this interesting. Now it has taken on the taint of meaninglessness.”

“It is a mistake to think of the body as a vessel. It is as active as any mind, as any soul. And the more you give yourself to it, the harder your life will be.”

“Most people, I've noticed, are instinctively harsh to strangers. They expect every approach to be an attack, every question to be an interruption.”

“And being best friends is always about the benefit of the doubt.”

“tenet, n.At the end of the French movie, the lover sings, "Love me less, but love me for a long time.”

“Even though you're not my type, gender wise, you're certainly my type, person-wise.”

“Slowly would be better than not at all.”

“You're giving up. You're slipping into being miserable and if you are being miserable, then it's all about you again. But it's not all about you. Love doesn't work that way.”

“Don't do it for the sake of doing it, but don't wait for a fantasy either.”

“I asked you what you wanted and you said you didn't want anything. And I told you I wasn't planning on giving you anything; I was planning on giving you something.”

“catalyst, n.It surprised me — surprises me still — that you were the first one to say it.I was innocent, in a way, expecting those three words to appear boldface with music. But instead, it was such an ordinary moment: The moviewas over, and I stood up to turn off the TV. A few minutes had passed from the end of the final credits, and we’d been sitting there on the couch,your legs over mine, the side of your hand touching the side of my hand. The video stopped and the screen turned blue. “I’ll get it,” I said, and washalfway to the television when you said, “I love you.”I never asked, but I’ll always wonder: What was it about that moment that made you realize it? Or, if you’d known it for awhile, what compelledyou to say it then? It was welcome, so welcome, and in my rush to say that I loved you, too, I left the television on, I let that light bathe us for a littlelonger, as I returned to the couch, to you. We held there for awhile, not really sure what would happen next.”

“It's the secret smile you get from knowing that, somewhere, there is someone who is yours. Not in the sense that you own her or control her. She is yours because you can say anything to her, whenever you need to. And she can do the same, whenever she needs to.”

“How can something that doesn't have a form, doesn'r have a definition, doesn't have words-how can it have such weight? And yet, there's the need to swim.”

“I WILL BE A BETTER PERSON. I know it's hard to believe. From me. From the bitch who got pummeled with an orange tray. But I knew - I hadn't become the worst kind of person yeat. I had to believe that.[...]Being a bitch is easy. It's finding the alternative that's hard.”

“The smell of the nail polish made me think of Amber and the rest of my friends. I missed them, but in theory. It wasn't them I missed, but friendship. QUITE YET.”

“Dispel, v. It was the way you said, “I have something to tell you.” I could feel the magic drain from the room.”

“You really think love needs to have a future?”“Absolutely.”“Good,” Lily said. “So do I.”“Good,” I echoed, leaning in. “So do you.”“Don’t repeat what I say,” she told me, swatting at my arm.“Don’t repeat what I say,” I murmured, smiling.“You’re being silly,” she said, but the silliness was falling out of her voice.“You’re being silly,” I assured her.“Lily is the greatest girl who ever was.”I drew closer. “Lily is the greatest girl who ever was.”For a moment, I think we’d forgotten where we were.And then the officers returned, and we were reminded once again.”

“It was strange enough to think that Norah knew who I was before I knew who she was. That she'd been in Tris's orbit without me noticing. But I guess you don't see the planets when you're staring at the sun. You just get blinded.”

“So what do you have to confess now?"I don't know why I'm saying any of this, except that is the truth. "I'm confessing that I don't know if I'm ready for this.""What is 'this'?""Being open. Being hurt. Liking. Not being liked. Seeing the flicker on. Seeing the flicker off. Leaping. Falling. Crashing.”

“I don't even know what I'm looking for, although I hope I'll know it if I find it along the way. Sometimes I want to simplify my life into a simple bare thing. And other times I want to complicate it so thoroughly that everything I touch will become bound in some way to me. I've become quite aware of my contradictions, but there's no true resolution in that.”

“You can find sorrow in the arithmetic, and you can find a bittersweet hope.”

“She is my first and only love. Most people know that their first love will not be their only love. But for me, she is both.”

“Sostén.No quiero ser el fuerte, pero tampoco quiero ser el débil. ¿Por qué siempre da la impresión de que hay que ser uno u otro? Cuando nos abrazamos, siempre hay uno que aprieta con un poco más de fuerza.”

“Lívido.Que te den por engañarme. Que te den por reducirlo todo a la palabra "engañar". Como si fuera una partida de cartas y le echaras un vistazo a las que tengo en la mano. Es más, ¿Quién inventó el término engañar? Supongo que fue alguien que había sido infiel. Alguien que pensó que "mentiroso" era demasiado duro. Alguien que pensó que "devastador" sonaba demasiado emocional. La misma persona que pensó: "vaya, lo han pillado con las manos en la masa". Que te den. Esto no es lo mismo que apropiarse de un billete de veinte dólares de más en el Monopoly. Esto es nuestra vida. Te has cargado nuestra vida. Eres mucho peor que un mentiroso. Has matado algo. Y para colmo lo has hecho por la espalda.”

“Holístico.En algunos momentos de soledad pienso: ya está, este es el estado auténticamente natural. Lo único que necesito son mis pensamientos, mis pequeñas obras creativas y mi capacidad para hacer lo que quiera hacer. Yo soy yo, nada más. Emparejarse es una imposición social. No es en absoluto un acto necesario para todo el mundo. Quizá estoy mejor así. Quizá podría vivir la vida entera en mi propio mundo y marcharme cuando me llegue la hora.”

“Flujo.El estado natural. Cambiamos de humor. Cambian nuestras vidas. Cambian nuestros sentimientos hacia el otro. Cambian nuestras relaciones. Cambia la canción. Cambia el aire. Cambia la temperatura del agua de la ducha.Acéptalo. Hay que aceptarlo.”

“Elíptico.El beso que más me gusta es el beso lento. El que conlleva tanto aliento como roce, tanto "no" como "sí". Te inclinas de lado y yo debo volverme un poco para que suceda.”

“Distancia.Me dices que me alejo y yo balbuceo una disculpa, intento volver al presente.Pero hay algo que debería decirte:Incluso cuando me distancio, me preocupo por ti. Uno puede separarse de algo y seguir cuidando de ello. Si quisiera distanciarme por completo, me largaría. Pararía la conversación. Me marcharía de la cama. En su lugar, simplemente me abstraigo durante un momento. Miro en otra dirección. Pero mi mirada siempre vuelve a posarse en ti.”

“Codiciar.Existe una diferencia entre tú y yo: tú deseas lo que tienen los otros mientras que yo deseo las cosas que tenía, o las que creo que tendré en el futuro.”

“Aturdido.Mi fidelidad era tan impensable como lo fue tu lapsus. De todas las cosas que creí que podían ir mal, nunca pensé que fuera precisamente esa.- Ha sido un error -dijiste. Pero lo cruel fue que sentí que el error había sido mío, por confíar en ti.”

“Dash is for sure straight!" Boomer announced. "He has a super-pretty ex-girlfriend named Sofia, who I think he still has a thing for, and also, in seventh grade, there was a game of spin the bottle and it was my turn and I spun and it landed at Dash, but he wouldn't let me kiss him.”

“Bad Girl!" She chided."I'm pretty sure Boris is a boy," I said."Oh, I know," Mrs. Basil E. assured me. "I just like to keep him confused," Then she and Boris headed off with my future.”

“You are so close, and I can’t reach you.”

“This is what love does: It makes you want to rewrite the world. It makes you want to choose the characters, build the scenery, guide the plot. The person you love sits across from you, and you want to do everything in your power to make it possible, endlessly possible. And when it’s just the two of you, alone in a room, you can pretend that this is how it is, this is how it will be.”

“I have no more idea now of who I am than I did before. But at least I know that. And I'm starting to figure out who I want to be.”

“Why do we feel the need to disconnect in order to connect?”

“They never played games with each other, they never had tow worry where they stood, because if either of them had a moment of wavering, the other would say I love you and would mean it and all doubts were forgiven because in this one case it was found that love conquers all.”

“The sound of words as they're said is always different from the sound they make when they're heard, because the speaker hears some of the sound from the inside.”

“..I've been trying to argue myself into thinking these things don't matter, A. Really,I have. But I've lost the argument. And I can't keep having it, when I know what the real answer is.”

“It doesn't feel like a date. It doesn't feel like friendship. It feels like something that fell off the tightrope but hasn't yet hit the net.”

“People often say that when couples are married for a long time, they start to look alike. I don't believe that. But I do believe their sentences start to look alike.”

“When I say, "Be my lover", I don't mean, "Let's have an affair." I don't mean "Sleep with me." I don't mean, "Be my secret." I want us to go back down to that root. I want you to be the one who loves me. I want to be the one who loves you.”

“I sing louder and he looks right at me, finally getting it, because what I am saying with the rise of my voice is that I know he understands what music is about, he has seen the Lord in it, even if it's not my Lord.”