“Existing is not quite enough. Passionate living is the best revenge.”

“Like when people (my parents) ask what I'm going to study in college and I say, "English." They say, "Oh. So you want to be a teacher?" And I want to cover my eyes and mouth with duct tape and pretend to be dead and done with it. No, you simpletons. I want to travel and write and live in a big city, and do cool things with my brain. This is not to disparage the fine and noble art of educating in any way. My English teachers have made me who I am today and I love them with a passion that surprises me. I just don't want to be one.”

“Reading makes me feel like I've lived a thousand lives in addition to my own.”

“Her entire existence is trying to figure out what her life is supposed to be while her heart breaks a little bit everyday over the tragedy of being alive.”

“Getting all emotionally wrapped up in made-up people's lives gives me a chance to take a break from my own life [...].”

“...because being a smart-ass is always preferable to being a dumb-ass.”

“This is the thing about great literature. It reads like truth and sticks to you forever and lets you know that you are not alone.”