Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever
32 quotes
"Fine," he repeated, and I wondered why it was I kept coming back to this, again and again, a word that you said when someone asked how you were but didn't really care to know the truth."
"You said the other day life was long,' I shot back. 'Which is it?' 'It's both,' she said, shrugging. 'It all depends on how you choose to live it. It's like forever, always changing.'Kristy and Macy; p.135"
"I knew, in the silence that followed, that anything could happen here. It might be too late: again, I might have missed my chance. But I would at least know I tried, that I took my heart and extended my hand, whatever the outcome."Okay," he said. He took a breath. "What would you do, if you could do anything?"I took a step toward him, closing the space between us. "This," I said. And then I kissed him."
"Shit," Delia said. "I mean, shoot. No, actually, I mean shit. I really do."
"So you should remember that, when you're thinking about what other people can deal with. Maybe it's not so bad."
"I was distracted, thinking about what she'd said, until she got to this last part. "Sherman?" I said.She nodded. "That's John and Craig's friend. He's visiting from Shreveport.""Sherman from Shreveport?" I said. "This is the guy you're determined I go out"
"To me she said, "It's this stupid gotcha thing, they've been doing it for weeks now. Leaping out at each other and us, scaring the hell out of everyone.""It's a game of wits," Bert said to me."Half-wits," Kristy added."
"It's not that I believe everything happens for a reason, it's just that...I just think that some things are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It's the universe's way of providing contrast, you know? There have to be a few holes in the road. It's how life is."
"I'm not into appearances. I like flaws, I think they make things interesting."
"The girl in the tight black dress was passing by us now, eyeing Wes and walking entirely too slowly. "Hi," she said, and he nodded at her but didn't reply. Knew it, I thought.Honestly," I said.What?"Come on. You have to admit, it's sort of ridiculous."What is?"Now that I had to define it, I found myself struggling for the right words. "You know," I said, then figured Kristy had really summed it up best. "The sa-woon."The what?"
"That was the hard thing about grief, and the grieving. They spoke another language, and the words we knew always fell short of what we wanted them to say."
"Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place."
"Grieving doesn't make you imperfect. It makes you human."
"Look, everyone mourns at their own pace. Maybe you're just a little bit ahead of her, but she'll get to you eventually. The important thing is that you keep trying to talk to each other, even if it's difficult at first. It gets easier. I promise."
"I'd been through so much, falling short again and again, and only recently had found a place where who I was, right now, was enough."
"Why does she have wings?'So she can fly."
"I would have thought this would make me feel better.. getting to be the one to leave and not the one left behind. But it didn't. Not at all."
"... Everything he feels, he feels strongly. Too strongly, sometimes. I think he freaks people out."
"But I knew what it said. That I could be imperfect, but only so much. Human, but only within limits. And honest, to her or to myself, never."
"The silence wasn't like the ones I'd known lately, though; it wasn't empty so much as chosen. There's an entirely different feel to quiet when you're with someone else, and at any moment it could be broken. Like the difference between a pause and an ending."
"It took a lot of work to be perfect. If you didn’t want to break a sweat, there was no point in even bothering."
"The first step is always the hardest"
"I have to admit, an unrequited love is so much better than a real one. I mean, it's perfect... As long as something is never even started, you never have to worry about it ending. It has endless potential."
"If he'd been any other boy, and this was any other world, I would have kissed him. Nothing could have stopped me."
"It's hard to do," I said. Wes looked at me. "What is?" I swallowed, not sure why I'd said this out loud. "Get it right."