Quotes from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Words were different when they lived inside of you.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didn't get--and never would get.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Maybe we just lived between hurting and healing.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I wanted to tell them that I'd never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the stars, and knew the mysteries of water, and knew enough to know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren't meant to be shot down from their graceful flights by mean and stupid boys. I wanted to tell them that he had changed my life and that I would never be the same, not ever. And that somehow it felt like it was Dante who had saved my life and not the other way around. I wanted to tell them that he was the first human being aside from my mother who had ever made me want to talk about the things that scared me. I wanted to tell them so many things and yet I didn't have the words. So I just stupidly repeated myself. "Dante's my friend.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“We all fight our own private wars.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I hated being volunteered. The problem with my life was that it was someone else's idea.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“And it seemed to me that Dante's face was a map of the world. A world without any darkness.

Wow, a world without darkness. How beautiful was that?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I renamed myself Ari.

If I switched the letter, my name was Air.

I thought it might be a great thing to be the air.

I could be something and nothing at the same time. I could be necessary and also invisible. Everyone would need me and no one would be able to see me.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“How could I have ever been ashamed of loving Dante Quintana?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I had a feeling there was something wrong with me. I guess I was a mystery even to myself.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you're thinking but because you're feeling. Because you're feeling too much. And you can't always control the things you do when you're feeling too much.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Your smile is back.' That's what Dante said.

'Smiles are like that. They come and go.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Why do we smile? Why do we laugh? Why do we feel alone? Why are we sad and confused? Why do we read poetry? Why do we cry when we see a painting? Why is there a riot in the heart when we love? Why do we feel shame? What is that thing in the pit of your stomach called desire?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I wondered what that was like, to hold someone’s hand. I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the universe in someone’s hand.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I had a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than to be bored with someone else. I pretty much lived by that rule. Maybe that's why I didn't have any friends.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Everyone was always becoming someone else.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I don't always have to understand the people I love.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Sometimes, all you have to do is tell people the truth. They won't believe you. After that, they'll leave you alone.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I have always felt terrible inside. The reasons for this keep changing.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“It was good to laugh. I wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh until I laughed myself into becoming someone else.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“This is my problem. I want other people to tell me how they feel. But I'm not so sure I want to return the favor.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I had learned to hide what I felt. No, that's not true. There was no learning involved. I had been born knowing how to hide what I felt.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Senior year. And then life. Maybe that's the way it worked. High school was just a prologue to the real novel. Everybody got to write you -- but when you graduated, you got to write yourself. At graduation you got to collect your teacher's pens and your parents' pens and you got your own pen. And you could do all the writing. Yeah. Wouldn't that be sweet?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Scars. A sign that you had been hurt. A sign that you had healed.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I wondered if my smile was as big as hers. Maybe as big. But not as beautiful.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, quote from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.