Quotes from Cracked Up to Be

“The sooner you make a mistake and learn to live with it, the better. You're not responsible for everything. You can't control the way things end up.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“How does it feel to know that even at my worst, you're still not good enough?”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Imagine 4 years.
Four years, two suicides, one death, one rape, two pregnancies (one abortion), three overdoses, countless drunken antics, pantsings, spilled food, theft, fights, broken limbs, turf wars–every day, a turf war–six months until graduation and no one gets a medal when they get out. But everything you do here counts.

High school.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“The problem with alienating, self-destructive behavior is people get it into their heads it’s a cry for help. It wasn’t.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I don't like you with Becky. She's not a very nice girl.'
'I don't like you with Jake. He's not me.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Everyone should know--there's no such thing as a decent human being. It's just an illusion. And when it's gone, it's really gone.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“If I can do things right, I don't see why everyone else can't.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I mean, you know how it is. You chase a bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of Jack Daniel's and life's never the same, no matter how many times you try to tell people it was just an accident.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Jake and Chris talk through art and discover they have so much in common it's amazing. Like, They Could Be Boyfriends If They Didn't Like Vaginas So Much Amazing. ”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I elbow my way through the mass of people to get to my locker because there's something immensely satisfying about the toughest part of my arm connecting with the softest part of everyone else.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Becky, you're only standing there because I decided I didn't want to.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“...We’re working with paint today and I pick the easel next to Jake’s. It thrills him.
“What do you want?”
“I want to apologize if you’re offended by the way I am,” I tell him. “But that’s the way I am with everyone. I was just trying to make you feel welcome.”
“That’s the crappiest apology I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, that’s because I’m not really sorry.”
He rolls his eyes. “Right.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I take a deep breath. It smells suspiciously like bullshit in here.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Hey, let’s give her some space. Get back to the game, guys,” Chris says. Thank God for him, just this once. “And cheerleading. Get back to that, too.” No one moves. “Okay, fuck off, basically, is what I’m saying. Fuck off!”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I was perfect... and then I wasn't.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“You think I ever stopped wanting to die after the motel?" I ask. "You think a feeling like that just goes away?”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“You're not responsible for everything, Parker. You can't control the way things end up. Stop trying.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Uh, what are you doing?'
'What does it look like I'm doing?' Jake asks, settling into the seat beside me. The bus jerks forward. 'I'm sitting beside you.'
'No, you're not. Your seat is in the middle. Nice try, though.'
He has the audacity to ignore me, sets his book bag on his lap and rummages through it. After a minute, he pulls out a folded sheet of paper and hands it to me.
I unfold it. 'A love letter? How sweet.'
'No.' He turns pink. 'It's just something I found on the Internet-'
'Porn? You shouldn't have.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I didn't want to be popular because it was easier; I wanted to be popular because in high school that's the best thing you can be: perfect. Everything else is shit.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Oh" She seems relieved. "So you weren't—"
"Don't worry, Ms.Grey. I wasn't drinking, smoking, toking or snorting in school. I keep the recreational drug use at home where it belongs.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Cardboard cutouts of cheerleaders operated by arthritic monkeys would move more fluidly.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“The fall takes no time and forever.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“You know how you feel when you meet someone and they just give you the impression they're living on this entirely different planet from everyone else? That's sort of how I felt when I met you.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Mom and Dad exchange a nervous glance and have a telepathic conversation about it. I hear every word.

Do we let her out? It's past curfew.
True, but look at that—at least she asked!
I know! I can hardly believe it!
She could have sneaked out, but she asked!
I know! We're good parents!

"What time will you be back?" Dad asks.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Anyway," Jake says. I turn back to him. “I just wanted to start over a good note, that’s all.”
I have to put this poor guy out of his misery. “Look, Jake, I’m not in the market for –“ I almost say a boyfriend, which is true, but this is even truer: “People”.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“Yeah, sure,” I say, and then, for good measure: “Whatever.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“You get away with a lot, even after you're caught.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“it's blindingly awful and awfully satisfying all at the same time.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I don't have time for the 'things change speech, Parker."
"So give me the CliffNotes version.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

“I get caught up in outcomes. I convince myself they're truths. No one will notice how wrong you are if everything you do ends up right. The rest becomes incidental. So incidental that, after a while, you forget. Maybe you are perfect. Good. It must be true. Who can argue with results? You're not so wrong after all. So you buy into it and you go crazy maintaining it. Except it creeps up on you sometimes, that you're not right. Imperfect. Bad. So you snap your fingers and it goes away.
Until something you can't ignore happens and you see it all over yourself.
And there's only one thing left to do.”
― Courtney Summers, quote from Cracked Up to Be

About the author

Popular quotes

“Despite the madness of war, we lived for a world that would be different. For a better world to come when all this is over. And perhaps even our being here is a step towards that world. Do you really think that, without the hope that such a world is possible, that the rights of man will be restored again, we could stand the concentration camp even for one day? It is that very hope that makes people go without a murmur to the gas chambers, keeps them from risking a revolt, paralyses them into numb inactivity. It is hope that breaks down family ties, makes mothers renounce their children, or wives sell their bodies for bread, or husbands kill. It is hope that compels man to hold on to one more day of life, because that day may be the day of liberation. Ah, and not even the hope for a different, better world, but simply for life, a life of peace and rest. Never before in the history of mankind has hope been stronger than man, but never also has it done so much harm as it has in the war, in this concentration camp. We were never taught how to give up hope, and this is why today we perish in gas chambers.”
― Tadeusz Borowski, quote from This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen

“Hello," Lilly said."Movie. Of your life.You were portrayed as shy and awkward."
"I am shy and awkward," I reminded her.
"They made your grandmother all kindly and sympathetic to your plight," Lilly said."It was the grossest mischaracterization I've seen since Shakespeare in Love tried to pass off the Bard as a hottie with a six-pack and a full set of teeth.”
― Meg Cabot, quote from Princess in Waiting

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. —Winston Churchill”
― Sebastian Junger, quote from War

“Promise you'll stay with me as long as you want to, but not a moment longer.”
― Lisa Mantchev, quote from So Silver Bright

“Mother did not answer. She was still gazing up at the sky. After a while she said, "I made up a sort of saying for myself, Nat. I will lift up my eyes unto the stars. Sometimes, if you look at the stars long enough, it helps. It shrinks your day-by-day troubles down to size." She smiled. 'We'd better go back. Granny and Father will be wondering where we are.”
― Jean Lee Latham, quote from Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

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.