Quotes from Perfect Fifths

Megan McCafferty ·  258 pages

Rating: (8.7K votes)


“The stories teach them valuable life lessons. That good things happen to bad people. That it’s possible to make a bad situation even worse if you don’t think it through. That parents are clueless except when they’re not. That it’s good to try new things even when a new thing is kind of disgusting, because new experiences make you a well-rounded person. That art can be transcendent. That lust is all-powerful, that drugs are fun, and that not everyone who does them is a loser. That losing people is part of life. That where comedy goes, tragedy isn’t far behind. That everyone has issues with their bodies, but some take it too far, almost to death. That fear can be exhilarating. That boys are assholes. That it’s important to look forward and never look back…”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“Gone for a while
Hoping, always, to return
If you will let me”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“Excuse our appearances. We are taking apart yesterday, to make way for tomorrow”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“Don't talk to strangers. Don't do drugs. Don't smoke. Don't drink and drive. Don't have sex. Wear a condom. Wear sunblock. Wear a seat belt. Wear a helmet. If you see something, say something. Just say no. Stop, drop, and roll. Stop, look, and listen. Look both ways before you cross the street...

Safety is an illusion. Bad things can happen to anyone at any time, whether you follow the rules or not. You can check left, check right, check left again before you step off the curb and into the crosswalk, but that won't stop an anonymous asshole in his shitty pickup from putting you in intensive care...”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“It's just Jessica and Marcus, oxymoronically alone together.”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths



“He always loved her because of, not in sprite of, her flaws.”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“Bad things can happen to anyone at any time, whether you follow the rules or not.”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“(Parentheses speak
More than we dare say out loud
Why, oh, why is that?)”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“Marcus Flutie slept with just about every girl on the Eastern Seaboard except me. Though, he tried to get into my panties when I was a freshman but turned him down because I refuse to disempower myself just for a few clit twitches.”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“We just want to be where we're supposed to be. We just want to be with the people we want to be with. I don't think that's asking for too much, ya know what I'm saying?”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths



“Most happy stories are fantasies that never happened. A form of wish fulfillment. (...) Telling happy stories that actually happened lends a sort of fairy-tale quality to real life. They remind the teller and the listener of the magic that can be found in the mundane if you pay close attention.”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“In our artificial civilization many young people at twenty-five are still on the threshold of activity. As one looks back then, over eight or nine years, one sees a panorama of seemingly formidable length. So many crises, so many startling surprises, so many vivid joys and harrowing humiliations and disappointments, that one feels startlingly old; one wonders if one will ever feel so old again. —Youth and Life, Randolph S. Bourne (1886–1918) Even now, when I have come”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


“The tales we tell ourselves about ourselves make us who we are.”
― Megan McCafferty, quote from Perfect Fifths


About the author

Megan McCafferty
Born place: in Bayville, New Jersey, The United States
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Popular quotes

“Consejos de los viejos sabios aztecas.

La tierra es lugar de alegría penosa,
de alegría que punza.
Pero aunque así fuera,
aunque fuera verdad que sólo se sufre,
aunque así fueran las cosas en la tierra,
¿habrá que estar siempre con miedo?
¿habrá que estar siempre temblando?
¿habrá que vivir siempre llorando?
Para que no andemos siempre gimiendo,
para que nunca nos sature la tristeza,
el Señor Nuestro nos ha dado
la risa, el sueño, los alimentos,
nuestra fuerza
y finalmente
el acto del amor
que siembra gentes.”
― Eduardo Galeano, quote from Genesis


“Of course, they were paying for more than the groceries. They were financing the parking valets, and the starched white tablecloths, and the waiters with rings in their ears and cobs up their butts, who acted like you were putting them out if you asked them to fetch you an extra helping of bread. They were paying for the fancy French name slapped on a filet of fish that used to be called the catch-of-the-day. He’d seen pretentious outfits like that in ports all over the world. A few had even cropped up here in Key West, and those he scorned most of all.”
― Sandra Brown, quote from Envy


“Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.”
― Charles de Lint, quote from The Blue Girl


“Rules are made for people, not people for rules,”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“Noel shook his head. "You think better of this scene than I do, Ruby. Don't you see how fake those girls are? Let it go. Have a laugh about it when you're older. Forget that junk."

I wanted to believe him, to skip off to some punk-rock hangout and develop ironic distance and start over in a universe where it didn't matter what any of these people thought about me. But I couldn't.

I just loved them.”
― E. Lockhart, quote from The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver


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