“Two a.m.' He swallowed, then said, "You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter what, you can count on them. Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail...they'll come for you. It's like, the highest level of friendship.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“It was amazing how you could get so far from where you'd planned, and yet find it was exactly were you needed to be.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“I mean, it's not surprising, really. Once you love something, you always love it in some way. You have to. It's, like, part of you for good.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“But in the real world, you couldnt really just split a family down the middle, mom on one side, dad the other, with the child equally divided between. It was like when you ripped a piece of paper into two: no matter how you tried, the seams never fit exactly right again. It was what you couldn't see, those tiniest of pieces, that were lost in the severing, and their absence kept everything from being complete.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Outside, the ocean was crashing, waves hitting sand, then pulling back to sea. I thought of everything being washed away, again and again. We make such messes in this life, both accidentally and on purpose. But wiping the surface clean doesn't really make anything neater. It just masks what is below. It's only when you really dig down deep, go underground, that you can see who you really are.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Accepting all the good and bad about someone. It's a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actually doing it.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“You want to take me to a movie?" I asked.
"Well, not really," he said. "What I really want is for you to be my girlfriend. But I thought saying that might scare you off.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“You asked me to go out with you. I know you probably changed your mind. But you should know, the answer was yes. It's always been yes when it comes to you.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“When you can't save yourself or your heart, it helps to be able to save face.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“There's something nice about the silence of a car ride in the dark, going home. When you were tired of the radio and conversation, and it was okay to just be alone with your thoughts and the road ahead. If you're that comfortable with someone, you don't have to talk.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“He thought about this for a second. "True. But if you never really make friends, you probably don't have anyone to be your 2 a.m. Which would kind of suck.
I just looked at him as he stirred his soup, carrots spinning in the liquid. "Your what?"
"Two a.m." He swallowed, then said, "You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter what, you can count on them. Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail...they'll come for you. It's, like, the highest level of friendship.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“I mean, it's impossible to fake anything if you've already seen the other person in a way they'd never choose for you to. You can't go back from that.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“But all the love in the world won't save a sinking ship. You have to either bail or jump overboard.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“It wasn't about being happy or unhappy. I just didn't want to be me anymore.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“If only you could really use a fail-proof system to know who was worth keeping and who needed to be thrown away. It would make it so much easier to move through the world, picking and choosing what connections to make, or whether to make any at all.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Yeah. I mean, acknowledging is easy. Something happened or it didn't. But understanding... that's where things get sticky.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Oh for God's sake,' Heather said, 'I wish you two would just go out, fail miserably as a couple, and get it over with.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“It was like when you ripped a piece of paper into two: no matter how you tried, the seams never fit exactly right again.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Suddenly, I was just sure he was going to kiss me. He was there, I could feel his breath, the ground solid beneath us. But then something crossed his face, a thought, a hesitation, and he shifted slightly. Not now. Not yet. It was something I'd done so often - weighing what I could afford to risk, right at that moment - that I recognized it instantly. It was like looking in a mirror.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“How it felt to have the world moving beneath me, a hand gripping mine, knowing if I fell, at least I wouldn't do it alone.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“All those clean, fresh starts had made me forget what it was like, until now, to be messy and honest and out of control. To be real.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Odd how it was so easy for a stranger to assume such familiarity. Especially when those who were supposed to know you best often didn't, not at all.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Pretend to be a delinquent?" I asked clarifying.
"You can do it," Dave advised me. "Just don't smile, and try to look like you're considering stealing something.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“So," he said as we turned onto the main road, the muffler rattling, "I've been thinking."
"Yeah?"
He nodded. "You really need to go out with me."
I blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"You know. You, me. A restaurant or movie. Together." He glanced over, shifting gears. "Maybe it's a new concept for you? If so, I'll be happy to walk you through it."
"You want to take me to a movie?" I asked.
"Well, not really," he said. "What I really want is for you to be my girlfriend. But I though saying that might scare you off.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“I walked over, my eyes scanning Luna Blu, my house, and Dave's. But it was the building behind them, that empty hotel, that had the tiniest light, provided by one word, written in fluorescent paint. Maybe it wasn't what was once there, in real life. But in this one, it said it all: STAY.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“But anyone can begin. It was the part with all the promise, the potential, the things I loved. More and more, though, I was finding myself wanting to find out what happened in the end..”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
“Let's just start and see what happens.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from What Happened to Goodbye
Sarah Dessen
Born place: in Illinois, The United States
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“If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?”
― Yann Martel, quote from Life of Pi
“Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you.”
― Charles Dickens, quote from A Tale of Two Cities
“I open the orangutan's door and set a pan of fruits, vegetables, and nuts on the floor. As I close it, her long arm reaches through the bars. She points at an orange in another pan.
'That? You want that?'
She continues to point, blinking at me with close-set eyes. Her features are concave, her face a wide platter fringed with red hair. She's the most outrageous and beautiful thing I've ever seen.
'Here,' I say, handing her the orange. 'You can have it.'
She takes it and sets it on the floor. Then she reaches out again. After several seconds of serious misgivings, I hold out my hand. She wraps her long fingers around it, then lets go. She sits on her haunches and peels her orange.
I stare in amazement. She was thanking me.”
― Sara Gruen, quote from Water for Elephants
“You get tough like me and you don't get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin' can touch you...”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders
“some things you will think of yourself,...some things God will put into your mind”
― Homer, quote from The Odyssey
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Unscripted: Life, Li...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.
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