The Truth About Forever Quotes

“There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“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.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“It's all in the view. That's what I mean about forever, too. For any one of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. You never know for sure, so you'd better make every second count.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“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.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“That was the thing. You never got used to it, the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it's reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you, and it just hits you all over again, that shocking.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“It was just one of those things," I said, "You know, that just happen. You don't think or plan. You just do it.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“I like flaws. I think they make things interesting.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“What you need, what you deserve, is a guy who adores you for what you are. Who doesn't see you as a project, but a prize. you know?”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It's so easy in the past tense. ”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“But I'd long ago learned not to be picky in farewells. They weren't guaranteed or promised.
You were lucky, more than blessed, if you got a good-bye at all.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Some people, they can't just move on, you know, mourn and cry and be done with it. Or at least seem to be. But for me... I don't know. I didn't want to fix it, to forget. It wasn't something that was broken. It's just...something that happened. And like that hole, I'm just finding ways, every day, of working around it. Respecting and remembering and getting on at the same time. ”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“We'd start slow, the way we always did, because the run, and the game, could go on for awhile. Maybe even forever.
That was the thing. You just never knew. Forever was so many different things. It was always changing, it was what everything was really all about. It was twenty minutes, or a hundred years, or just this instant, or any instant I wished would last and last. But there was only one truth about forever that really mattered, and that was this: it was happening. Right then, as I ran with Wes into that bright sun, and every moment afterwards. Look, there. Now. Now. Now.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“If this was my forever, I wouldn't want to spend it here. ”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Life can be long or short, it all depends on how you choose to live it. it's like forever, always changing. for any of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. you can never know for sure, so you'd better make every second count. what you have to decide is how you want your life to be. if your forever was ending tomorrow, is this how you'd want to have spent it?”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“I don't get it,' Caroline said, bemused. 'She's the only one with wings. Why is that?'
There were so many questions in life. You couldn't ever have all the answers. But I knew this one.
It's so she can fly,' I said. Then I started to run.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“What you have to decide... is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it? Listen, the truth is, nothing is guaranteed. You know that more than anybody. So dont be afraid. Be alive.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. you get use to the weight, how it holds you in place”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“I don't know. Just because someone's pretty doesn't mean she's decent. Or vice versa. I'm not into appearances. I like flaws, I think they make things interesting.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“the truth about forever is that it is happening right now”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“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.
Kissed him. There, in the middle of the street, as the world went on around us. Behind me, I knew Jason was still waiting for an explanation, my sister was still lecturing, and that angel still had her eyes skyward, waiting to fly. As for me, I was just trying to get it right, whatever that meant. But now I finally felt I was on my way. Everyone had a forever, but given a choice, this would be mine. The one that began in this moment, with Wes, in a kiss that took my breath away, then gave it back- leaving me astounded, amazed, and most of all, alive.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“But that was the problem with having the answers. It was only after you gave them that you realized they sometimes weren't what people wanted to hear.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“You, have this whole tall, dark stranger thing going on. Not to mention the tortured artist bit.

And you, have that whole blonde cool and collected perfect smart thing going on.

You're the boy all the girls want to rebel with.

You, are the unattainable girl in homeroom who never gives a guy the time of day.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“he wasn't the type for displays of affection, either verbal or not. He was disgusted by couples that made out in the hallways between classes, and got annoyed at even the slightest sapppy moments in movies. But I knew he cared about me: he just conveyed it more subtly, as concise with expressing this emotion as he was with everything else. It was in the way he'd put his hand on the small of my back, for instance, or how he'd smile at me when I said something that surprised him. Once I might have wanted more, but I'd come around to his way of thinking in the time we'd been together. And we were together, all the time. So he didn't have to prove how he felt about me. Like so much else, I should just know.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Never would forever, with all its meanings, be so clear and distinct as in the true, guaranteed end of the world.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“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.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“And that was it. All this buildup to a great leap, and I didn't fall or fly. Instead I found myself back on the edge of the cliff, blinking, wondering if I'd ever jumped at all. It's not supposed to be like this.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“But it was okay not to fit in everywhere, as long as you did somewhere.

~Macy; pg 166”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“That's not a real answer.'
Says who?'
Says me. I mean real fear, like of failure, of death, of regret. Like that. Something that keeps you awake nights, questioning your very existence.'
Clowns.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Look," I said, "We knew Jason and Becky would be back, the break would end. This isn't a surprise, it's what's supposed to happen. It's what we wanted. Right?"
"Is it?" he asked. "Is it what you want?"
Whether he intended it to be or not, this was the final question, the last Truth. If I said what I really thought, I was opening myself up for a hurt bigger than I could even imagine. I didn't have it in me. We changed and altered so many rules, but it was this one, the only one when we'd started, that I would break.
"Yes," I said.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Sawooon”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“I knew that 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.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“You know, feeling and action are always linked, one can't exist without the other. It's sort of a hippie thing.-Wes”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“An empty frame, in which the picture is always changing, makes a statement about how time is always passing. It doesn't really stop, even in a single image. I t just feels that way.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Just when you think it's reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you, and it just hits you all over again, that shocking.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Isn't it weird," I said, "the way you remember things, when someone's gone?"
What do you mean?"
I ate another piece of waffle. "When my dad first died, all I could think about was that day. It's taken me so long to be able to think back to before that, to everything else."
Wes was nodding before I even finished. "It's even worse when someone's sick for a long time," he said. "You forget they were ever healthy, ever okay. It's like there was never a time when you weren't waiting for something awful to happen."
But there was," I said. "I mean, it's only been in the last few months that I've started remembering all this good stuff, funny stuff about my dad. I can't believe I ever forgot it in the first place."
You didn't forget," Wes said, taking a sip of his water. "You just couldn't remember right then. But now you're ready to, so you can."
I thought about this as I finished off my waffle.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Wes wants to be with Macy. And Macy, whether she'll admit it or not, wants to be with Wes. And yet they're not together, which is not only unjust, but when you think about it, tragical!”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“So he didn't have to prove how he felt about me. Like so much else, I should just know.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“How weird was it that so many bits and pieces, all diverse, could make something whole. Something with potential. 'Perfect.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“I realized how truly hard it was, really, to see someone you love change right before your eyes. Not only is it scary, it throws your balance off as well.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“That was the thing about being on the inside: the world was just going on, even when it seemed like time for you had stopped for good.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“It was like that part of my life, was just gone. It was almost too easy, for something I once thought had meant everything.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“which is completely out-of-line behavior. Then you are wholly within your rights to stomp on their foot." "No," Delia said, over her shoulder. "Actually, you're not. Just excuse yourself as politely as possible, and get out of arm's reach." Kristy looked at me, shaking her head. "Stomp them." she said, under her breath. "Really”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“But all I could think of was how when nothing made sense and hadn't for ages, you just have to grab onto anything you feel sure of.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“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?”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Donneven, Bettaquit and Mmmhmmmm”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“God! You'll do anything to avoid it.'
Avoid what?' my mother said.
The past,' Caroline said. 'Our past. I'm tired of acting like nothing ever happened, of pretending he was never here, of not seeing his pictures in the house, or his things Just because you're not able to let yourself grieve.'
Don't,' my mother said, her voice low, 'talk to me about grief. You have no idea.'
I do, though.' Caroline's voice caught, and she swallowed. 'I'm not trying to hide that I'm sad. I'm not trying to forget. You hide here behind all these plans for houses and townhouses because they're new and perfect and don't remind you of anything.'
Stop it,' my mother said.
And look at Macy,' Caroline continued, ignoring this.' Do you even know what you're doing to her?'
My mother looked at me, and I shrank back, trying to stay out of this. 'Macy is fine,' my mother said.
No, she's not. God you always say that, but she's not.' Caroline looked at me, as if she wanted me to jump in, but I just sat there. 'Have you even been paying the least bit of attention to what's going on with her? She's been miserable since Dad died, pushing herself so hard to please you. And then, this summer, she finally finds some friends and something she likes to do. But then one tiny slipup, and you take it all away from her.'
That has nothing to do with what we're talking about,' my mother said.
It has everything to do with it,' Caroline shot back. 'She was finally getting over what happened. Couldn't you see the change in her? I could, and I was berely here. She was different.'
Exactly,' my mother said. 'She was-'
Happy,' Caroline finished for her. 'She was starting to live her life again, and it scared you. Just like me redoing the beach house scares you. You think you're so strong becasue you never talk about Dad. Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that's waht akes you strong.'

~Caroline on closure; pg 326 and 327”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“When you had to do something, you had to do it. And eventually, if you were lucky, you did it well.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“ur actions is like a raindrop; it falls into the pond making riffles and then its over...”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“But as I stood watching her, I realized how truly hard it was,really, to see someone you love change right before your eyes. Not only is it scary, it throws your balance off as well. This was how my mother felt, I realized, over the weeks I worked at Wish, as she began to not recognize me in small ways, day after day. It was no wonder she'd reacted by pulling me closer, frcibly narrowing my world back to fit insider her own. Even now, as I finally saw this as the truth it was, a part of me wishing my mother would stand up straight, take command, be back in control. But all I'd wanted when she was tugging me closer was to be able to prove to her that the changes in me were good ones, ones she'd understand if she only gave them a chance. I had that chance now. While it was scary, I was gong to take it.
~Macy, pgs 351 and 352”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“A thump thump thump noise that was so unfamiliar, and yet I couldn't quite place it. But I knew it. It was---"Mmm-hmmm," Monica murmured, just as Wes came view into the path. He was running, his pace quick and steady. He was in shorts, his shirt off, staring ahead as he passed. His back was tan and gleaming with sweat.

God god!" she said finally, fanning her face with her hand, "I've seen it a million times but it just never gets old. Never.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever