The Sun Is Also a Star

by Nicola Yoon

Names are powerful things. They act as an identity marker and a kind of map, locating you in time and geography. More than that, they can be a compass.

People spend their whole lives looking for love. Poems and songs and entire novels are written about it. But how can you trust something that can end as suddenly as it begins?

There’s a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn’t mean love at first sight. It’s closer to love at second sight. It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.

“We have big, beautiful brains. We invent things that fly. Fly. We write poetry. You probably hate poetry, but it’s hard to argue with ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate’ in terms of sheer beauty. We are capable of big lives. A big history. Why settle? Why choose the practical thing, the mundane thing? We are born to dream and make the things we dream about.”

If people who were actually born here had to prove they were worthy enough to live in America, this would be a much less populated country.

Maybe part of falling in love with someone else is also falling in love with yourself.

Growing up and seeing your parents’ flaws is like losing your religion. I don’t believe in God anymore. I don’t believe in my father either.

trying to figure out not how we’re related, but why.

Some people exist in your life to make it better. Some people exist to make it worse.

Hearts are not made Of glass Or bone Or any material that could Splinter Or Fragment Or Shatter. They don’t Crack Into Pieces. They don’t Fall Apart. Hearts don’t break. They just stop working. An old watch from another time and no parts to fix it.

I’m not ready to say goodbye. I’ll never be ready to say it.

People make mistakes all the time. Small ones, like you get in the wrong checkout line. The one with the lady with a hundred coupons and a checkbook. Sometimes you make medium-sized ones. You go to medical school instead of pursuing your passion. Sometimes you make big ones. You give up.

They have a sense that love changes all things all the time. That’s what love is for.

But time and distance are love’s natural enemies.