The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.

I try to think of my family as a reason for me being this way,

One thing I do know is that it makes me wonder if I have “problems at home” but it seems to me that a lot of other people have it a lot worse.

I was hoping that the kid who told the truth could become a friend of mine, but I think he was just being a good guy by telling.

It is now my favorite book of all time, but then again, I always think that until I read another book.

my mom is beautiful. And she’s always on a diet.

And I wonder if anyone is really happy. I hope they are. I really hope they are.

“Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve.”

“You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.”

I didn’t know that other people thought things about me. I didn’t know that they looked.

in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

Patrick says that Craig is “cut and hunky.” I do not know where Patrick finds his expressions.

And I think it’s bad when the most honest way a boy can look at a girl is through a camera.

I don’t know the significance of this, but I find it very interesting.

I just hope I remember to tell my kids that they are as happy as I look in my old photographs. And I hope that they believe me.

I am very interested and fascinated by how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other.

My grandfather usually just complains about black people moving into the old neighborhood, and then my sister gets upset at him, and then my grandfather tells her that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about because she lives in the suburbs.

I don’t think we should base so much on weight, muscles, and a good hair day, but when it happens, it’s nice. It really is.

And I thought that all those little kids are going to grow up someday. And all of those little kids are going to do the things that we do. And they will all kiss someone someday. But for now, sledding is enough. I think it would be great if sledding were always enough, but it isn’t.

I don’t know. I’m just thinking too fast. Much too fast. It’s like tonight.

I just wanted to know what to buy my dad because I love him. And I don’t know him.

I love my mom. And this time, I told her I loved her. And she told me she loved me, too. And things were okay for a little while.

I don’t want to start thinking again. Not like I have this last week. I can’t think again. Not ever again.

I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning.

this all feels very familiar. But it’s not mine to be familiar about.

if you looked at these facts when you were happy, you would feel great because you are describing “unity.”

It’s like when you are excited about a girl and you see a couple holding hands, and you feel so happy for them. And other times you see the same couple, and they make you so mad. And all you want is to always feel happy for them because you know that if you do, then it means that you’re happy, too.

for the first time in my life, I understand the end of that poem. And I never wanted to. You have to believe me.

since everything has happened already, it makes it hard to break new ground.

nowadays a band or someone would compare themselves to the Beatles after the second album, and their own personal voice would be less from that moment on.

Something really is wrong with me. And I don’t know what it is.

my father got a raise, and my mother didn’t because she doesn’t get paid for housework,

And if I went to another school, I would never have known Sam or Patrick or Mary Elizabeth or anyone except my family.

Kids working behind the counters of the food places who looked like they hadn’t had the will to live for hours.

things change. And friends leave. And life doesn’t stop for anybody.

Bill said that it’s “very easy to read, but very hard to ‘read well.’ ” I have no idea what he means,

So, I made myself promise to never mess up like I did before. And I’m never going to. I can tell you that.

It’s just hard to see a friend hurt this much. Especially when you can’t do anything except “be there.” I want to make him stop hurting, but I can’t.

“I would die for you. But I won’t live for you.” Something like that. I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people.

I know Patrick will be around, but I’m afraid that maybe since he isn’t sad, he won’t want to spend time with me. I know that’s wrong in my head, but it feels that way sometimes.

His girlfriend was wearing sandals and a nice flowered dress. She even had hair under her arms. No kidding!

Back then, it didn’t matter. The nerds and the squids were one.

I love my mom so much. I don’t care if that’s corny to say. I think on my next birthday, I’m going to buy her a present. I think that should be the tradition. The kid gets gifts from everybody, and he buys one present for his mom since she was there, too. I think that would be nice.

I wonder what my graduation will be like. It seems very far away.

You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.

At those times, you weren’t being his friend at all. Because you weren’t honest with him.”

So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.

I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won’t tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn’t change the fact that they were upset.

And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have ...

We didn’t talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough.