Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World (Aristotle and Dante, #2)

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

But if I carry Dante’s name with me, he will be the torch to light my way in the darkness that is Aristotle Mendoza.

I don’t want you to live in the prison of my thoughts. I’m the only one who should be living there.

Sometimes I had beautiful words living inside of me and I just couldn’t push those words out so that other people could see they were there.

There’s a voice in the universe that holds the truth of all those who walk the earth. I believe that we are born for reasons we do not understand—and it is up to us to discover those reasons. That is your only task. If you are brave enough to sit and listen to the voice of the universe in the silence that lives within you, then you will always know what matters—and you will know too that you matter more to the universe than you will ever know.

“Just because you don’t think that you’re anything special doesn’t mean I agree with you.”

Not everyone you love is meant to stay in your life forever.

The world is not a safe place for us. There are cartographers who came and made a map of the world as they saw it. They did not leave a place for us to write our names on that map. But here we are, we’re in it, this world that does not want us, a world that will never love us, a world that would choose to destroy us rather than make a space for us even though there is more than enough room. There is no room for us because it has already been decided that exile is our only choice. I have been reading the definition for that word and I don’t want that word to live inside me.

And what was it about human beings that wanted to measure love as if it were something that could be measured?

Every human being—each of us—is like a country. You can build walls around yourself to protect yourself, to keep others out, never letting anybody visit you, never letting anybody in, never letting anybody see the beauty of the treasures you carry within. Building walls can lead to a sad and lonely existence. But we can also decide to give people visas and let them in so they can see for themselves all the wealth you have to offer. You can decide to let those who visit you see your pain and the courage it has taken you to survive. Letting other people in—letting them see your country—this is the key to happiness.

If we’re lucky. If we’re very lucky, the universe will send us the people we need to survive.

So that is exactly what the Greeks thought. If they had leisure time, they used that time to think, and to have what might today be called ‘educational purpose.’ So, if we looked at school as leisure time, then maybe we’d have a different attitude about it. And we would be all the happier.”

That’s the thing about friends. Each one of them is different. And each friend knows something about you that your other friends don’t know. I guess a part of being friends is that you share a secret with each one of them. The secret doesn’t have to be a big secret. It could just be a little one. But sharing that secret is one of the things that makes you friends. I thought that was pretty amazing.

“How many battles have you had to fight, Dad?” “Only one that matters. I stole it from a writer named William Faulkner. I’m paraphrasing. The battle of my own human heart against itself.”

DAD SAID THAT THE ONLY thing you leave on this earth after you die that’s worth anything at all is your name. I wanted my father to live forever. But that wasn’t going to happen. And every time I entered a library, I was going to grab a book and write his name in it. So I could keep his name in this world.

To live and never to understand the strange and beautiful mysteries of the human heart is to make a tragedy of our lives.

He kissed me and I kissed him back. Let the universe see. Let the sky see. Let the passing clouds see. He kissed me. Let the plants of the desert see. Let the desert willows, let the distant mountains, let the lizards and the snakes and the desert birds and roadrunners see. I kissed him back. Let the sands of the desert see. Let the night come—and let the stars see two young men kissing.

And I was learning that sometimes you had to let go of the people you loved. Because if you didn’t, you’d live all your days in sadness. You’d fill your heart with the past. And there wouldn’t be enough room left for the present. And for the future. Letting go—it was difficult. And it was necessary.

Getting lost in a book wasn’t such a bad way to pass my days. I knew it would stop hurting one day.

Love at any age is rare. It doesn’t get any easier when you’re older. No one knows what they’re doing when it comes to love.”