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“And I knew that there was something about me that Mrs. Quintana saw and loved. And even though I felt it was a beautiful thing, I also felt it was a weight. Not that she meant it to be a weight. But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“And I thought that maybe there were ghosts inside of me that I hadn’t even met yet. They were there. Lying in wait.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Maybe it's a terrible thing, to keep a war to yourself.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I felt like I was the saddest boy in the universe. Summer had come and gone. Summer had come and gone. And the world was ending.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“There is a famous painting, Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper. I am in love with that painting. Sometimes, I think everyone is like the people in that painting, everyone lost in their own private universes of pain or sorrow or guilt, everyone remote and unknowable. The painting reminds me of you. It breaks my heart.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I noticed his smile was a little sad. Maybe everyone was a little sad. Maybe so.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I knew what he was saying, and I wished to God he was someone else, someone who didn't have to say things out loud.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I found myself whispering, "Do you think we'll ever discover all the secrets of the universe?"
I was surprised to hear Susie's voice answering my question. "That would be a beautiful thing, wouldn't it, Ari?"
"Yeah," I whispered. "Really beautiful."
"Do you think, Ari, that love has anything to do with the secrets of the universe?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“In your dream. You were looking for me."

"I'm always looking for you," I whispered.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“And being alone made me want to talk to someone my own age. Someone who understood that using the "f" word wasn't a measure of my lack of imagination. Sometimes using that word just made me feel free.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I wasn't big on family gatherings. Too many intimate strangers. I smiled a lot, but really I never knew what to say.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I live in an ecotone. Employment must coexist with goofing off. Responsibility must coexist with irresponsibility.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“That was the day that my brother was in our house again. In a strange and inexplicable way, my brother had come home.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“He looked tired but at that moment, as we sat at the kitchen table, there was something young about him. And I thought that maybe he was changing into someone else. Everyone was always becoming someone else.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“He drags it out of her, all those feelings she has.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I like the old words better. They're like old friends.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“My mom, she sometimes resided in the space between irony and sincerity.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“We left him there. Louie. We left him.” I watched my father lean into his own arms and sob. There was something about the sound of a man in pain that resembled the sound of a wounded animal. My heart was breaking. All this time, I’d wanted my father to tell me something about the war and now I couldn’t stand to see the rawness of his pain, how new it was after so many years, how that pain was alive and thriving just beneath the surface.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“It made me smile, the way they got along, the easy and affectionate way they talked to each other as if love between a father and a son was simple and uncomplicated. My mom and I, sometimes what we had was easy and uncomplicated. Sometimes. But me and my dad, we didn't have that. I wondered what that would be like, to walk into a room and kiss my father.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Maybe my dad just didn't need words to get by in the world. I wasn't like that. Well, I was like that on the outside, pretending not to need words. But I wasn't like that on the inside.
I'd figured something out about myself: on the inside, I wasn't like my dad at all. On the inside I was more like Dante. That really scared me.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Maybe the difference between being a boy and being a man is that boys couldn’t control the awful things they sometimes felt. And men could. That afternoon, I was just a boy. Not even close to being a man.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“My dad says it’s all right if people make fun of you. You know what he said to me? He said, ‘Dante, you’re an intellectual. That’s who you are. Don’t be ashamed of that.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I looked out the window at the black clouds ahead of us. I opened the back window and smelled the rain. You could smell the rain in the desert even before a drop fell. I closed my eyes. I held my hand out and felt the first drop. It was like a kiss. The sky was kissing me. It was a nice thought. It was something Dante would have thought. I felt another drop and then another. A kiss. A kiss. And then another kiss.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“If summer was a book then I was going to write something beautiful in it. In my own handwriting. But I had no idea what to write.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Don’t, amor. Te adoro. I’ve already lost a son. I’m not going to lose another. You’re not alone, Ari. I know it feels that way. But you’re not.” “How can you love me so much?” “How could I not love you? You’re the most beautiful boy in the world.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Everyone was becoming someone else. Sometimes, when you were older, you became someone younger. And me, I felt old.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Sometimes parents loved their sons so much that they made a romance out of their lives. They thought our youth could help us overcome everything. Maybe moms and dads forgot about this one small fact: being on the verge of seventeen could be harsh and painful and confusing. Being on the verge of seventeen could really suck.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“People talk to dogs. Not that they understand. But maybe they understand enough.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Maybe my life isn't all that interesting but at least I'm busy. Busy doesn't mean happy. I know that. But at least I'm not bored. Being bored is the worst.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I could have asked my father lots of questions. I could have. But there was something in his face and eyes and in his crooked smile that prevented me from asking. I guess I didn’t believe he wanted me to know who he was. So I just collected clues. Watching my father read that book was another clue in my collection. Some day all the clues would come together. And I would solve the mystery of my father.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe