Lean > Lean's Quotes

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“She’s not you.”

“What?”

“She. Isn’t. You.”
― Lynn Painter, Better Than the Movies

“Wes: Make sure you add “Someone Like You” to the Wes and Liz playlist.”
― Lynn Painter, Better Than the Movies

“I've loved him my whole life, and somewhere along the way, that love didn't change but grew. It grew to fill the parts of me that I did not have when I was a child. It grew with every new longing of my body and desire until there was not a piece of me that did not love him. And when I look at him, there is no other feeling in me.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Stay I whisper to him. Stay in the car. Stay in this moment. But of course he never does.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Perhaps he would ask me what books mean to me. I would tell him that it means living another life;”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“Like most of my stories, it will end tragically.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“Finny?
Oh, Autumn.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been With Me

“It's all done.
Finn's story is over.
His whole life.
That was it.

Not even nineteen years, and he'll never, ever do anything else ever again. Finn won't go off to college or celebrate his birthday. He won't get another haircut or get the oil changed in his car. He won't bite a hangnail on his thumb or buy another CD. Finn Smith has done everything he will ever get to do.

He won't get to be with Autumn.”
― Laura Nowlin, If Only I Had Told Her

“I lay on my bed in late afternoon, watching a patch of light move across the floor, my throat tight, my body still. This is the saddest part of any day, when too much time has passed to create happiness while it is still light out. It’s too late. The daylight has been squandered on my immobility. The patch of light falls still; it begins to fade. It will be better when it is gone. This is only one day, I remind myself, and it is very nearly over.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“I know I will always love her in the same way I know I'll always need oxygen.”
― Laura Nowlin, If Only I Had Told Her

“We’re just being close one last time.”
― Laura Nowlin, If Only I Had Told Her

“You make me happier than any other person ever has.”
― Laura Nowlin, If Only I Had Told Her

“My tiara continues its reign as a permanent fixture on my head. Before long, no one asks me about it anymore.”
― Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

“Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they desire more than anything.”
― Stephanie Garber, Caraval

“She imagined loving him would feel like falling in love with darkness, frightening and consuming yet utterly beautiful when the stars came out.”
― Stephanie Garber, Caraval