Wenwan > Wenwan's Quotes

“I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Words were different when they lived inside of you.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I wanted to tell them that I'd never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the stars, and knew the mysteries of water, and knew enough to know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren't meant to be shot down from their graceful flights by mean and stupid boys. I wanted to tell them that he had changed my life and that I would never be the same, not ever. And that somehow it felt like it was Dante who had saved my life and not the other way around. I wanted to tell them that he was the first human being aside from my mother who had ever made me want to talk about the things that scared me. I wanted to tell them so many things and yet I didn't have the words. So I just stupidly repeated myself. "Dante's my friend.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“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

“How could I have ever been ashamed of loving Dante Quintana?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I renamed myself Ari.

If I switched the letter, my name was Air.

I thought it might be a great thing to be the air.

I could be something and nothing at the same time. I could be necessary and also invisible. Everyone would need me and no one would be able to see me.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Why do we smile? Why do we laugh? Why do we feel alone? Why are we sad and confused? Why do we read poetry? Why do we cry when we see a painting? Why is there a riot in the heart when we love? Why do we feel shame? What is that thing in the pit of your stomach called desire?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“It was good to laugh. I wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh until I laughed myself into becoming someone else.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I wondered if my smile was as big as hers. Maybe as big. But not as beautiful.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“All this time.

This was what was wrong with me. All this time I had been trying to figure out the secrets of the universe, the secrets of my own body, of my own heart. All of the answers had always been so close and yet I'd always fought them without even knowing it. From the minute I'd met Dante, I had fallen in love with him. I just didn't let myself know it, think it, feel it. My father was right. And it was true what my mother said. We all fight our own private wars.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“It felt like there was a whole world living inside her. I didn't know anything about that world.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“And why was it that some guys had tears in them and some had no tears at all? Different boys lived by different rules.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“What do you love, Ari? What do you really love?"

"I love the desert. God, I love the desert."

"It's so lonely."

"Is it?"

Dante didn't understand. I was unknowable.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I have this idea that the reason we have dreams is that we're thinking about things that we don't know we're thinking about-and those things, well, they sneak out of us in our dreams. Maybe we're like tires with too much air in them. The air has to leak out. That's what dreams are.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Did anybody ever tell you that you weren't normal?'

'Is that something I should aspire to?”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“There are worse things in the world than a boy who likes to kiss other boys.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“It was as if my eyes were a camera and I was photographing the moment, knowing that I would keep the photograph forever.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“The funny thing is, I sometimes think my mother loves my father more than he loves her. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Maybe. Is love a contest?"
"What does that mean?"
"Maybe everyone loves differently. Maybe that's all that matters.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Birds exist to teach us things about the sky.”
― 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

“For the music to be over so soon. For the music to be over when it had just begun. That was really sad.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“I sometimes think that I don't let myself know what I'm really thinking about. That doesn't make much sense but it makes sense to me. I have this idea that the reason we have dreams is that we're thinking about things that we don't know we're thinking about—and those things, well, they sneak out of us in our dreams. Maybe we're like tires with too much air in them. The air has to leak out. That's what dreams are.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“If we studied birds, maybe we could learn to be free.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you're thinking but because you're feeling. Because you're feeling too much. And you can't always control the things you do when you're feeling too much. 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.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“the thing about artists is that they tell stories. I mean, some paintings are like novels.”
― 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

“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

“I fell in love with the thunder.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe