Nat > Nat's Quotes

“Why are you such an ass?" The words came out before I could think twice.
"Everyone has to excel at something, right?"
"Well, you're doing a great job.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, Obsidian

“Mama, Mama, help me get home
I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own.
I found me a werewolf, a nasty old mutt
It showed me its teeth and went straight for my gut.

Mama, Mama, help me get home
I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own.
I was stopped by a vampire, a rotting old wreck
It showed me its teeth and went straight for my neck.

Mama, Mama, put me to bed
I won't make it home, I'm already half-dead.
I met an Invalid, and fell for his art
He showed me his smile, and went straight for my heart.

-From "A Child's Walk Home," Nursery Rhymes and Folk Tales”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“I love you. Remember. They cannot take it”
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying.”
― Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

“Don't think or judge, just listen.”
― Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

“Music is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in your or the world, that one song says the same, just like that moment.”
― Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

“It's just that...I just think that some things are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It's the universe's way of providing contrast, you know? There have to be a few holes in the road. It's how life is.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Sometimes it seems safer to hold it all in, where the only person who can judge is yourself.”
― Sarah Dessen

“You know, when it works, love is pretty amazing. It's not overrated. There's a reason for all those songs.”
― Sarah Dessen, This Lullaby

“It's a lot easier to be lost than found. It's the reason we're always searching and rarely discovered--so many locks not enough keys.”
― Sarah Dessen, Lock and Key

“So you're always honest," I said.
"Aren't you?"
"No," I told him. "I'm not."
"Well, that's good to know, I guess."
"I'm not saying I'm a liar," I told him. He raised his eyebrows. "That's not how I meant it, anyways."
"How'd you mean it, then?"
"I just...I don't always say what I feel."
"Why not?"
"Because the truth sometimes hurts," I said.
"Yeah," he said. "So do lies, though.”
― Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“The sky is everywhere, it begins at your feet.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“I wish my shadow would get up and walk beside me.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“grief is a house
where the chairs
have forgotten how to hold us
the mirrors how to reflect us
the walls how to contain us

grief is a house that disappears
each time someone knocks at the door
or rings the bell
a house that blows into the air
at the slightest gust
that buries itself deep in the ground
while everyone is sleeping

grief is a house where no one can protect you
where the younger sister
will grow older than the older one
where the doors
no longer let you in
or out”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“Each time someone dies, a library burns.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“When he plays
all the flowers swap colors
and years and decades and centuries
of rain pour back into the sky”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“... if you're someone who knows the worst thing can happen at any time, aren't you also someone who knows the best thing can happen at any time too?”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“That's a misconception, Lennie. The sky is everywhere, it begins at your feet.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“Oh, God,’ he whispers, reaching his hand behind my neck and bringing my lips to his. ‘Let’s let the whole fucking world explode this time.’
And we do.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“The Color Of Extraordinary.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“The.
World.
Is.
Not.
A.
Safe.
Place.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“Our tongues have fallen madly in love and gotten married and moved to Paris.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes part of you, step for step, breath for breath.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“I always imagined music trapped inside my clarinet, not trapped inside of me. But what if music is what escapes when a heart breaks?”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“Music: what life, what living itself sounds like.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“And then he smiles, and in all the places around the globe where it's night, day breaks.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“I gasp, because isn't that just exactly what I've been doing too: writing poems and scattering them to the winds with the same hope as Gram that someone, someday, somewhere might understand who I am, who my sister was, and what happened to us.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“How can the word love, the word life, even fit in the mouth?”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“I'd been making desicions for days.
I picked out the dress Bailey would wear forever-
a black slinky one- innapropriate- that she loved.
I chose a sweater to go over it, earrings, bracelet, necklace,
her most beloved strappy sandals.
I collected her makeup to give to the funeral director with a recent photo-
I thought it would be me that would dress her;
I didn't think a strange man should see her naked
touch her body
shave her legs
apply her lipstick
but that's what happened all the same.
I helped Gram pick out the casket,
the plot at the cemetery.
I changed a few lines
in the obituary that Big composed.
I wrote on a piece of paper what I thought
should go on the headstone.
I did all this without uttering a word.
Not one word, for days,
until I saw Bailey before the funeral
and lost my mind.
I hadn't realized that when people say so-and-so
snapped
that's what actually happens-
I started shaking her-
I thought I could wake her up
and get her the hell out of that box.
When she didn't wake,
I screamed: Talk to me.
Big swooped me up in his arms,
carried me out of the room, the church,
into the slamming rain,
and down to the creek
where we sobbed together
under the black coat he held over our heads
to protect us from the weather.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere