How to Save a Life Quotes

“They say all who wander are not lost. But some of us are. We’re really fucking lost, wandering until our feet bleed, and it feels like we’ll never find our way home again.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“Let's do something really fucking crazy and trust each other.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“His fingertips moved soft and warm across the lightning crack that marred my cheek. “The Grand Canyon was carved by a river. It sliced through the rock, revealing layer upon layer of beauty. Beauty that couldn’t be seen until the earth was cut open. One little sliver of water…”
“Evan…”
“One little sliver.” He traced the ragged seam down to my chin. “The majesty of the Canyon is that depth. All that beauty lay buried for years until the river cut it open. Then all was revealed.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“I never told you
How I longed to kiss away your every bruise
until there was no evidence
No ghosts of your own suffering
To put your pieces back together
Seal the cracks
Vanish them like they never were
And never, ever
Leave a scar"

"I never told you
I would take your pain if I could
I would drink it down
And take my comfort
In making you ache a little less
For a little while
Did I?
I'll never know because I never told you that I loved you”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“I never told you
I would take your pain if I could
I would drink it down And take my comfort
In making you ache a little less
For a little while
Did I?
I’ll never know because
I never told you that
I loved you”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“They say all who wander are not lost. But some of us are. We’re really fucking lost, wandering until our feet bleed, and it feels like we’ll never find our way home again.  ”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“The Grand Canyon was carved by a river. It sliced through the rock, revealing layer upon layer of beauty. Beauty that couldn’t be seen until the earth was cut open. One little sliver of water…” “Evan…” “One little sliver.” He traced the ragged seam down to my chin. “The majesty of the Canyon is that depth. All that beauty lay buried for years until the river cut it open. Then all was revealed.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“Yeah, whatever,” I said finally, the two most unpoetic words in the English language.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“You believed me. Or maybe you didn’t, but you accepted me. And that had never happened to me before.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“I’ll always come back to you.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“Moment by moment, inhale by exhale, every heartbeat of hers against mine erased our separation. The lust consuming me all night revealed for what it truly was: my need to be with Josephine for the rest of my life. Not only her body but everything that she was: her scribbled words, her lonely heart and her victorious happiness.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“I love you. Ill love you forever and I’ll never stop.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“The only truth I have is that it’s for us. Everything I do is for us.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. —H.P. Lovecraft”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“Wait here.” I ran back up to my room to grab his blue-and-black plaid flannel shirt, still in my possession. Back on the porch, I handed it over.

“My shirt. I forgot you had it.”

“It’s ‘my’ shirt. You need to go home tonight and sleep in it. I made the mistake of washing it and now it doesn’t smell like you anymore.”

He turned the shirt over and over in his hand, laughing and shaking his head.

“And I want it back first thing in the morning. You read me?”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“I Never Told You
You can fill a book with everything I never said
Or the lines of a poem
Or an Empty pool
Or an empty bedroom, the candles all blown out
I never told you how the reflection of myself in your eyes
Was the only mirror I could bear to look at
Or how I fought every day
To transfuse the girl I saw there with the girl I am
I tried to breathe in the words you made me:
beautiful
good
brave
I tried to be them for you even though they were weighted with impossibility
I never told you
how I always feared the rough edges of myself were too sharp for you
and how I fought everyday to blunt them
To bring down the walls
To let you in
without cutting you because I could never bear to hurt you like the others did
Every day
a fierce pride roared in me
I was so lucky to know the truth
I was the beneficiary of your radiance
I basked in it and felt special
And if not for the pain of your solitude
I would have been content to be the only one
I never told you
How your touch made me feel like laughing and crying and singing all at once
How your hand passing over my skin where atrocities
Had not yet sloughed off,
Skin cells remembering the worst touches
Was like a tide washing over the ruddy sand
And leaving it whole and smooth
You made my skin forget
Gave me new memories
New sensations that didn't drag the shadows from the past
In your arms I could start again,
Start over.
There is no greater gift in all the world
Than you
to the wreckage
that is me...
I never told you
How I longed to kiss away your every bruise
until there was no evidence
No ghosts of your own suffering
To put your pieces back together
Seal the cracks
Vanish them like they never were
And never, ever
Leave a scar
I never told you
I would take your pain if I could
I would drink it down
And take my comfort
In making you ache a little less
For a little while
Did I?
I'll never know because I never told you that I loved you
I love you
I love you
It's too lat to say it now
The time has passed for words
How pathetic and small and weak
On the phone
Or on a piece of paper
Starving
Without the force of my own vitality
My voice
My breath
My blood singing n my veins for you
To give them power
They are lost
I love you
It's too late but I love you
And I'm sorry
I never told you.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“As he was marched away, Evan looked back over his shoulder at me. Through his grief-stricken expression, he smiled. So sad, so full of love, and so full of what might have been. Then he was gone”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“And I knew then, without any dream or hunch to tell me, that Jo was the first woman I’d ever sleep with, and also the last.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“The great yawning nothing that surrounded her swallowed me whole. And inside there wasn't nothing. There was everything...”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“His fingers ran through my hair and caressed my cheek. “Let’s do something really fucking crazy and trust each other.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“We exchanged looks, a commiseration; the girl with a scar and the boy with the freaky rep, and something shifted between us. An unspoken understanding that drew me closer to him without having moved an inch.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“Do you ever…” I heard her swallow hard. “Do you think about us? What we had?”
My chest ached at the longing in her voice. The fearful tentative reaching across the space between us.
“Every minute,” I said. “I think about us every minute of my life. All I do is think about us.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life

“I let go. The shields guarding my heart lowered. Evan wasn’t taking, he was giving. His kiss gave me those impossible things I’d desperately wanted all my life: tenderness, consideration, reverence. I took everything in his kiss, turned it around and gave it back to him. Willingly. Never once wondering what it would cost me later. No price to be paid, only this moment with this boy. The beauty of timing him and his sweet kiss. I let go.”
― Emma Scott, How to Save a Life