Hopepunk Quotes

“You're cool because you're yourself—gleefully, recklessly, one hundred percent yourself. And if that isn't cool, then fuck. I don't know what is.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“Hope is an act of resistance.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“Do you even know what hate is?” I said. Shawn looked confused, like this was a trick question. “It’s confusing freedom of speech,” I said, “with the right to be a hateful asshole without consequences.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“Maybe time, itself, didn't heal all wounds. Maybe, in the end, it was people who healed those wounds. Nobody wants to hurt.

Maybe, deep down, all we want is to forgive and be forgiven.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“Art means nothing without the people who experience it...”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“...there's a lot more to offer in life than what you're given in high school. Don't go thinking this is all you're ever gonna get.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“Nothing strengthens the soul like music that speaks to it—especially when you find it on your own. I think there's power in that.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“the lead singer sounded like the Cookie Monster, here to eat cookies and kick ass. (And he was all outta cookies.)”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“I knew Dad knew that I knew. I guess I was just perplexed and frustrated that secrets were necessary for coexistence.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“Look, I know she feels hurt and betrayed by Faith. I know she’s coping with it the only terrible way she knows how. Sometimes, when we’re damaged, we have to become the bad guy before we heal enough to become something better.”
“That’s a fucking terrible philosophy.”
“It’s not a philosophy. That’s just how people are sometimes. Most people don’t decide to be bad. They’re just too fucked up to realize that’s what they’ve become.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“There was something mournful in her voice, but not broken. This song was the bridge between life and death. It was mystical. Spun together like a spell. Just pure magic and heartbreak.
And that velvety sandpaper alto of hers sounded eerily similar to my voice.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“To my Homegirl, my Best Friend, my Rock, Hope,
Because without her, what the hell have we got?”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“Sometimes you have to trudge through the bad in order to get to the good," Dad explained. "There's something rewarding about that level of perseverance.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk

“But I wasn't forgiving my dad because he deserved it. Forgiveness was never about deserving it.

But I wanted to forgive him.

Maybe forgiveness was a selfish thing. Maybe forgiveness was about self-preservation. About personal healing. About allowing yourself to become whole again.”
― Preston Norton, Hopepunk