“My dark days made me strong. Or maybe I already was strong, and they made me prove it.” StrengthMental IllnessInner StrengthDark Days Book:When We Collided Source: When We Collided
“She’d tell her daughters someday: ‘If you don’t feel safe enough to yell back, you’re not safe enough. My babies, that is not love.” StrengthFeminist Book:Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft Source: Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft
“Girls will move across the country with a boyfriend they've known less than a year, and people think that's normal because it's romantic love. But living with your best friend? Or for Dee, staying close to her parents and brothers? I don't think that's weird or codependent. I think it's basic: if you find people you love, you want to be near them.” FriendshipFriendsFriendship QuotesBest Friends Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“You can ache for where you come from, and it's homesickness. A relationship, and it's heartbreak. But is there a word for missing your friends like that?” LoveFriendshipGriefMissingHeartbreakLongingHomesickness Book:When We Collided Source: When We Collided
“I know this feeling of being a ghost in your own life - no one sees you, no one feels you, so you stay still as if you could actually disappear at any moment.” LifeLife QuotesLife And LivingEmery Lord Book:When We Collided Source: When We Collided
“And just like that, we're on our way to everywhere” RomanceFriendshipSummerYoung AdultRoad Trip Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“You know, some people act like every kid is entitled to two responsible, loving parents. I don't feel like that's a given. We're born alone, and we die alone. If you get an adult who's genuinely there for you, that's pretty lucky.” FamilyLuckyAloneParents Book:When We Collided Source: When We Collided
“I see it all through the lens of my camera—the flurry of movement, the venue staff in black T-shirts, giving orders into their headsets. As I take it all in, my mind weighs the texture, the composition, the possibility of each changing scene, and I struggle to hold back, to keep my finger from pressing too soon. That’s my biggest flaw as a photographer. I’m impatient—trigger-happy. I want the shot now, now, now, click, click, click, and if I could just wait a second more, the moment would really flourish.” PhotographyPatience Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“I've never felt stronger than when I was packing up my room at Richard's place. [...] I've also never felt sadder. Sad but strong. You can be both. And I am.” StrongSadnessStrengthSad Book:When We Collided Source: When We Collided
“I'd done it for months now-the dizzying dance between grief and normalcy and the guilt I felt in moving between the two.” GriefGuilt Book:The Start of Me and You Source: The Start of Me and You
“Summer crushes happen all the time, right? Because you feel far away from the real world, everything seems more...possible. Every person seems more vital.” SummerCrushes Book:The Names They Gave Us Source: The Names They Gave Us
“Sure, QuizBowl wasn't a cool activity to join and, yeah, the idea of answering difficult questions in front of an audience terrified me. But it wasn't anything like the fear that accompanied my drowning nightmare - harrowing and visceral. No, this fear made me feel fizzy. Hopeful. In fact, this fear felt like waking up do discover I am still here.” FearCourageBravery Book:The Start of Me and You Source: The Start of Me and You
“I think it's the bravest thing in the world - to run straight at love, even knowing how badly you could get hurt.” LoveBravery Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“That's the second reporter to call me 'boyish.'" "Boyish is nice," Dee offers. He tips his head towards her. "I'm nineteen. I'm not boyish." "It's your hair," I tell him without glancing up from the magazine, and Dee laughs. "My hair?" he asks, incredulous. "What's wrong with my hair?" "Nothing. But you had it that way when you were younger, right? During the Finch Four years?" He frowns. "Yeah, I guess. I don't know." "Yeah," Dee says. "You did. Same haircut. Kind of almost shaggy." "Shaggy?" "Yeah." I gesture near his ear. "It sort of starts to curl right here. The look is a little..." Dee and I both study his face for a moment. "...boyish," Dee decides. We both giggle, and Matt's eyes widen as if we've betrayed him. "Girls are mean! I'm bailing out of this bus at the next rest stop." "Unlikely," I tell him.” HumorBoyishDeeLilah MontgomeryMatt FinchReagan O Neill Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“That dress is couture," the stylist calls nervously before I can answer. The poor woman's eyes display sheer horror, like she's watching peanut salt fall onto the dress in slow motion. "Oh no," Dee says sarcastically. "Well, good thing I didn't eat it.” HumorDeeLilah MontgomeryReagan O Neill Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“That's the thing they never tell you about love stories: just because one ends, that doesn't mean it failed. A cherry pie isn't a failure just because you eat it all. It's perfect for what it is, and then it's gone. And exchanging the truest parts of yourself--all the things you are--with someone? What a slice of life. One I'll carry with me into every single someday.” LoveRelationshipsEndings Book:When We Collided Source: When We Collided
“A quiet realization would be more poetic—something as quotidian as showing back up. Choosing each other when there's no fanfare.” LoveRelationshipsChoice Book:The Map from Here to There Source: The Map from Here to There
“I couldn't master this kind of apathy, no matter how hard I tried. I was built to care - to notice, to overanalyze, to try - in a way that felt inalterable.” Page 147 Book:The Start of Me and You Source: The Start of Me and You
“Like a wounded soldier Trudging the old road home, But I ain’t the old me, And I walk this path alone. I’m battle-worn, I’m battle-torn With these scars inside my chest, Kept up that happy face for you, To hide that I’m a mess. But I gave you every ounce of fight in me, And I have no regrets. If I was going to lose you, At least I lost you to my best. But it felt so wrong, So tangled up in blue, Like that old Dylan song, Like I don’t know who I am, Now that you’re gone. But I lived through the pain. Now I see the other side. Now I know that life’s too short To shut myself down and hide. I’m battle-torn, but I’m battle-born. These scars are part of me. I got nothing left but what I’ve learned, And I’ll use that, and you’ll see, I can still give every ounce of fight in me, Till I have no regrets, Because if I’m going to lose someone, I’m gonna lose her to my best. And I’ll be strong, When a hard rain’s a-gonna fall, Like that old Dylan song, You’re the reason I stand tall, And that will never be gone.” Matt Finch Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“But life is not evens and odds and solving for x. And sadness? Sadness is an equation made of all variables.” Page 176 Book:The Start of Me and You Source: The Start of Me and You
“I want to reach back into my history with a grade-school pink eraser, scrubbing away my decisions like mistakes on a math test. To bad I drew my mistakes in ink.” Mistakes Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“I want to reach back into my history with a grade-school pink eraser, scrubbing away my decisions like mistakes on a math test. Too bad I drew my mistakes in ink.” Mistakes Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“Darkness might keep flooding in, but I finally had just enough light to find the way back to myself.” HopeFamilyDarknessFriendsHelp Book:The Start of Me and You Source: The Start of Me and You
“Because with true friends, no one is keeping score. But it still feels good to repay them – even in the tiniest increments.” FriendshipBest Friends Book:The Start of Me and You Source: The Start of Me and You
“Laughter feels like our flotation device -- it won't pull us out of the storm, but it might carry us through, if we can just hang on.” FriendshipLaughter Book:Open Road Summer Source: Open Road Summer
“I wondered how we looked to the rest of the world. Young and silly, probably. I often had the distinct feeling that strangers watched us with annoyance, teenage girls with cotton candy lives. They could think that—that we were frothy and carefree. Would they ever guess how strong we were from carrying each other?” FriendshipTeenage Girls Book:The Map from Here to There Source: The Map from Here to There