David Levithan Quotes & Sayings

What is the answer, Evan? Ms Granger asked.
Giraffe, I wanted to answer. It was on the tip of my tongue. Giraffe.
This was in math class, — David Levithan

When you jump, all you're going to do is fall. But leaping? Leaping is when you think there's something on the other side. — David Levithan

But there was something about you that made me think of sparks and motion. — David Levithan

Since Chuck's a sporting guy, I think it's only fair that I keep score of his conversation. — David Levithan

I know part of knowing someone is being mean to them or whatever. — David Levithan

He has no idea how beautiful the ordinary becomes once it disappears. — David Levithan

When people say love is blind, they act like that's a good thing. But some people find their way around in the darkness a little better than others. — David Levithan

You and I are walking in the snow. "Why are you walking backwards?" I ask. You point in the direction we came from. "So they'll think that's where I'm going." You point to where we're going. "And that's where I'm from. — David Levithan

All the words we use are stripped bare, so that no one ever knows what anyone else is saying, so that all kindness is cruelty, all selfishness generous, all care callous. — David Levithan

You are happy even if you are afraid to admit it. — David Levithan

This is my life, I think. I am an accumulation of objects. — David Levithan

He doesn't want to step out of the present, this present. Because once he does, there will be college applications and college acceptances (just one will do) and the last of everything (last class, last party, last night, last day, last goodbye), and then the world will change forever and he will go to college and eventually become an adult. That is not what he wants. He does not want those complications, that change. Not now. — David Levithan

I wanted my spring awakening, even if it was coming a season late.
I wanted summer lovin' that would happen so fast.
I wanted to succeed at the business of love without really trying. — David Levithan

I still have that drawing. Whenever I look at it, it makes me happy. That's the moral of the story. That's it. — David Levithan

Betrayal. Lust. Secrecy. Devotion. I think we do these things to feel more alive. When the truth is that alive is alive
you can feel it in anything, if you give it a chance. — David Levithan

I would have always been the captain. But now you're in charge. — David Levithan

How the things that hold us are only as strong as the faith we have in them-you go on the bridge because you trust it will not fall the fingers will clasp because we trust them to. — David Levithan

In the darkest part of our hearts, we used to think that maybe they were right.
We don't think that anymore. — David Levithan

I wake up feverish, sore, uncomfortable.
Is it sickness or is it heartbreak?
I can't tell.
The thermometer says I'm normal, but I'm clearly not. — David Levithan

I want to be here with her. I want to be the one who lives up to her hopes. — David Levithan

I preferred to hang out with the dead, dying, or desperate books - used we call them, in a way that we'd never call a person, unless we meant it cruelly — David Levithan

It's like you're a character in this book that everyone around you is writing, and suddenly you have to say, 'I'm sorry, but this role isn't right for me'. And you have to start writing your own life and doing your own thing. — David Levithan

LYNDA (TO TINY):
Look forward to the moment
when it falls apart.
Look forward to the
moment
when you must
rearrange your
heart.
It might feel like the
end of the world-
but it's the
beginning of your
art. — David Levithan

A city presents many different faces, and it is up to the traveller to assemble the proper composite. — David Levithan

And suddenly you started singing out your love for me. My name and everything, loud enough to reach the top floors of all the buildings. I should have told you to stop, but I didn't want you to stop. I didn't mind if your love for me woke people up. I didn't mind if it somehow sneaked into their sleep. — David Levithan

Our lives are different. Inexplicably, intrinsically joined, but different. — David Levithan

She wasn't pretty, but there were moments when I found her beautiful. — David Levithan

And what is a girl without curves if not, well, a boy? — David Levithan

I look around me and see all the problems.
I know people aren't living the gospel.
I know they are too busy.
The world is too loud.
The sounds you hear in the hall or not
the substance of love and kindness.
I hear gossip, I hear spite, I hear fear.
I do not hear the gospel.
Except inside me, I can feel it there. — David Levithan

Some of our parents were always on our side. Some of our parents chose to banish us rather than see us for who we were. And some of our parents, when they found out we were sick, stopped being dragons and became dragonslayers instead. Sometimes that's what it takes - the final battle. But it should take much, much less than that. — David Levithan

How do you commemorate a year?
A paper anniversary, but we are
the words written down, not the paper. — David Levithan

The kiss I like the most is one of the slow ones. It's as much breath as touch, as much no as yes. — David Levithan

But for today it is working in this
awkward kind of working. And that
is enough for a beginning. — David Levithan

I can take everything on her face at face value, and that's valuable in a friend. — David Levithan

I want to tell him more, too. I always want to tell him more, but now that I know he's listening- really listening- it means something different. — David Levithan

Even when I detach, I care. You can be separate from a thing and still care about it. If I wanted to detach completely, I would move my body away. I would stop the conversation midsentence. I would leave the bed. Instead, I hover over it for a second. I glance off in another direction. But I always glance back at you. — David Levithan

If you close your eyes, you can conjure a world. — David Levithan

And just like that, the universe goes wrong. Just like that, all the enormity seems to shrink into a ball and float away from my reach. I feel it, and she doesn't. Or I feel it, and she won't. — David Levithan

So I said I wanted you to stay, even though nothing could stay the same. — David Levithan

I have never been given these words
in this way before. This small piece of
gospel, three parts hosanna, two parts
testimony, one part lamentation. — David Levithan

The words that matter always stay. — David Levithan

I think one of the highest compliments you can give a person is that when you are talking to him, you are not thinking about the fact that you are talking to him. That is, your thoughts and words all exist on a single, engaged level. You are being yourself because you aren't bothering to think about who you should be. It is like when you talk in a dream. — David Levithan

I wonder if it's possible to start a new relationship without hurting someone else. — David Levithan

I am shy. Sometimes painfully shy. And it's especially painful when someone reminds me about it. — David Levithan

I don't get this at all. It's like protesting the fact that some people are red-haired. — David Levithan

We love and we feel and we try and we hope. — David Levithan

I hold the cigarette like i'm in a black-and-white movie.
but when jed lights the match, it spreads to color,
his skin in the campfire light, the spark of his eyes
as he leans in to me — David Levithan

When everybody knows you, it is easy
to think that nobody will ever really know you. — David Levithan

How amazing it is that friendships can become so full that you can't imagine what your life was like before them. — David Levithan

They are so caught up in their happiness that they don't realize I'm not really a part of it. I am wandering along the periphery. I am like the people in the Winslow Homer paintings, sharing the same room with them but not really there. I am like the fish in the aquarium, thinking in a different language, adapting to a life that's not my natural habitat. I am the people in the other cars, each with his or her own story, but passing too quickly to be noticed or understood.
... There are moments I just sit in my frame, float in my tank, ride in my car and say nothing, think nothing that connects me to anything at all. — David Levithan

Even though the own world doesn't matter to her, she matter to the world — David Levithan

They had their beliefs, and those beliefs were stronger than any belief they had in him. — David Levithan

That air. The air afterwards. I wanted to breathe it in. It felt right to breathe it in. Because we were breathing them in, weren't we? And the building. We were breathing it all in. And I thought, there's a part of this that's actually a part of me now. I now have that responsibility. I am alive, and I am breathing, and I can do the things this dust can't do. — David Levithan

Love is the higher law. — David Levithan

That's the problem with having a moral code. We want to destroy the jerkish part of the jerks, but we want to save the human being underneath. — David Levithan

It's never the same city. Your city isn't even the same as my city, I bet. — David Levithan

I'd like to remain at that one delicate remove, so you can get to know me without the distraction of other people's noise. — David Levithan

I am kissing her for a reason that transcends want and need, that feels elemental to our existence, a molecular component on which our
universe will be built. — David Levithan

Yearning, n. and adj.
At the core of this desire is the belief that everything can be perfect. — David Levithan

I'm always standing on the edge of something bad. — David Levithan

You think fairy tales are only for girls? Here's a hint - ask yourself who wrote them. I assure you, it wasn't just the women. It's the great male fantasy - all it takes is one dance to know that she's the one. All it takes is the sound of her song from the tower, or a look at her sleeping face. And right away you know - this is the girl in your head, sleeping or dancing or singing in front of you. Yes, girls want their princes, but boys want their princesses just as much. And they don't want a very long courtships. They want to know immediately. — David Levithan

The air feels cleaner because when the world is below us, we allow ourselves to breathe fully. — David Levithan

This isn't a book that I could have written ten years ago. And as much as I'd love to credit that to my growth as a writer, I know it's not really that. Instead it's because of all the people I've met and talked to as an author. And, just as important, it's about all of the things I've been exposed to as a reader, particularly of YA fiction. I am so lucky to be a part of a community of writers that constantly inspires me to write whatever I want to write, no matter how hard it seems. My peers are my role models, and my role models are my peers. Which is extraordinary. Thanks — David Levithan

Being a bitch is easy. It's finding the alternative that's hard. — David Levithan

You haven't missed me for one fucking minute. You have never for one single second in your entire pathetic fucking life missed me. You might have missed fucking with my head, and you might have missed the satisfaction you so clearly got from demolishing me, but those are your emotions you're missing, not mine. I'm afraid I can't help you. — David Levithan

The thing about a spotlight is that you have to step into it. You have to get onto that stage. — David Levithan

If I were in a different body, this would be the time I would lean down and kiss her. If I were in a different body, that kiss could transform the night from off to on. If I were in a different body, she would see me inside. She would see what she wanted to see.
But now it's awkward. — David Levithan

Now when I have to remember a date, all I have to do is consult my rap sheet. — David Levithan

This should be the most homoerotically charged baseball dance number since "I Don't Dance" in High School Musical 2. — David Levithan

The frustration is in how pointless the effort was — David Levithan

You know, I'd get a tattoo with your name on it. Only, I want you to have the freedom to change your name if you want to. — David Levithan

I don't believe a word you're saying... but say it again. — David Levithan

It's only in the finer points that it gets complicated and contentious, the inability to realize that no matter what our religion or gender or race or geographic background, we all have about 98 percent in common with each other. — David Levithan

Forget about the ones who set you up to see you fall. — David Levithan

Life goes on. Get over it. You're still young. It'll get better. Blah, Blah, Blah — David Levithan

You have to believe there are kisses and laughs and risks worth taking. — David Levithan

Things are going so well. We're volleying words back and forth. Everything she says, I have something I can say back. We're sparking, and part of me just wants to sit back and watch. We're clicking. Not because a part of me is fitting into a part of her. But because our words are clicking into each other to form sentences and our sentences are clicking into each other to form dialogue and our dialogue is clicking together to form this scene from this ongoing movie that's as comfortable as it is unrehearsed. — David Levithan

Exacerbate, v.
I believe your exact words were: You're getting too emotional. — David Levithan

The smell of the nail polish made me think of Amber and the rest of my friends. I missed them, but in theory. It wasn't them I missed, but friendship. QUITE YET. — David Levithan

I don't know where I am, Evan."
"I'm seeing red everywhere. It's just ... everywhere."
"I am underwater right now. You don't understand. I'm underwater."
"I need a gun."
"Evan? I need- — David Levithan

Like everyone else, Avery considers his inner world to be a scary, convoluted, inscrutable place. It is one thing to show someone your best, cleanest version. It's quite another to make him aware of your deeper, jagged self. — David Levithan

Because when something happens, she's the person I want to tell. The most basic indicator of love. — David Levithan

Mom: my point is that there are times when you just have to let it all out. all of the anger, all of the pain.
me: have you thought of talking to someone about this? i mean, i have some pills that might interest you, but i think you're supposed to have a prescription. it's okay - it only takes up an hour of your time for them to diagnose it. — David Levithan

I am liking him enough to know that a different time and a different place might have led to a different outcome. But since I'm not planning on leaving this time or place anytime soon, it's not a point worth making. — David Levithan

This is the power of a kiss:
It does not have the power to kill you. But it has the power to bring you to life — David Levithan

I remembered a time we were going through magazines. There was this one model who looked icy to the touch, in total control. I told you that, and
you said, "That's what makes it a good photograph. You think you know what's going on in her head. But the truth? No matter how good a
photograph is, you can never tell what's going on in the person's mind. There's no way to get from here" (you pointed to the room) "to there" (you
pointed to her head). — David Levithan

Gravity, n.
I imagine you saved my life. And then I wonder if I'm just imagining it. — David Levithan

I've worn black today, because I've heard so often that it's supposed to be slimming. But instead I am this sphere of darkness submarining through the halls. — David Levithan

I wasn't thinking of marriage, just commitment.
I wasn't thinking of forever, just reveling in now.
We don't know yet how long we're meant to be-
there are so many obstacles down the road.
But there is also possibility; the ring marks the realm of possibility. — David Levithan

Basis, n.: There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you're inlove with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself. — David Levithan

But love needs to have a future. And Sofia and I don't have a future. We've just had a good time sharing the present, that all.'
'You really think love needs to have a future?'
'Absolutely. — David Levithan

Today was awkward, but I think that's because it feels like a very awkward time. It isn't about you, and it isn't
about love. It's about everything crashing together at once. — David Levithan

Which is more stubborn, the love or the two arguing people caught within it? — David Levithan

That word again. Happy. It's a curse. The pursuit of happiness makes us deeply unhappy. It's a trap.Before anything else happened, there was me in bed, thinking of who you used to be.
I don't want you to think I forgot. — David Levithan

I liked this guy a lot. And I thought he liked me a lot, but in truth he didn't really like me at all. He was my first boyfriend, and I made him my everything-he was my new life, my new love, my new compass point. I guess that's the danger with flirts-you lose all sense of proportion. So I made a fool of myself, even though I didn't realize it at the time. I was so devoted to him. — David Levithan

I am learning that a life isn't real unless someone else knows its reality. And I want my life to be real. — David Levithan

Belief. That's what I want for Christmas. Look it up. Maybe there's more meaning there than I understand. Maybe you could explain it to me? — David Levithan

I wondered if this was how you'd felt.
I wondered if I was making myself feel how you'd felt.
I knew it wasn't a choice. It was just what my mind was doing.
Although I could've been fighting it more. — David Levithan

If you tell me, I will leave you alone," I said. "And if you don't tell me, I am going to grab the nearest ghostwritten James Patterson romance novel and I am going to follow you through this store reading it out loud until you relent. Would you prefer me to read from Daphne's Three Tender Months with Harold or Cindy and John's House of Everlasting Love? I guarantee, your sanity and your indie street cred won't last a chapter. And they are very, very short chapters."
Now I could see the fright beneath the defiance. — David Levithan

Luckily, tiny texts me every five minutes or so. i don't know how he does it without getting caught in class. maybe he hides the phone in the folds of his stomach or something. — David Levithan