Sarah Dessen Quotes & Sayings

At times, I found myself questioning his very existence, even though I knew I had, in fact, spotted him, with my own eyes. — Sarah Dessen

When someone starts to change, and it's obvious, it's sort of natural to wonder why. Right? — Sarah Dessen

It's so, so stupid what we do to ourselves because we're afraid. It's so stupid. — Sarah Dessen

I've seen what commitment leads to, and it isn't pretty. Going in is the easy part. It's the endings that suck. — Sarah Dessen

Its 75 Degrees! In December! — Sarah Dessen

I'm all about shrimpburgers, reading, and going to the beach. — Sarah Dessen

Look, the point is there's no way to be a hundred percent sure about anyone or anything. So you're left with a choice. Either hope for the best or just expect the worst. — Sarah Dessen

It's true. It's like the hidden secret that no one tells you. we can all be beautiful girls, Colie. it's so easy. it's like Dorothy clicking her heels to go home. You could do it all along. — Sarah Dessen

It's harder that in looks," I told him when I finally got back in the car.
"Most things are, — Sarah Dessen

An ending was an ending. No matter how many pages of sentences and paragraphs of great stories led up to it, it would always have the last word. — Sarah Dessen

Despite our differences, we did have a history. No one understood where I was coming from the way he did. — Sarah Dessen

Plus the fact that the window I was now facing opened up to the part of the lot where people picked up their brand-new cars. Every few minutes, one of the salesmen would walk someone right to the center of the window, hand them their shiny new keys, and then smile benevolently as they drove off into the sunset, just like in the commercials. What a bunch of shit. — Sarah Dessen

Make your choices well, my mom had said. It was what she thought she hadn't done, what she hoped above everything I'd do differently. On the flip side, though, there was Clyde, telling me that there were second chances, even-and especially- when you've given up all hope of them. But maybe, when a life and summer was going so fast, you couldn't wait for fate to punch the time card. You had to do it yourself. — Sarah Dessen

The next morning, when I went in to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I noticed the index card over the sink. RIGHT FAUCET DRIPS EASILY, it said. TIGHTEN WITH WRENCH AFTER USING. And then there was an arrow, pointing down to where a small wrench was tied with bright red yarn to one of the pipes.
This is crazy, I thought.
But that wasn't all. In the shower, HOT WATER IS VERY HOT! USE WITH CARE was posted over the soap dish. And on the toilet: HANDLE LOOSE. DON'T YANK. (As if I had some desire to do that.) The overhead fan was clearly BROKEN, the tiles by the door were LOOSE so I had to WALK CAREFULLY. And I was informed, cryptically, that the light over the medicine cabinet works, BUT ONLY SOMETIMES. — Sarah Dessen

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

Who knew three dots could make such a difference? Like everything else, a love or a wish or whatever, it was all in the way you read it. — Sarah Dessen

That's not a real answer.'
Says who?'
Says me. I mean real fear, like of failure, of death, of regret. Like that. Something that keeps you awake nights, questioning your very existence.'
Clowns. — Sarah Dessen

At every wedding someone stays home. — Sarah Dessen

Funny how a beautiful song could tell such a sad story — Sarah Dessen

The truth about forever is that it is happening right now — Sarah Dessen

Which is completely out-of-line behavior. Then you are wholly within your rights to stomp on their foot." "No," Delia said, over her shoulder. "Actually, you're not. Just excuse yourself as politely as possible, and get out of arm's reach." Kristy looked at me, shaking her head. "Stomp them." she said, under her breath. "Really — Sarah Dessen

You don't have to say it out loud. I already know why you like me.'
'You do, huh?'
'Yep.'
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. 'So,' I said. 'Tell me'
'It's an animal attraction,' he said simply. 'Totally chemical.'
'Hmm,' I said. 'You could be right.'
'It doesn't matter, anyway, why you like me.'
'No?'
'Nope.' His hands were in my hair now, and I was leaning in, not able to totally make out his face, but his voice was clear, close to my ear. 'Just that you do. — Sarah Dessen

Usually when I finish the draft of a book, I'm sure I'll never write another one. I'm just that tired and sick of myself. But then another idea starts percolating. It usually begins with the narrator's name, then some idea that intrigues me about her life or situation. I try to ignore it as long as I can, because I know when I start writing, I'll be right back into it, every single day. But eventually, I just have to. It's a compulsion! — Sarah Dessen

I am coming to terms with the fact that loving someone requires a leap of faith, and that a soft landing is never guaranteed. — Sarah Dessen

I think my mother characters have changed a lot since Sasha was born, just because I understand what a hard job it is now, and I'm coming at it from another angle - like you just love and care about this person so much, and just want to protect them from everything. — Sarah Dessen

Was it really this easy, once you escaped, to just not care? — Sarah Dessen

Like no longer having something could be a good thing, and the proof of it as well. I was used to the opposite, when absence equaled heartbreak. — Sarah Dessen

I planned my whole future around Adam," she said now, quietly. "And now I have nothing." "No," I told her, "now you just don't have Adam. There's a big difference, Lissa. You just can't see it yet. — Sarah Dessen

I would have thought this would make me feel better.. getting to be the one to leave and not the one left behind. But it didn't. Not at all. — Sarah Dessen

I was running from one problem or place to another, with no time left to study, or sleep, or just breathe. I felt pulled in all directions, fighting to keep all these obligations circling in the air above me. It was only a matter of time before something fell. — Sarah Dessen

But there was only one truth about forever that really mattered, and that was this: it was happening. — Sarah Dessen

Just like that, with one phone call, she was a daughter again. — Sarah Dessen

It was just a tiny moment. Not a kiss, not even real contact. But for all the things it wasn't, it meant so much. — Sarah Dessen

Almost, I thought. Out loud I said, Just because we don't see eye to eye on everything doesn't mean we can't be close.
Auden — Sarah Dessen

Everything always gets crazy at the end. You just have to keep going, regardless of how awful it gets. So that's what I do. — Sarah Dessen

You just walk over there and into the office and say, 'Hey, be my prom date,'" he said. "It's that simple. — Sarah Dessen

D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Austin ... and you. I'll be there soon. — Sarah Dessen

Isabel had hated me on sight, and not because I was fat. Just because she could. — Sarah Dessen

To me she said, "It's this stupid gotcha thing, they've been doing it for weeks now. Leaping out at each other and us, scaring the hell out of everyone."
"It's a game of wits," Bert said to me.
"Half-wits," Kristy added. — Sarah Dessen

None of it meant anything, and all of it was important. — Sarah Dessen

Okay. Enough." I got out of the closet, brushing myself off, then turned around to face her. "This is happening. So you need to go downstairs, face your fears, and make the best of it, and everything will be okay."
She narrowed her eyes at me. "When did you suddenly become so positive?"
"Just get out of there. — Sarah Dessen

Maybe the truth was, it shouldn't be so easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something's difficult to come by, you'll do that much more to make sure it's even harder
if not impossible
to lose. — Sarah Dessen

I was only then, when I knew I was alone, at least for the moment, that I reached under my gown into the pocket of my dress. As I pulled out my key from the yellow house, which I'd kept on my bureau since the day Nate left, I traced the shape one last time before folding my hand tightly around it.
Behind me, Cora was calling again. My family was waiting. Looking down at the pond, all I could think was that it is an incredible thing, how a whole world can rise from what seems like nothing at all. I stepped closer to the edge, keeping my eyes on my reflection as I dropped the key into the water, where it landed with a splash. At first, the fish darted away, but as it began to sink they circled back, gathering around. Together, they followed it down, down until it was gone.<3 — Sarah Dessen

... It's not just where you go, but how you choose to get there. — Sarah Dessen

Everything seemed bright and different after so long in the darkness. Even though most of the businesses were closed, there was one neon sign lit in the window of a narrow storefront. COFFEE AND PIE, it read. Two bikes were parked just outside.

On the boardwalk, in the thrown light of the neon sign, his head dipped down as I pulled my fingers through his hair. The night still in progress, with daylight hours away. — Sarah Dessen

I don't lie."
"You don't lie," I repeated.
"That's what I said."
"Ever."
"Nope."
Sure you don't, I thought. — Sarah Dessen

And I wondered if, in the end, this is how all disputes are settled, with a shared silence as things become equal. You take something from me, I take something from you. We all want balance, one way or another. — Sarah Dessen

Growing up means :propelling yourself forward into whatever lies ahead, one turn of the wheel at a time. — Sarah Dessen

But something, somehow, had made all these paths converge. You couldn't find it on a checklist, or work it into the equation. It just happened. — Sarah Dessen

In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible. — Sarah Dessen

It was a basic plot in any number of her books: girl strikes out, makes good, finds love, gets revenge. In that order. The making good and striking out part I liked. The rest would just be bonus. — Sarah Dessen

It wasn't like I was some expert on the meaning of being supportive. Was it being loyal even against your better judgement? Or, like Olivia, was it making your displeasure known from the start, even when someone didn't want to hear it? — Sarah Dessen

Lifestyle is an terrible, unpleasant put to not have a very finest buddy. — Sarah Dessen

Isn't that the way everything begins? A night, a love, a once and for all. — Sarah Dessen

I was woundering what he would say, what word could sum me up right then, when i saw the lights come across his face, blaringly yellow, and suddenly he was brighter, and brighter, and i asked him what was happening, what was wrong. I remember only that light, so strong it spilled across my shoulders, and lit up his face, and how scared he looked as something big and loud hit my door, sending glass shattering across me, little sparks catching the light like diamonds, as they fell, with me, into the dark. — Sarah Dessen

It [I'm leaving] wasn't really necessary to say, especially if you were already walking away. Almost redundant. And yet, there was a comfort in being no question, no room for doubt. — Sarah Dessen

She said writting novels was like childbirth: if you truly remembered how awful it got, you'd never do it again. — Sarah Dessen

But if something was really important, fate made sure it somehow came back to you and gave you another chance. — Sarah Dessen

Sometimes really, really bad things happen to people, and there is no explanation and no reason whatsoever. — Sarah Dessen

After everything that happened, how could I miss him? But I did, I did. — Sarah Dessen

Sometimes things don't turn out the way you want them to, Haven. Sometimes the people you choose to believe are wrong. — Sarah Dessen

All I'd wanted for so long was for someone to explain
everything that had
happened to me in this same way. To label it neatly on a page: this leads to this
leads to this. — Sarah Dessen

Sometimes you dont even want to think aout what people are doing with their groceries. — Sarah Dessen

Then I'd crawl back into bed, smelling her all around me, and tell myself that next time, I would lock that window. But I never did. — Sarah Dessen

It was like reaching for someone's hand, then missing their fingers, or even their arm, and hitting their shoulder instead. But no matter. You hang on tight anyway. — Sarah Dessen

I was actually kind of a hot mess in high school. I did a lot of things in high school I'm not proud of. I wasn't a good student and I wasn't particularly a good daughter. I wasn't very engaged. — Sarah Dessen

It wasn't until Kiffney-Brown, when I met Jason Talbot, that I really thought I might actually have one of those boyfriend kind of stories to tell the next time I got together with my old friends. Jason was smart, good-looking, and seriously on the rebound after his girlfriend at Jackson dumped him for, in his words, 'a juvenile delinquent welder with a tattoo'. — Sarah Dessen

I was heading off to my new world. But I was taking a part of my past, and the future, along with me for the ride. — Sarah Dessen

Total commitment," I said. "You know, the idea of discovering something that, for all intents and purposes, goes against your abilities, and yet still deciding to do it anyway. That takes guts, you know? — Sarah Dessen

But I think, personally, that it would be worse to have been alone all that time. Sure, maybe I would have protected my heart from some things, but would that really have been better? To hold myself apart because I was too scared that something might no be forever? — Sarah Dessen

I thought again how you could never really know what you were seeing with just a glance, in motion, passing by. Good or bad, right or wrong. There was always so much more. — Sarah Dessen

I watched my mother do what she did best, and realized there would never be a way to cut myself from her entirely. No matter how strong or weak I was, she was a part of me, as crucial as my own heart. I would never be strong enough, in all my life, to do without her. — Sarah Dessen

At the same time, though, I was beginning to wonder if this was just how it was supposed to be for me, like perhaps I wasn't capable of having that many people in my life at any one time. My mom turned up, Nate walked away, one door opening as another clicked shut. — Sarah Dessen

And I felt comfort. Finally. All I'd wanted for so long was for someone to explain everything that had happened to me in this same way. To label it neatly on a page: this leads to this leads to this. I knew, deep down, it was more complicated than that, but watching Jason, I was hopeful. He took the mess that was Macbeth and fixed it, and I had to wonder if he might, in some small way, be able to do the same for me. So I moved myself closer to him, and I'd been there ever since. — Sarah Dessen

That's what I mean about forever, too. For any one of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. You can never know for sure, so you'd better make every second count.
What you have to decide, is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it ?
Listen, the truth is, nothing is guaranteed. You know that more than anybody.
So don't be afraid. Be alive. — Sarah Dessen

The choice of no choice. — Sarah Dessen

You couldn't see the key around my neck: it hung too low under both collars. But if I leaned in close, I could make it out, buried deep beneath. Out of sight, hard to recognize, but still able to be found, even if I was the only one to ever look for it. — Sarah Dessen

I was actually pretty miserable in high school. I couldn't wait for it to be over. And when it finally was, I remember sitting at graduation with all these classmates getting nostalgic and emotional already and all I could think was, "Get me out of here. I never want to see you people again." So it's ironic that I spend half my day putting myself back there by choice [while writing]. — Sarah Dessen

Sometimes love can be an ugly thing. — Sarah Dessen

My own life felt flat and sad too much of the time; it was reassuring, somehow, to lose myself in someone else's. — Sarah Dessen

Right now, though, I wanted not to think forward or backward, but only to lose myself in the words. — Sarah Dessen

I mean, at first, it was kind of disappointing. But people recover from disappointment. Otherwise we'd all be hanging from nooses. Right? — Sarah Dessen

Fifteen minutes later, a meeting was called.
"Okay, look." Deb's face was dead serious. "I know I just joined this project, and I don't want to offend anyone. But I'm going to be honest. I think you've been going about this all wrong."
"I'm offended," Dave told her flatly. — Sarah Dessen

The lizard stared up at us, and we stared back, taking each other in. He was little and defenseless, I felt sorry for him already. This was a screwed-up place he'd just come into. But he didn't have to know that. Not yet, anyway. There in that room, where it was hot and cramped, the world probably still seemed small enough to manage. — Sarah Dessen

Morgan sighed. "I," she announced, "am so pathetic."
"You are not," I said.
"I am." She went over and straightened the cling wrap, corner to corner. "Do you know how many times I've brought in devilled eggs? This is, like, the only time I haven't been sobbing and that's only 'cause I cried all night. And Norman," she said, her voice rising to a wail, "sweet Norman, always just acts so surprised to see the eggs, and pleased, and he never, once, has ever acted like he knew what they meant. — Sarah Dessen

Looking at the pond, all I could think was that it is an incredivle thing, how a whole world can rise from what seems like nothing at all. — Sarah Dessen

In high school, I was lucky enough to have a big group of girlfriends that have really inspired a lot of the stories in my books. I'm still close with my friends from that time, so it's never very hard to put myself back into that place, that voice. — Sarah Dessen

All this time and he could still make my heart jump. — Sarah Dessen

But she wouldn't. I knew that already. My mother and I had an understanding: we worked together to be as much in control of our shared world as possible. I was suposed to be her other half, carrying my share of the weight. In the last few weeks, I'd tried to shed it, and doing so sent everything off kilter. So of course she would pull me tighter, keeping me in my place, because doing so meant she would always be sure, somehow, of her own. — Sarah Dessen

Let me guess," Eli said, his voice that low, even timbre, as always. "Drinking from kegs also falls under outdoor activity."
I just looked at him, standing there in jeans and the same blue hoodie he'd had on the first time I met him. Maybe it was the embarrassment, which had been bad enough before I had an audience, but I was instantly annoyed. I said, "Are we outside?"
He glanced round, as if needing to confirm this. "Nope."
"Then no." I turned my attention back to the keg. — Sarah Dessen

I know you guys have some sort of weird thing going on, with that game you play and everything - "
"It's called a friendship. — Sarah Dessen

All I could think was that here, finally, for once, I wasn't only watching and reporting but part of this moving, changing world as well. — Sarah Dessen

It's funny how someone's perception of you can be formed without you even knowing it. — Sarah Dessen

I can't sit and twiddle my thumbs. I have to start writing even if it's miserable some days. — Sarah Dessen

All those clean, fresh starts had made me forget what it was like, until now, to be messy and honest and out of control. To be real. — Sarah Dessen

Because now, I didn't care what they thought. It wasn't new, this realization that I would never be like them. What was different now was that I was glad.
Macy page 199 — Sarah Dessen

I dialed the number slowly, wanting to get it right. Two rings, and he picked up.
"Yes," I said after his hello.
"Mclean?" he asked. "Is that you?"
"Yeah," I said, swallowing and looking out my open door, at the ocean. "The answer's yes."
"The answer ... " he said slowly.
"You asked me to go out with you. I know you probably changed your mind. But you should know, the answer was yes. It's always been yes when it comes to you."
He was very quiet for a moment. "Where are you?"
I started crying again, my voice ragged. He told me to calm down. He told me it was going to be all right. And then, he told he'd be there soon. — Sarah Dessen

We sat there, not talking, for a few minutes. He ate the Moon Pie; only skinny people can scarf down junk food like that. Finally, I said, "Norman?" "Yeah?" "Are you ever going to show me the painting?" "Man," he said. "You are, like, so impatient." "I am not," I said. "I've been waiting forever." "Okay, okay." He stood up and went over to the corner, picking up the painting and bringing it over to rest against the bright pink belly of one of the mannequins. Then, he handed me a bandana. "Tie that on. — Sarah Dessen

When he stopped walking and kissed me a few minutes later, it was like time had stopped, with the air, my heart, and the world all so still. And it was this I remembered every other time I was with Marshall. — Sarah Dessen

If you don't pay attention to the past, you'll never understand the future. It's all linked together. You see what I'm saying? At — Sarah Dessen