Teens wanted things that were real, that they connected with, it doesn't have to reflect reality directly. They love 'The Hunger Games' not because it's real in that it happens, but the emotions there are real, and it's very relatable.

The important thing is for the characters to feel real, and to be given the humanity they are due. That granting of humanity is what separates a full portrait from a stereotype.

He was attractive. I knew that. And I knew that attractive people always got away with things.

Do not just seek happiness for yourself. Seek happiness for all. Through kindness. Through mercy.

Most people, I've noticed, are instinctively harsh to strangers. They expect every approach to be an attack, every question to be an interruption.

I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now I'm seeing we don't live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It's an infinite playlist.

She is my first and only love. Most people know that their first love will not be their only love. But for me, she is both.