David Levithan Quotes

Self-preservation isn't worth it if you can't live with the self you're preserving

It is very hard to stay alive just for your own sake. It is very hard to stare into day after day without another familiar face staring back. It turns your heart into a purposeless muscle.

I try to be a careful person. Most of the time my carelessness is completely unintentional.

When Dawn looked at Vic, she saw Vic exactly as he wanted to be seen. Whereas Vic's parents couldn't help seeing who he used to be, and so many friends and strangers couldn't help seeing who he didn't want to be anymore, Dawn only saw him. Call it a blur if you want, but Dawn didn't see a blur. She saw a very distinct, very clear person.

The clock always ticks. There are times you don't hear it, and there are times that you do.

In my experience, desire is desire, love is love. I have never fallen in love with a gender. I have fallen for individuals.

I get it. The things you hope for the most are the things that destroy you in the end.

I don’t like it when you use my shampoo, because then your hair smells like me, not you.

In Sliding Doors, the whole idea is that every choice you make, and every single thing that happens to you changes the trajectory of your life, and once you are put on that trajectory, there is no way back. But Groundhog Day - which, I tell him, also happens to be a much better movie - says the opposite. It says if you mess up or make the wrong choice, you just have to keep at it until you do it right.

stanchion, n. I don't want to be the strong one, but I don't want to be the weak one either. Why does it feel like it's always one or the other? When we embrace, one of us is always holding the other a little tighter.

If we actually thought about every decision we made, we'd be paralyzed ... You have to decide which decisions you're actually going to make, and then you have to let the rest of them go.

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 notice you, I want to say. Even when no one else does, I do. I will.

Danger comes in many forms, I suppose. For some people, it might be jumping off a bridge or climbing impossible moutains. For others, it could be a tawdry love affair or telling off a mean-looking bus driver because he doesn't like to stop for noisy teenagers. It could be cheating at cards or eating a peanut even though you're allergic. For me, danger might be getting out from the protective cloak of my family and venturing into the world more of my own, even though I don't know what- or who- awaits me.

You don't realize - the great thing about change is how quickly we get used to it. So I'm not complaining. the more things change,the more they don't stay the same. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They might not change everywhere all at once - but there are moments when the impossible becomes the inevitable, and the rest is just a matter of time.

If this continues, if this goes on, then when I die, your memories of me will be my greatest accomplishment. You memories will be my most lasting impressions.

I'm not in love with you.

These words are now mine, but soon they’ll be ours.

I have no idea how he knows when I need him. We can go weeks without speaking, and then, when my blue moods threaten to turn black, he will show up and tell me my moods are azure indigo cerulean cobalt periwinkle and suddenly the blue will not seem so dark, more like the color of a noon-bright sky. He brings the sun.

i have to cross the river of extreme awkwardness in order to get to the paradise on the other side.

That's what the voices in your head are for, to get you through the silent parts.

..I've been trying to argue myself into thinking these things don't matter, A. Really,I have. But I've lost the argument. And I can't keep having it, when I know what the real answer is.

love is tied to truth. I think of them as unhappily conjoined twins.

We are not taught "love thy neighbor unless their skin is a different color from yours " or "love thy neighbor unless they don't make money as you do" or "love thy neighbor unless they don't share your belies." We are taught "love thy neighbor". No exceptions. We are all in this together - every single one of us. And the only way we are going to survive as a society is through compassion. A Great Community does not mean we all think the same things or do the same things. It simply means we are willing to work together and are willing to love despite our differences.

There is no word for our kind of friendship. Two people who don't see each other a lot, but can make each other effortlessly happy

Love me less, but love me for a long time

People often say that when couples are married for a long time, they start to look alike. I don't believe that. But I do believe their sentences start to look alike.

And yes, Holden would keep those kids from falling off the cliff, but WHO WOULDN'T? Does she think I would just fold my arms or give them a pat on the back before they sailed headfirst to the ground? We are all catchers, and it's sad that she doesn't see it. Instead she sees the PHONINESS, she deplores the world even after I point out that I am in it.

And once again I think about how people use the devil as an alias for the things they fear. The cause and effect is backward. The devil doesn't make anyone do anything. People just do things and blame the devil after.

She transforms once again into someone carefree, and I transform into someone whose only care is her.

It's you. You deserve this. There is a reason this is happening to you.

Falling in love with someone doesn’t mean you know any better how they feel. It only means you know how you feel.

How sad it must be for you to be nothing more than a hollow statue, to have your tomb preserved and your story forgotten.

They defy gravity, as good books should.

Enlightenment is scary. Sometimes things look better in the dark.

It's almost heartening to think that the attachment you have can define your perception as much as any other influence.

It was a mistake," you said. But the cruel thing was, it felt like the mistake was mine, for trusting you.

You went and broke our lives. You are so much worse than a cheater. You killed something. And you killed it when its back was turned.

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.

willyoupleasebequiet: are you ready? bluejeanbaby: for what? willyoupleasebequiet: the future willyoupleasebequiet: because i think it just started

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.

I find my greatest strengths in wanting ti be strong. I find my greatest bravery in deciding to be brave.

The way you argued with me, you would have thought that we were debating the existence of God or whether or not we should move in together. These kinds of fights can never be won – even if you’re the victor, you’ve hurt the other person, and there has to be some loss associated with that.

But death is not freedom. For a moment, it can look like freedom. But then it's death. Anything. Something. Nothing.

This is the trap of having something to live for: Everything else seems lifeless.

everyone in our school has afterschool activities. mine is going home.

And I find myself saying, “It wasn’t really about her.” And finding it’s true. What do you mean?” Norah asks. It was about the feeling, you know? She caused it in me, but it wasn’t about her. It was about my reaction, what I wanted to feel and then convinced myself that I felt, because I wanted it that bad. That illusion. It was love because I created it as love.

I am not dangerous. Only the stories are dangerous. Only the fictions we create, especially when they become expectations.