It took me years to figure out that upset was upset, and tumultuousness was not the same thing as passion. Love isn't drama.

summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. for those few months, you’re not required to be who everyone thinks you are, and that cut-grass smell in the air and the chance to dive into the deep end of a pool give you a courage you don’t have the rest of the year. you can be grateful and easy, with no eyes on you, and no past. summer just opens the door and lets you out.

...wanting things for the wrong reasons can turn anyone's life into a marshmallow on a stick over a hot fire: impossibly messy and eventually consumed, one way or another.

One of the hardest tasks as a human being is knowing when to keep an open mind, and when not to.

Cool superiority as a mask for overflowing insecurity.

I don't get why prom is like a mini-wedding these days...No one should spend that kind of money for a high school dance.

My father said that love at first sight should send you running, if you know what's good for you. It's your dark pieces having instant recognition with their dark pieces, he says. You're an idiot if you think it means you've met your soul mate. So I was an idiot.