The Side Effects of Dying in Your Pants isn't really funny… Alright, it's a little funny.
John GreenThe urge to make art or contemplate philosophy does not go away when you are sick. Those urges just become transfigured by illness.
John GreenUltimately, it doesn't matter if the author intended a symbol to be there, because the job of reading is not to understand the authors intend. The job of reading is to see into other people as we see ourselves.
John GreenWriting, or at least good writing, is an outgrowth of that urge to use language to communicate complex ideas and experiences between people. And that's true whether you're reading Shakespeare or bad vampire fiction-reading is always an act of empathy. It's always an imagining of what it's like to be someone else.
John Green