Hazel GRACE!โ he shouted. โYou did not use your one dying Wish to go to Disney World with your parents.โ โAlso Epcot Center,โ I mumbled. โOh, my God,โ Augustus said. โI canโt believe I have a crush on a girl with such clichรฉ wishes.
John GreenAnd I don't really have anyone upon whom I want to rain down my wrath," I said, because in truth I didn't. I always felt like you had to be important to have enemies. Example: Historically, Germany has had more enemies than Luxembourg, Margo Roth Spiegelman was Germany. And Great Britain. And the United States. And czarist Russia. Me, I'm Luxembourg. Just sitting around, tending sheep, and yodeling.
John GreenI needed, I decided, to really know her, because I needed more to remember. Before I could begin the shameful process of forgetting the how and the why of her living and dying, I needed to learn it: How. Why. When. Where. What.
John GreenHe wanted to draw out the moment before the moment- because as good as kissing feels, nothing feels as good as the anticipation of it.
John GreenGiven the final futility of our struggle, is the fleeting jolt of meaning that art gives us valuable? Or is the only value in passing the time as comfortable as possible? What should a story seek to emulate, Augustus? A ringing alarm? A call to arms? A morphine drip? Of course, like all interrogation of the universe, this line of inquiry inevitably reduces us to asking what it means to be human and whetherโto borrow a phrase from the angst-encumbered sixteeen-year-olds you no doubt revileโthere is a point to it all.
John Green