I think that The Outsiders was meant to be written, and I was just picked to write it.

It seemed funny that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.

If you have two friends in your lifetime, you're lucky. If you have one good friend, you're more than lucky

Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.

Dally was so real he scared me.

I didn't think much about that statement then. But later I would-I still do. I think about it and think about it until I think I'm going crazy.

I never base a character on someone I know. You can get ideas from real life, but every character you write is some aspect of yourself.