Quotes by Nicola Yoon

Words, Natasha thinks, should behave more like units of measure. A meter is a meter is a meter. Words shouldnt be allowed to change meanings. Who decides that the meaning has changed, and when? Is there an in-between time when the word means both things? Or a time when the word doesnt mean anything at all?

But can you trust something that can end as suddenly as it begins?

And what about the lovers who spend hours staring into each others eyes? Is it a display of trust? I will let you in close and trust you not to hurt me while Im in this vulnerable position. And if trust is one of the foundations of love, perhaps the staring is a way to build or reinforce it. Or maybe its simpler than that.A simple search for connectionTo see.To be seen.

And what about the lovers who spend hours staring into each others eyes? Is it a display of trust? I will let you in close and trust you not to hurt me while Im in this vulnerable position. And if trust is one of the foundations of love, perhaps the staring is a way to build or reinforce it. Or maybe its simpler than that. A simple search for connection.To see.To be seen.

And what about the lovers who spend hours staring into each others eyes?Is it a display of trust? I will let you in close and trust you not to hurt me while Im in this vulnerable position. And if trust is one of the foundations of love, perhaps the staring is a way to build or reinforce it. Or maybe its simpler than that. A simple search for connection.To see.To be seen.

How can you trust something that can end as suddenly as it begins?

I almost wish I hadnt met him. How am I supposed to go back to my old life, my days stretching out before me with unending and brutal sameness? How am I supposed to go back to being The Girl Who Reads?

maybe part of falling in love with someone else is also falling in love with yourself

Growing up and seeing your parents flaws is like losing your religion. I dont believe in God anymore. I dont believe in my father either.

I kiss him to get him to stop talking. If he keeps talking I will love him, and I dont want to love him. I really dont. As strategies go, its not my finest. Kissing is just another way of talking except without the words.

Is it always like that? I ask, breathless. “No,” he says. “Its never like that.” I hear the wonder in his voice. And just like that, everything changes.

Love is worth everything. Everything.

They dont know what poor is. They dont know that poverty is a sharp knife carving away at you. They dont know what it does to the body. To a mind.

Yay, science.

Do you think it’s funny that both of our favorite memories are about the people we like the least now?” I ask.“Maybe that’s why we dislike them,” she says. “The distance between who they were and who they are is so wide, we have no hope of getting them back.

A photograph is a kind of time machine.

Observable Fact: I don’t believe in magic.Observable Fact: We are magic.

o•cean (ˈōSHən) n. pl. -s. 1. The endless part of yourself you never knew but always suspected was there. [2015, Whittier]

When I was younger, one of my favorite activities was imagining alternative-universe versions of myself. Sometimes I was a rosy-cheeked outdoorsy girl who ate flowers and hiked alone, uphill, for miles. Or I was a skydiving, drag-racing, adrenaline-fueled daredevil. Or a chain mail-wearing, sword swinging dragon slayer. It was fun to imagine those things because I already knew who I was. Now I dont know anything. I dont know who Im supposed to be in my new world.

Hearts don’t break.It’s just another thing the poets say.Hearts are not madeOf glassOr boneOr any material that couldSplinterOr FragmentOr Shatter.They don’tCrack Into Pieces.They don’tFall Apart.Hearts don’t break.They just stop working.An old watch from another time and no parts to fix it.