Quotes by Stephen Chbosky

My sister said Mary Elizabeth is suffering from low self-esteem, but I told her that she said the same thing about Sam back in November when she started dating Craig, and Sam is completely different. Everything cant be low self-esteem, can it? My sister tried to clarify things. She said that by introducing me to all these great things, Mary Elizabeth gained a superior position that she wouldnt need if she was confident about herself. She also said that people who try to control situations all the time are afraid that if they dont, nothing will work out the way they want.

That nice feeling when you look in the mirror, and your hairs right for the first time in your life? I don;t think we should base so much on weight, muscles, and a good hair day, but when it happens, its nice. It really is.

She even told me how to treat a girl on a date, which was very interesting. She said that with a girl like Mary Elizabeth, you shouldnt tell her she looks pretty. You should tell her how nice her outfit is because her outfit is her choice whereas her face isnt. She also said that with some girls, you should do things like open car doors and buy flowers, but with Mary Elizabeth (especially since its the Sadie Hawkins dance), I shouldnt do that. So, I asked her what I should do, and she said that I should ask a lot of questions and not mind when Mary Elizabeth doesnt stop talking. I said that it didnt sound very democratic, but Sam said she does it all the time with boys.

Things get worse before they get better, but this is a worse that feels too big.

It is now my favorite book of all time, but then again, I always think that until I read another book.

And she kissed me. It was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.

Whats the point of using words nobody knows or can say comfortably?

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines he wrote a poemAnd he called it Chops because that was the name of his dogAnd thats what it was all aboutAnd his teacher gave him an A and a gold starAnd his mother hung it on the kitchen door and read it to his auntsThat was the year Father Tracy took all the kids to the zooAnd he let them sing on the busAnd his little sister was born with tiny toenails and no hairAnd his mother and father kissed a lotAnd the girl around the corner sent him aValentine signed with a row of Xs and he had to ask his father what the Xs meantAnd his father always tucked him in bed at nightAnd was always there to do itOnce on a piece of white paper with blue lines he wrote a poemAnd he called it Autumn because that was the name of the seasonAnd thats what it was all aboutAnd his teacher gave him an A and asked him to write more clearlyAnd his mother never hung it on the kitchen door because of its new paintAnd the kids told him that Father Tracy smoked cigarsAnd left butts on the pewsAnd sometimes they would burn holesThat was the year his sister got glasses with thick lenses and black framesAnd the girl around the corner laughed when he asked her to go see Santa ClausAnd the kids told him why his mother and father kissed a lotAnd his father never tucked him in bed at nightAnd his father got mad when he cried for him to do it.Once on a paper torn from his notebook he wrote a poemAnd he called it Innocence: A Question because that was the question about his girlAnd thats what it was all aboutAnd his professor gave him an A and a strange steady lookAnd his mother never hung it on the kitchen door because he never showed herThat was the year that Father Tracy diedAnd he forgot how the end of the Apostles Creed wentAnd he caught his sister making out on the back porchAnd his mother and father never kissed or even talkedAnd the girl around the corner wore too much makeupThat made him cough when he kissed her but he kissed her anyway because that was the thing to doAnd at three a.m. he tucked himself into bed his father snoring soundlyThats why on the back of a brown paper bag he tried another poemAnd he called it Absolutely NothingBecause thats what it was really all aboutAnd he gave himself an A and a slash on each damned wristAnd he hung it on the bathroom door because this time he didnt think he could reach the kitchen.

I am both happy and sad at the same time, and Im still trying to figure out how that could be.

Its much easier not to know things sometimes.

I just wish that God or my parents or Sam or my sister or someone would just tell me whats wrong with me. Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense.

And she says she wants to expose me to all these great things. And to tell you the truth, I dont really want to be exposed to all these great things if it means that Ill have to hear Mary Elizabeth talk about all the great things she exposed me to all the time. I dont understand that. I would give someone a record so they could love the record, not so they would always know that I gave it to them.

I know I should have been grateful because it was a very nice thing to do. But I wasnt grateful. I wasnt grateful at all. Dont get me wrong. I acted like I was. But I wasnt. To tell you the truth, I was starting to get mad.

I thought if I didnt take a break, I would do something even worse. Like yell or hang up the phone.

I just reminded myself that she didnt say it mean. She wasnt making fun of me. She wasnt comparing. Or criticizing.

I just kind of put my feelings away somewhere after that.

Its nice to have things to look forward to.

she hated everything her parents loved

I decided then that when I met someone I thought was as beautiful as the song, I should give it to that person. And I didnt mean beautiful on the outside. I meant beautiful in all ways. So, I was giving it to Sam

I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I wont tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldnt change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesnt really change the fact that you have what you have.