If you want to be a writer, you don't want to live in a comfortable place. — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“You know what the worst thing about adults is? ...They're not always adults. But that's what I like about them.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Adulthood Copy Share Image
“The Ari I used to be didn't exist anymore. And the Ari I was becoming? He didn't exist yet.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“And the hurt was so deep that it was way beyond tears and so their faces were dry.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Tears Copy Share Image
“And why was it that some guys had tears in them and some had no tears at all? Different boys lived by… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Boys Copy Share Image
I wondered if my smile was as big as hers. Maybe as big. But not as beautiful. — Benjamin Alire Saenz Beautiful Copy Share Image
“I had a feeling there was something wrong with me. I guess I was a mystery even to myself. That sucked. I… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“And being alone made me want to talk to someone my own age. Someone who understood that using the "f" word wasn't… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I took out my journal. I'd been avoiding writing in it. I think I was afraid all my anger would spill out… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Anger Copy Share Image
“I have this idea stuck in my head that you have to be born beautiful in order to dream beautiful things. God… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Bad boy Copy Share Image
“Breakfast seemed to be a good time for throwing your emotions around. Jodie said that at this place emotions were like Frisbees… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“There were so many ghosts in our house...And I thought that maybe there were ghosts inside of me that I hadn't even… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Ghosts Copy Share Image
“And it seemed to me that Dante's face was a map of the world. A world without any darkness. Wow, a world… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Dante Copy Share Image
“I do not know what it means to be okay. I have never known and maybe I will never know. Okay is… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I guess I did miss Dante-even though I tried hard to not think about him. The problem with trying hard not to… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Ari Copy Share Image
“There are days when I almost forget that I fought in that war. It was such a long time ago. I was… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Left behind Copy Share Image
Summer was here again. Summer, summer, summer. I loved and hated summers. Summers had a logic all their own and they always… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Adventure Copy Share Image
“I wanted to tell them that I'd never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Dante Copy Share Image
“All my friends thought I was a very happy human being. Because that's how I acted- like a really happy human being.… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Friendship Copy Share Image
“Maybe life was just a series of phases—one phase after another after another. Maybe, in a couple of years, I’d be going… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Life Copy Share Image
“But the thing is that I’m in love with Rafael’s story. I think I understand when Adam says that all our stories… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Love Copy Share Image
“And every time I did spectacularly well in my classes, and I'm here to tell you that I did spectacularly well, I… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Professors Copy Share Image
I'm an ex-Catholic priest. I have such a complex relationship to Catholicism. On the one hand, if I called myself a Catholic… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“The problem is not that I don't love my mother and father. The problem is that I don't know how to love… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Family Copy Share Image
“For the music to be over so soon. For the music to be over when it had just begun. That was really… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Music Copy Share Image
“My mom, she sometimes resided in the space between irony and sincerity.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Irony Copy Share Image
I didn't think it was my job to accept what everyone said I was and who I should be. — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“I have always felt terrible inside. The reasons for this keep changing.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“He tried not to laugh, but he wasn't good at controlling all the laughter that lived inside of him.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Ari Copy Share Image
“Did anybody ever tell you that you weren't normal?' 'Is that something I should aspire to?” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“Sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and the world refused to break.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I’d rather have a cup of coffee and a cigarette than live in all that honesty.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Cigarette Copy Share Image
“I hated God for giving me a heart. What good were they? Hearts? Having one got me exactly where?” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain. — Benjamin Alire Saenz Boys Copy Share Image
“Will you teach me how to paint?” “Just paint.” “I’m not any good.” “Do it for therapy. You can go to art… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Art Copy Share Image
“It was as if my eyes were a camera and I was photographing the moment, knowing that I would keep the photograph… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“One of the secrets of the universe was that our instincts were sometimes stronger than our minds.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Instincts Copy Share Image
“I guess life hurt everybody. I didn't understand the logic of this thing we called living. Maybe I wasn't supposed to.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
