Skip to content

My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great…

“My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because—like all real love…” quote by John Green
Download Open image
““My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because—like all real love stories—it will die with us, as it should. I’d hoped that he’d be eulogizing me, because there’s no one I’d rather have…” I started crying. “Okay, how not to cry. How am I—okay. Okay.” I took a few breaths and went back to the page. “I can’t talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There’s .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.””

John Green

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The narrator expresses deep love and grief, using the concept of infinities to illustrate the boundless yet finite nature of their relationship.

In simple terms: She compares love to infinite numbers, feeling both overwhelmed and grateful.

Key Takeaway

Cherish love’s limited moments.

Themes

love grief loss infinity memory

Mood

sad reflective hopeful

Type

literary emotional philosophical

When to use this quote

  • writing a eulogy
  • processing grief
  • talking about love
  • using math as metaphor
  • finding comfort in literature

Key Concepts

mathematics emotional metaphor finite vs infinite personal growth

Questions to Reflect On

  • How do you balance rational explanations with raw feeling?
  • Can infinite concepts truly capture love’s depth?
A Different Perspective

The metaphor may oversimplify complex emotions, risking intellectualization of grief.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

More by John Green

Explore all 3,614 John Green quotes

More Augustus waters quotes

Browse all 122 Augustus waters quotes