“Maybe I’d always had the wrong idea as to who I really was.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“Wow, a world without darkness. How beautiful is that?” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Beautiful Copy Share Image
“. . . Alive is a place. Alive is the new word for home.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Alive Copy Share Image
“Words were not things you could control. Not always.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Control Copy Share Image
“People don't always have to do the right thing for the right reasons—so long as they do the right thing.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“There was something about the sound of a man in pain that resembled the sound of a wounded animal.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Animals Copy Share Image
“People have parties because they’re sad. They think a party will make them happy.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Parties Copy Share Image
“The problem with trying hard not to think about something was that you thought about it even more.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
I wondered what that was like, to hold someone’s hand. I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“It was good to laugh. I wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh until I laughed myself into becoming someone else.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Comedy Copy Share Image
“Maybe everybody was kind. Maybe even my father. But Mr. Quintana was brave. He didn’t care if the whole world knew he… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Parenting Copy Share Image
“Dante and I were the last two boys in America who grew up without television.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Boys Copy Share Image
“I knew that even though he was way into mood-altering substances and he had this really bad temper that there was something… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Bad temper Copy Share Image
“Sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you're thinking but because you are feeling. Because you're feeling too much.… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“What do you love, Ari? What do you really love?" "I love the desert. God, I love the desert." "It's so lonely."… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Dante Copy Share Image
“I thought it might be a great thing to be the air. I could be something and nothing all at the same… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I renamed myself Ari. If I switched the letter, my name was Air. I thought it might be a great thing to… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I’m not a good kid. Yeah, look, I’m just a piece of paper with the word sad and a bunch of cuss… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“See, the thing about that word, Sharkey, the F-word, is that sometimes I make that word do too much work. I mean,… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“Rafael?” ”Yeah?” „Do we all have monsters?” „Yes.” „Why does God give us so many monsters?” „You want to know my theory?”… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz God Copy Share Image
“I hated when Rafael said he hated himself. Sometimes he would say something like that. I just didn’t like hearing that. Why… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Good friend Copy Share Image
“I didn't care because what mattered is that Dante's voice felt real. And I felt real. Until Dante, being with other people… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I stared at the reproduced mural in the book--but I was more interested in his finger as he tapped the book with… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“He hadn't left any of the stretches that he'd done of me. But he did leave a sketch of my rocking chair.… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I liked watching them, all three of them around my truck. I wanted time to stop because everything seemed so simple, Dante… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Falling in love Copy Share Image
“There was this thing, this chaos inside me. And it had a noise, a howling. That’s what it was. I was nothing… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
It's a complex thing when you're writing a novel, because so much of it is conscious and planned and deliberate, and so… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Books Copy Share Image
“When I walked into the house, I went in search of one of my dad's bottles. Not that they were that hard… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Alcoholism Copy Share Image
“The problem with my life was that it was someone else’s idea.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Idea Copy Share Image
“You see, the thing with adults is that respect is just a word they use to guilt us nonadults into doing what… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Adults Copy Share Image
“Okay is just a word I use so I won't have to talk about what's inside. Okay is a word that means… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“It felt like there was a whole world living inside her. I didn't know anything about that world.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I live in an ecotone. Employment must coexist with goofing off. Responsibility must coexist with irresponsibility.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Change Copy Share Image
“This is my problem. I want other people to tell me how they feel. But I'm not so sure I want to… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I don't like remembering. Remembering makes me feel things. I don't like feeling things.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Memory Copy Share Image
