“And I thought that maybe there were ghosts inside of me that I hadn’t even met yet. They were there. Lying in… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Ghosts Copy Share Image
“In order to be wildly popular you had to make people believe that you were fun and interesting I just wasn't that… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Art Copy Share Image
“And it seemed to me that Dante’s face was a map of the world. A world without any darkness.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Dante Copy Share Image
“As far as I was concerned, the sun could have melted the blue right off the sky. Then the sky could be… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Sun Copy Share Image
“Summer had come and gone. Summer had come and gone. And the world was ending.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“Maybe the problem between me and my father was that we were both the same.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Father Copy Share Image
I wondered about the science of storms and how sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and how… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“You can’t expect to go both ways when you’re driving on a one-way street.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Driving Copy Share Image
Absent parents aren't abusive per se. They're neglectful. They love in a very imperfect way. There are parents like that, and they… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“And I knew that there was something about me that Mrs. Quintana saw and loved. And even though I felt it was… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Love Copy Share Image
“It would be so effen great if the whole world laughed more- the whole world. I don't mean the kind of laughing… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Comedy Copy Share Image
“I have this storm inside me. It's trying to kill me. I wonder sometimes if that's such a bad thing. I know… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“Those words tasted bitter. But the worst part was that those words were living inside me. And they were leaking out of… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Language Copy Share Image
Young men and women come of age when they look at their parents and see them not only as their parents but… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“As I nodded my head to the beat, I started wondering what had gone through Richie Valens’s head before the plane crashed… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Downpour Copy Share Image
“It made me smile, the way they got along, the easy and affectionate way they talked to each other as if love… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Affectionate Copy Share Image
“Maybe that's why she liked all those bad boys. They were outcasts. It was like she was picking up strays and taking… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Bad boy Copy Share Image
We have this huge discourse on family in this country, but no one deconstructs it the same way. People talk about "the… — Benjamin Alire Saenz American family Copy Share Image
“You are smart, Ari. Very smart. And anyway, being smart isn't everything. People just make fun of you. My dad says it's… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Sadness Copy Share Image
“He was still experimenting with kissing girls even though he said he'd rather be kissing boys. That's exactly what he said. I… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Dante Copy Share Image
“I found myself whispering, "Do you think we'll ever discover all the secrets of the universe?" I was surprised to hear Susie's… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz 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
“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
“I have this idea that the reason we have dreams is that we're thinking about things that we don't know we're thinking… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Dream Copy Share Image
“I knew that a part of him would never be the same. They cracked more than his ribs.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I came to understand that my father was a careful man. To be careful with people and with words was a rare… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Father Copy Share Image
“The thing about tears is that they can be as quiet as a cloud floating across the desert sky.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Desert Copy Share Image
I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didn't… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Poems Copy Share Image
“I had a feeling there was something wrong with me. I guess I was a mystery even to myself.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
Mostly, I think people are fake. Well, what do you expect? The fake world we live in conspires to make us all… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Copy Share Image
“Talking to myself in my journal qualified as talking to someone my own age.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“But what really bugged the living crap out of me was that my mother had more friends than I did. How saw… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Friends Copy Share Image
“Your smile is back.' That's what Dante said. 'Smiles are like that. They come and go.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Smile Copy Share Image
“Sometimes, all you have to do is tell people the truth. They won't believe you. After that, they'll leave you alone.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I didn't know what to do with that piece of information. So I just kept it inside. That's what I did with… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Data Copy Share Image
“People who have monsters recognize each other. They know each other without even saying a word.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Monsters Copy Share Image
“I decided that maybe we left each other alone too much. Leaving each other alone was killing us.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“We are all collateral damage for someone's beautiful Ideology, all of us inanimate in the face of the onslaught.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Collateral damage Copy Share Image
“You know, the thing about not talking very much is that people think you’re mature. They make things up about you.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
