“The whole world seemed to be quiet and calm and I wanted to be the world and feel like that.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Calm Copy Share Image
“But in art class, all you had to do was try. I was getting an A for work. But not for talent.… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Art Copy Share Image
“Why did I have to be a good boy just because I had a bad-boy brother? I hated the way my mom… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Brother Copy Share Image
“Some girls, I thought, were perfect shits. Other girls were very, very beautiful.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Beautiful Copy Share Image
“You fight yourself, Zach. And you keep fighting yourself. And it's killing you because you're fighting the best part of yourself.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Fight Copy Share Image
“But I had learned to hide what I felt. No, that's not true. There was no learning involved. I had been born… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“Her mother had left a note on the bathroom mirror, written in lipstick: just because my love isn't perfect doesn't mean I… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Love Copy Share Image
“You should just sit them down and make them tell you. Make them be adults." "You can't make anyone be an adult.… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Adults Copy Share Image
“I had a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than to be bored with someone else. I pretty… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Friendship 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 Copy Share Image
“A guy who loves his truck needs other people to admire his driving machine. Yeah, needs . That's the truth. I don't… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Computers Copy Share Image
“You think you and Dad are the only ones who can keep things on the inside? Dad keeps a whole war inside… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz War Copy Share Image
“This is my theory: the people who shouldn't hate themselves, do hate themselves. And the people who should hate themselves, don't hate… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Friendship Copy Share Image
“Daughters. They were sometimes as familiar and intimate as honeysuckles in bloom, but mostly daughters were mysteries. They lived in rooms you… — Benjamin Alire Saenz Children Copy Share Image
“I wondered what it was like to feel whole, to not feel torn up or stunned out or wigged out or any… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Around the world Copy Share Image
“Listen, the road to happiness is a long fucking road trip. You can't take The freeway. Back roads, buddy, that's all you… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Bad weather 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
“When I looked through the telescope, Dante began explaining what I was looking at. I didn’t hear a word. Something happened inside… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Dante 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
“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
“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
“Senior year. And then life. Maybe that's the way it worked. High school was just a prologue to the real novel. Everybody… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Graduation Copy Share Image
“See, the thing about guys is that I didn’t really care to be around them. I mean, guys really made me uncomfortable.… — 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
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
“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
“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 have always felt terrible inside. The reasons for this keep changing.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz 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
“Did anybody ever tell you that you weren't normal?' 'Is that something I should aspire to?” — 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
“Have you noticed that some people don't give A damn and just keep on shopping?” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
“I felt like I was the saddest boy in the universe. Summer had come and gone. Summer had come and gone. And… — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Saddest Copy Share Image
“What is it with you and that book?" Rafael laughed. "We have a personal relationship.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Book Copy Share Image
“Words could be like food - they felt like something in your mouth. They tasted like something.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Language 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
“But, you know, I was experimenting. You know, discovering the secrets of the universe.” — Benjamin Alire Sáenz Copy Share Image
