40 Times Sarah Dessen Taught Us The Beauty Of Happiness Hurting And Healing

“It was terrible and awful when someone left you. You could move on, do the best you could, but an ending was an ending. No matter how many pages of sentences and paragraphs of great stories led up to it, it would always have the last word.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“All I'd ever wanted was to forget. But even when I thought I had, pieces had kept emerging, like bits of wood floating up to the surface that only hint at the shipwreck below”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.”

— Sarah Dessen, sarahdessen.com

“That was the hard thing about grief, and the grieving. They spoke another language, and the words we knew always fell short of what we wanted them to say.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Some people, they can't just move on, you know, mourn and cry and be done with it. Or at least seem to be. But for me... I don't know. I didn't want to fix it, to forget. It wasn't something that was broken. It's just... something that happened. And like that hole, I'm just finding ways, every day,…”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“One summer and one boy, and suddenly...things weren’t the same.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“We were willing to do so much for the people we loved, even if it meant hurting ourselves. Maybe that, in the end, was what love--all kinds-- was really about.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“It's you I've thought of when I'm at my weakest, and you who have pulled me through.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“I just think that some things are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It's the universe's way of providing contrast, you know? There have to be a few holes in the road. It's how life is.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“But if something was really important, fate made sure it somehow came back to you and gave you another chance... Events conspired to bring you back to where you'd been. It was what you did then that made all the difference: it was all about potential.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“But you only get so many do-overs in this life, so many chances to, if not change your past, alter your future.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment. Which is pretty amazing, when you actually think about it.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“And love is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow complete you.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“The chances we take, knowing no better, to fall or to stand back and hold ourselves in, protecting our hearts with the tightest of grips...”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“He was not my boyfriend. On the other hand, he wasn't just a friend either. Instead, our relationship was elastic, stretching between those two extremes depending on who else was around, how much either of us had to drink, and other varying factors. This was exactly what I wanted, as commitments had…”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Needing was so easy: it came naturally, like breathing. Being needed by someone else, though, that was the hard part.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“'Two a.m.' He swallowed, then said, 'You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter what, you can count on them. Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail... they'll come for you. It's like, the highest level of friendship.’”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“I am coming to terms with the fact that loving someone requires a leap of faith, and that a soft landing is never guaranteed.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. no matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Because you can never go from going out to being friends, just like that. It's a lie. It's just something that people say they'll do to take the permanence out of a breakup. And someone always takes it to mean more than it does, and then is hurt even more when, inevitably, said ‘friendly' relationsh…”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“I have to admit, an unrequited love is so much better than a real one. I mean, it's perfect... As long as something is never even started, you never have to worry about it ending. It has endless potential.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“But I'd long ago learned not to be picky in farewells. They weren't guaranteed or promised. You were lucky, more than blessed, if you got a good-bye at all.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“What you need, what you deserve, is a guy who adores you for what you are. Who doesn't see you as a project, but a prize. you know?”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Holding people away from you, and denying yourself love, that doesn't make you strong. if anything, it makes you weaker. Because you're doing it out of fear.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“And guys don't get attached, guys don't give themselves over completely, and guys lie. That's why they should be handled with great trepidation, not trusted, and held at arm's length whenever possible.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Because this is what happens when you try to run from the past. it doesn't just catch up: it overtakes, blotting out the future, the landscape, the very sky, until there is no path left except that which leads through it, the only one that can ever get you home.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Sometimes a question can hurt more than an answer”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com

“Everyone has their weak spot. The one thing that despite your best efforts, will always bring you to your knees, regardless of how strong you are otherwise. For some people, it's love.”

— Sarah Dessen, amazon.com