We’ve had John Green in our lives for 10 years, although it’s hard to imagine the teen books scene (or indeed the wider world) without him. Yes, his debut novel Looking For Alaska was published 10 years ago this month and to mark the anniversary we’re sharing just 10 amazing quotes from his books.
John Green once said that “Maybe our favourite quotations say more about us than about the stories and people we’re quoting.” So, what do our favourite John Green quotes say about us? And what do yours say about you?
Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.
The Fault in Our Stars
“Some people don’t understand the promises they’re making when they make them,” I said.
“Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That’s what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.”
The Fault in Our Stars
We cannot be born and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.
Looking For Alaska
I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was hurricane.
Looking For Alaska
Oh shit did you just dis the feminine gender/I’ll pummel your ass then stick you in a blender/You think I like Tori and Ani so I can’t rhyme/But I got flow like Ghostbusters got slime/Objectify women and it’s fuckin’ on/You’ll be dead and gone like ancient Babylon.
Looking For Alaska
What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?
An Abundance of Katherines
Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.
An Abundance of Katherines
You don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.
An Abundance of Katherines
That’s always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they’re pretty. It’s like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.
Paper Towns
When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out. Paper Towns
