This planet is a broken bone that didn’t set right, a hundred pieces of crystal glued together. We’ve been shattered and reconstructed, told to make an effort every single day to pretend we still function the way we’re supposed to. But it’s a lie, it’s all a lie.
Tahereh Mafi
Related How lucky I am to have known somebody and something that saying goodbye to is so damned awful. EVANS G. VALENS It is a lie. ARTHUR MILLER The opportunity to decieve others is ever present and often tempting, and each instance of deception... SAM HARRIS Eventually I came across another passage. This is what it said: I am not commanding you, but I ... NICHOLAS SPARKS To kill a mockingbird. If you haven't read it, I think you should because it is very interesting. STEPHEN CHBOSKY I will never forget the vision of Jamie walking towards me. NICHOLAS SPARKS As these images were going through my head, my breathing suddenly went still. I looked at Jamie, the... NICHOLAS SPARKS You don't have to learn much out of books, it's like if you want to learn about cows, you go milk on... HARPER LEE You can't really get to know a person until you get in their shoes and walk around in them. HARPER LEE A Ritual to Read to Each Other If you don’t know the kind of person I am and... WILLIAM STAFFORD Truthful hyperbole’ is a contradiction in terms. It’s a way of saying, ‘It’s a lie, but who ... TONY SCHWARTZ Lᴏᴠᴇ ɪs ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴᴅ ... Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ sᴇᴇ ɪᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏ... NICHOLAS SPARKS She filed the image away as an excellent and insulting question to ask the earl at an utterly inappr... GAIL CARRIGER We are born different to make a difference. LISA R. REYNOLDS Repeat a lie a hundred times and it becomes an ideal. LJUPKA CVETANOVA Plunging in “truths” about God is like walking on the bottom of a sea that is not there, searchi... MARIANA FULGER There are just some kind of men who-who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learn... HARPER LEE The role of the
Christian is to let other people know what Jesus has done, not to
think of themselve... LEWIS N. ROE Naturalistic atheism debunks itself. It
has no power to explain even some
of the most basic principl... LEWIS N. ROE It's important to understand that if
someone calls themselves a Christian, it does not automatically... LEWIS N. ROE A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung... PETER WESSEL ZAPFFE You think it’s because they’re lying? Nonsense! I like it when people lie! Lying is man’s only... FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY Some people never take a chance and never know what it's like to live life to the full. CHLOE THURLOW It’s like a broken bone that never healed quite right. An ache that I feel on cold days when the c... LIZ NEWMAN I didn’t believe him at first, about the island, though.” “I didn’t either,”I ... CHRISTINA HENRY And I’ll tell you, few things make me more angry than some out of touch Washington politician sayi... SENATOR JOHN KERRY I am often asked how it is that I am able to value people to such a deep degree. Apparently, I exhib... C. JOYBELL C. 35. God is entitled to a portion of our income—not because He needs it but because we need to give... JAMES C. DOBSON Tikkun olam.” Exactly. Basically, it says that the world has been broken into pieces. A... DAVID LEVITHAN It’s not about the powers, man; it’s that we aren’t kids anymore. Look what we’ve been throu... MICHAEL GRANT A tooth for a tooth, will make the world's inhabitants a people without teeth SOTONYE ANGA Why, darling, I don't live at all when I'm not with you. ERNEST HEMINGWAY The atheist might have
no proof for the
supernatural, but they
also have no proof
against it. If we ... LEWIS N. ROE He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. ... ERNEST HEMINGWAY After Rilke's Letters -- by John VanDyke Wilmerding II this is my letter to a young ... RAINER MARIA RILKE Yes, their reasons are overwhelming. They are as big as hope and as deep as revolt. They are the rea... ALBERT CAMUS …A city deprived of everything, devoid of light and devoid of heat, starved, and still not crushed... ALBERT CAMUS Words always take on the color of the deeds or sacrifices they evoke. ALBERT CAMUS No, no. Don't make that face. Every time I propose to you, you make that twisty, unhappy face. It we... TESSA DARE Atticus---" ...said Jem bleakly. "How could they do it, how could they?" "I don't know, but the... HARPER LEE Learn to stand for something in life otherwise you will fall for anything that comes along which is ... EUGINIA HERLIHY Dreams can change histories and songs can alter destinies. TIFFANIE DEBARTOLO We have archeology on television, and I quite like it; it’s a sort of detective thing, but it’s ... EDDIE IZZARD As far back as history records people thinking, thinking people
have been befuddled by the mysteries... LEWIS N. ROE The scientific method gives us
information by testing and repeating observable things so that we
can... LEWIS N. ROE The more we look at anything, the more we see ourselves in the thing. This is called projection. The... KRIS KIDD You care because God gave you this unusual blessing: a burden to make a difference. CRAIG GROESCHEL Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is nev... A WALK TO REMEMBER I don’t need to worry that Finch and I never filmed our wanderings. It’s okay that we didn’t c... JENNIFER NIVEN, ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES When you are called for a great duty because you have been given a great ability, do your very best ... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH This is your fault. I'm going to kill you. And all the cake is gone. You don't even care, do yo... J.K. SIMMONS Start seeing a way for yourself. Stop seeing a way for others. APURVA GAGLANI I love you in–in every kind of way.’ ‘I feel like that too . . .’ His voice is shocked ... TABITHA SUZUMA Most of us think we're too busy or too important to rest for a day. CRAIG GROESCHEL Every day is a lie, he said. But you are dying. That is not a lie. CORMAC MCCARTHY The only reason you say that race was not an issue is because you wish it was not. We all wish it wa... CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE It takes a CONSTANT flowing of gas from the cylinder to keep the fire burning under your pot. “WOO... OLAOTAN FAWEHINMI There are things we never tell anyone. We want to but we can’t. So we write them down. Or we paint... TIFFANIE DEBARTOLO Before we do, I suggest you take a break. If you need to go to the bathroom, this is a good time. If... PSEUDONYMOUS BOSCH Whether you say that a god does exist, or that none do, it is a claim
to know (or at least believe i... LEWIS N. ROE This land on which so many centuries have left their mark is merely an obligatory retreat for you, w... ALBERT CAMUS And despite the clamors and the violence, we tried to preserve in our hearts the memory of a happy s... ALBERT CAMUS And for five years it was no longer possible to enjoy the call of birds in the cool of the evening. ... ALBERT CAMUS You never believed in the meaning of this world, and you therefore deduced the idea that everything ... ALBERT CAMUS The hopeless hope is what sustains us in difficult moments; our comrades will be more patient than t... ALBERT CAMUS …Having been, not only mutilated in our country, wounded in our very flesh, but also divested of o... ALBERT CAMUS For all those landscapes, those flowers and those plowed fields, the oldest of lands, show you every... ALBERT CAMUS In raining bullets on those silent faces, already turned away from this world, you think you are dis... ALBERT CAMUS He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Ye be a sight for sore eyes, lass,” he told her. “But we�... SUZAN TISDALE Sometimes everything you know in the world turns out to be a lie. But at the end of the day the lie ... HOPE ESTHEIM There are all kinds of ways for a relationship to be tested, even broken, some, irrevocably; it’s ... KATHERINE OWEN You cannot make a demand on your life that exceeds your belief about it. Your belief is creating a p... DEREK RYDALL Life is not a game. Still, in this life, we choose the games we live to play. J.R. RIM I've got no other home to go to, not anymore. When I look at England now I see a dead place, Rupert.... LEV GROSSMAN Tell me I'm a screwed up mess, that I never listen, listen. Tell me you don't want my kiss, that ... ONE DIRECTION The grapes that my hands wouldn’t reach were undoubtedly sour. But I didn’t need sweet frui... WATARU WATARI You know," Daddy said, "it's some that can live their whole life out without asking about it and it'... FLANNERY O'CONNOR And although she had been broken, shattered beyond repair, to me she had transformed to mosaic. A be... LAUREN VALENCIA A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoug... BYRON KATIE Don't lie to yourself? SONYA.E.WILLIAMS I love you so much, so incredibly much," he went on, "and I forget when you're close to me, I forget... CASSANDRA CLARE A day is a day. It’s just a measurement of time. Whether it’s a good day or a bad day is up to y... DONALD L. HICKS It’s all right. We’re going to try to get Peeta out. SUZANNE COLLINS I didn't care for humans at 16 and it hasn't gotten any better. They say one thing and do another. I... BOBBY W. MILLER Oh happy day! A day to make a hay! And when it is mid-day, think about the day! And when you think a... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Any belief worth embracing will stand up to the litmus test of scrutiny. If we have to qualify, rati... LAURIE BUCHANAN, PHD Well, you can't know it without something having been sneezed. A.A. MILNE We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet. Even longer,' Pooh answered.” ... A.A. MILNE a major reason why we wake up each day is to know the real reasons why we wake up each day ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH A small change can make a big difference. You are the only one who can make our world a better place... ANKITA SINGHAL When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing w... A.A. MILNE Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and s... CARTER CROCKER All I ever did to that apartment was hang fifty yards of yellow theatrical silk across the bedroom w... JOAN DIDION We can never make proper goodbyes. It was your last ride in a Checker cab and you had no warning. It... COLSON WHITEHEAD It’s natural to die. The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don’t... MORRIE SCHWARTZ That’s how life is. It’s supposed to be bitter, but you have to sweeten it. You have to add just... ZAINAB T. KHAN Progressivism is a spectrum; it’s not an ideology following one leader saying one thing. It’s ma... URVASHI VAID You must save what you can of your life; you musn't lose it all simply because you've lost a part. HENRY JAMES She was scarcely a year older than I was, dark-haired, slender, with a face that would break your he... GEORGE R.R. MARTIN In the real world, they told you who to be, not the other way around. RHODA BELLEZA
More Tahereh Mafi
Selfish needs, wants, and desires needed to be obliterated. Greed, overindulgence, and gluttony had ... TAHEREH MAFI Red was ruby, green was fluorescent, yellow was simply incandescent. Color was life. Color was every... TAHEREH MAFI The moon is a loyal companion. It never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowi... TAHEREH MAFI It's the kind of kiss that inspires stars to climb into the sky and light up the world. TAHEREH MAFI I love walking into a bookstore. It's like all my friends are sitting on shelves, waving their pages... TAHEREH MAFI So that's it?" Kenji says. "You just like him for his personality, huh?" "What?" TAHEREH MAFI Only an idiot would rely on the energy of a bean or a leaf to stay awake throughout the day. TAHEREH MAFI Kenji snorts.“That’s because you’re not fragile,” Kenji says. “If anything, everyone needs... TAHEREH MAFI I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe. TAHEREH MAFI All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my ... TAHEREH MAFI I can do anything I want. Be with anyone I want. And it'll be my choice. TAHEREH MAFI I am going to MURDER YOU—” “No,” he says, pointing at me as he shifts backward again. �... TAHEREH MAFI Hey, um, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for a friend of mine," he says. "Have you seen her... TAHEREH MAFI I do know that I don't want to wake him. We were up very late last night. TAHEREH MAFI Lift your hips for me, love. TAHEREH MAFI I touch the tip of my finger to his lips. "There are secrets in here," I say. "I want them out." TAHEREH MAFI His hands are holding my cheeks, and he pulls back just to look me in the eye and his chest is heavi... TAHEREH MAFI Words, I think, are such unpredictable creatures. No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever ... TAHEREH MAFI Books are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them. TAHEREH MAFI I spent my life folded between the pages of books. In the absence of human relationships I form... TAHEREH MAFI For so many years I lived in constant terror of myself. Doubt had married my fear and moved into my ... TAHEREH MAFI I feel like I’ve been split open and stuffed with sunshine. TAHEREH MAFI There will be a bird today. It will be white with streaks of gold like a crown atop its head. It wil... TAHEREH MAFI Please," he says. "I'm begging you to stop." I still. "I can't stomach your p... TAHEREH MAFI He's looking at the wall and at the floor and at the bedsheets and at the way his knuckles look when... TAHEREH MAFI Hate looks like everybody else until it smiles TAHEREH MAFI His lips soften into a smile that cracks apart my spine. He repeats my name like the word amuses him... TAHEREH MAFI So she told me a story. A story about a boy who was born with very green eyes, and the man who was s... TAHEREH MAFI Hey--jazz hands!" Kenji barks. "Get your ass back over here." He makes it a point to look as irritat... TAHEREH MAFI I’m not sure. But there’s something about the darkness, the stillness of this hour, I think, tha... TAHEREH MAFI On the darkest days you have to search for a spot of brightness, on the coldest days you have to see... TAHEREH MAFI Hope. It's like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It's a fre... TAHEREH MAFI I always wonder about raindrops. I wonder about how they're always falling down, tripping... TAHEREH MAFI Loneliness is a strange sort of thing. It creeps on you, quiet and still, sits by your side in ... TAHEREH MAFI I want to be the friend you fall hopelessly in love with. The one you take into your arms and into y... TAHEREH MAFI Words are like seeds, I think, planted into our hearts at a tender age. They take root in us as we g... TAHEREH MAFI And he leans in, so carefully. Breathing and not breathing and hearts beating between us a... TAHEREH MAFI His smile is laced with dynamite. "Go to sleep" "Go to hell." He works his jaw. Walks to t... TAHEREH MAFI You’ve been on the edge of insanity your entire life, haven’t you? So many people called you cra... TAHEREH MAFI I'm wearing dead cotton on my limbs and a blush of roses on my face. TAHEREH MAFI Are you out of your goddamn mind? You think we can take on two hundred soldiers? I know I am an extr... TAHEREH MAFI He looks immaculate. Flawless, especially as he stands here among the dirt and destruction, sur... TAHEREH MAFI I hear Warner laugh. I see him smile. It's the kind of smile that transforms him into some... TAHEREH MAFI Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never, ever sleeps. TAHEREH MAFI His eyes are two buckets of rainwater: deep, fresh, clear. Hurt. TAHEREH MAFI Why are you touching me?" "Because I can . TAHEREH MAFI Every butterfly in the world has migrated to my stomach. TAHEREH MAFI Hope is a pocket of possibility. I'm holding it in my hand. TAHEREH MAFI Raindrops are my only reminder that clouds have a heartbeat. That I have one, too. TAHEREH MAFI I've been screaming for years and no one has ever heard me. TAHEREH MAFI I didn't want the clothes or the perfect shoes or the expensive anything. I didn't want to be draped... TAHEREH MAFI My father couldn't warm my frozen hands. TAHEREH MAFI I peek up at his features, at the crooked grin i want to savor, at the color in his eyes i'd use to ... TAHEREH MAFI She could see all of Ferenwood from here: the rolling hills, the endless explosion of color cascadin... TAHEREH MAFI I like the way I feel about myself when I'm with him." I say quietly. "Warner thinks I'm strong and ... TAHEREH MAFI Good God, I have taken leave of my senses. I never thank Delalieu. I've likely given the poor man a ... TAHEREH MAFI I sigh. "I don't know what's happening to me." "They're called hormones." I shoot hi... TAHEREH MAFI I clench my fists and try not to scream and I tuck my friends in my heart andrevenge TAHEREH MAFI While a part of me wants to know, another part of me is too exhausted to ask. TAHEREH MAFI Do you never get exhausted being so wholly unbearable? TAHEREH MAFI Studies have shown that thinking and wondering lead to thoughtful decision-making. It's an epidemic. TAHEREH MAFI we write every day, we fight every day, we think and scheme and dream a little dream every day. manu... TAHEREH MAFI The tattoo is just setting below his hp bone. H e l l i s e m p t y a n d a l l t h e d ... TAHEREH MAFI And I do. I do wonder, I think about it all the time. What it would be like to kill myself. Because ... TAHEREH MAFI Nothing in this life will ever make sense to me but I can't help but try to collect the change and h... TAHEREH MAFI It's like there are a million screams caught inside of my chest but I have to keep them all in becau... TAHEREH MAFI I open the book and turn to the next page. Day three. I started screaming today. TAHEREH MAFI You think that because I am unwanted, because I am neglected and-and discarded-" My voice inches hig... TAHEREH MAFI That this girl would know exactly how to shatter me. TAHEREH MAFI Of course I remember you." My voice is a strangled whisper. I squeeze my eyes shut. "You were the on... TAHEREH MAFI And if you insist on continuing to make assumptions about my character, I’ll advise you only this:... TAHEREH MAFI I allowed myself to believe she’d seen a future for us; that she wanted to be with me and simply t... TAHEREH MAFI He's wrong he's so he's so wrong he's more wrong than an upside-down rainbow. TAHEREH MAFI My words wear no parachutes as they fall out of my mouth. TAHEREH MAFI You sick piece of shit," Adam says to him, his voice low, measured. "Such unfortunate language.... TAHEREH MAFI She is a soft, deadly creature. Kind and timid and terrifying. She's completely out of control and h... TAHEREH MAFI This isn't about Adam or Warner," I tell him, "This is about me and what I want. This is about me fi... TAHEREH MAFI You deserve so much more than charity," he said, his chest heaving. "You deserve to live, You deserv... TAHEREH MAFI I am nothing more than the consequence of catastrophe. TAHEREH MAFI My life is four walls of missed opportunities poured in concrete molds. TAHEREH MAFI Find me a cure for these tears, I'd really like to exhale for the first time in my life. TAHEREH MAFI I have a curse. I HAVE A GIFT. I'm a monster. I'M MORE THAN HUMAN. My touch Is l... TAHEREH MAFI In just two days, one girl has managed to cripple me. TAHEREH MAFI Friendship is not a thing I have ever experienced. Not as a child, and not as I am now. TAHEREH MAFI Warner was supposed to be dead. Warner was supposed to be dead because I was supposed to have shot h... TAHEREH MAFI What difference does it make?" he says. "People can think whatever they like. I don't desire their v... TAHEREH MAFI My opinions,” I say to him, quietly this time, “should not so easily break your own. Stand by yo... TAHEREH MAFI You allow the world to think you're a heartless murderer," I tell him. "And you're not." ... TAHEREH MAFI You’re perfect,” I tell him, so overcome I forget myself. “All of you. Your entire body. ... TAHEREH MAFI This girl is destroying me. TAHEREH MAFI But he grins, so brilliantly, not even paying attention. “I love it when you say my name,” he sa... TAHEREH MAFI Watching her talk to someone else made me crazy. I was jealous. Ridiculous. I wanted her to know me;... TAHEREH MAFI Because I want her. Now. Here. Everywhere. I want nothing between us. I wa... TAHEREH MAFI I loved making you mad," he says to me, his eyes wicked. "I love making you mad. TAHEREH MAFI I’ve come to believe that the most dangerous man in the world is the one who feels no remorse. The... TAHEREH MAFI Love is a heartless bastard TAHEREH MAFI I almost forget that she still hates me, despite how hard I've fallen for her. And I've fallen.... TAHEREH MAFI People seldom realize that they tell lies with their lips and truths with their eyes all the time. TAHEREH MAFI And I've fallen. So hard. I've hit the ground. Gone right through it. Never in... TAHEREH MAFI There is nothing to fear. Nothing to worry about. Grieve nothing in this transitory world," he says ... TAHEREH MAFI The small hand of a clock taps me at one and two, three and four, whispering hello, get up, stand up... TAHEREH MAFI I promise myself then, in that moment, that I will hold him forever, just like this, until all the p... TAHEREH MAFI Three forty-five-pound plates on each side of what Kenji told me is an Olympic bar, which weighs an ... TAHEREH MAFI In a world where there is so much to grieve and so little good to take? I grieve nothing. I take eve... TAHEREH MAFI I do want you," I say to him, my voice shaking. "I want you so much it scares me. TAHEREH MAFI I'm not trying to fix you; I don't think you need to be fixed. I'm not trying to turn you into someo... TAHEREH MAFI Have you ever been in love?" I ask, turning on my side to look at him. He stares up at the sky. Blin... TAHEREH MAFI You think Warner is sexy?" ... "I do like his face. TAHEREH MAFI Can you hear my heart? I want to ask him. I want you to make a list of all you... TAHEREH MAFI Water that never moves." I say to him. "Its fine for a little while. You can drink from it and it'll... TAHEREH MAFI Come back to life, love. I'll be here when you wake up. TAHEREH MAFI Don't do that," he says. "Don't ask me questions you already know the answers to. Twice I've laid my... TAHEREH MAFI It's not charity," I snap. "He cares about me--and I care about him!" Warner nods, unimpr... TAHEREH MAFI Aaron Warner Anderson, chief commander and regent of Sector 45, son of the supreme commander of The ... TAHEREH MAFI And we are quotation marks, inverted and upside down, clinging to one another at the end of this lif... TAHEREH MAFI Why do you call her 'love'?" James asks. "I've heard you say that before, too. A lot. Are you in lov... TAHEREH MAFI Ignite, my love. Ignite. TAHEREH MAFI We're too different now. We want different things. And this?" I say nodding at our hands. "All this ... TAHEREH MAFI Hate looks just like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and te... TAHEREH MAFI My mind is a warehouse of carefully organized human emotions. I lock away the things that do no... TAHEREH MAFI They filled our world with weapons aimed at foreheads and smiled as they shot 16 candles right throu... TAHEREH MAFI I never thought it would get this bad. I never thought the Reestablishment would take things so far.... TAHEREH MAFI Damn,” Kenji says after a moment. “Damn damn damn. This shit is bananas TAHEREH MAFI It's strange. How hollow i feel. Like there might be echoes inside of me. Like I'm one of those choc... TAHEREH MAFI Narrow-mindedness will only get you as far as Nowhere, and once you're there, you're lost forever. TAHEREH MAFI I love you, ” he says , his words harsh and soft all at once. “ I love you and it isn’t enough... TAHEREH MAFI I'm petrified. Because being this close to you is doing things to me. Strange things and irrational ... TAHEREH MAFI There is nothing to fear. Nothing to worry about. Grieve nothing in this transitionary world. It's t... TAHEREH MAFI Warner. A white bird with streaks of gold like a crown atop its head. A fair - skinned boy with gold... TAHEREH MAFI We are hours and minutes reaching for the same second, holding hands as we spin forward into new day... TAHEREH MAFI Juliette ? ” A tentative voice . “ Are you okay? ” I lower the pillow . Blink up . Warner is w... TAHEREH MAFI No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever be more powerful than a sentence. Swords may cut and kil... TAHEREH MAFI He’s kissing me like the world is rolling right off a cliff, like he’s trying to hang on and he�... TAHEREH MAFI His chest, heaving harder this time. His words, almost gasping this time. “You destroy me.” TAHEREH MAFI I want so many things,” he whispers. “I want your mind. Your strength. I want to be worth your t... TAHEREH MAFI I only know now that the scientists are wrong. The world is flat. I know becau... TAHEREH MAFI I grieve nothing. I take everything. TAHEREH MAFI We breathe when we're wrong, we breathe when we're right, we breathe even as we slip off the ledge t... TAHEREH MAFI I have to get out of this room as soon as possible, or my own thoughts will wage war against me. TAHEREH MAFI I imagine this is what it feels like to fall apart. TAHEREH MAFI Swallow the tears back often enough and they’ll start feeling like acid dripping down your throat.... TAHEREH MAFI I’m happy to have her close even if it hurts, even if it doesn’t make any sense. TAHEREH MAFI Friendship is not a thing I have ever experienced. Not as a child, and not as I am now. Except. One ... TAHEREH MAFI If it were nothing but sexual attraction I’m sure I would not suffer such unbearable humiliation. ... TAHEREH MAFI I’ve fallen for her…So hard. I’ve hit the ground. Gone right through it. Never in my life have... TAHEREH MAFI I've never read anything that could speak directly to my bones. TAHEREH MAFI There was something about my face,she said, that she couldn't stand. Something about my eyes, the wa... TAHEREH MAFI That traitorous bastard. The idiot who thinks he's won himself a pretty girl. He has no idea who she... TAHEREH MAFI Kenji is a walking paradox of Unflinchingly Serious Person and 12-Year-Old Boy Going Through Puberty... TAHEREH MAFI I have an extremely low threshold for disorder; it offends my very being. TAHEREH MAFI I will give no one the satisfaction of my death. TAHEREH MAFI Sir, can you hear me?" Another cry. But this time, a voice I don't detest. "Sire, please, can y... TAHEREH MAFI There’s something simmering inside of me. Something I’ve never dared to tap into, something I’... TAHEREH MAFI I want to be someone else somewhere else with something else to fill my mind. TAHEREH MAFI Sometimes I close my eyes and paint these walls a different color. I imagine I’m wearing warm sock... TAHEREH MAFI This girl is destroying me. A girl who has spent the last year in an insane asylum. A girl who would... TAHEREH MAFI She searches me with those odd, blue-green eyes and I feel guilty so suddenly, without understanding... TAHEREH MAFI Sometimes I wish I could step outside of myself for a while. I want to leave this worn body behind, ... TAHEREH MAFI Torture is not torture when there’s any hope of relief. TAHEREH MAFI These letters are all I have left. 26 friends to tell my stories to. 26 letters are all I ... TAHEREH MAFI Dude, you ran off with the crazy chick! You ran off with the psycho girl!" he's calling after Adam. ... TAHEREH MAFI Hope in this world bleeds out of the barrel of a gun. TAHEREH MAFI He whispers, "You have no idea how much I've thought about you. How many times I've dreamt"-he takes... TAHEREH MAFI I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed... TAHEREH MAFI Adam stares at me so long I begin to blush. He tips my chin up so I meet his eyes. Blue blue blue bo... TAHEREH MAFI Girls are always talking about electricity in their romance, but none are too happy to actually be e... TAHEREH MAFI Killing time isn't as difficult as it sounds. I can shoot a hundred numbers through the c... TAHEREH MAFI You can't touch me," I whisper. I'm lying, is what I don't tell him. He can touch me, is what I'll n... TAHEREH MAFI Someone picked up the sun and pinned it to the sky again, but every day it hangs a little lower than... TAHEREH MAFI I am nothing but novocaine. I am numb, a world of nothing, all feeling and emotion gone forever. TAHEREH MAFI My voice softens. 'How old are you ?' 'I'll be eleven next year.' I grin. 'So you're... TAHEREH MAFI Hope is hugging me, holding me in its arms, wiping away my tears and telling me that today and tomor... TAHEREH MAFI The man is moody as hell.” “I am not moody —” “Yeah, bro.” K... TAHEREH MAFI Time goes on even when we do not. TAHEREH MAFI I am suspended in the moment. Flickering images faded with age, frozen thoughts hovering precariousl... TAHEREH MAFI You can go to hell!" "Just because I'm going to hell doesn't mean you'll ever deserve her. TAHEREH MAFI Please—please get up—and lower your voice —” “Hell no.” “Why no... TAHEREH MAFI Have you ever had a girlfriend, Kenji?" "What?" He looks mortally offended. "Do I look l... TAHEREH MAFI Sticks and stones keep breaking my bones but these words, these words will kill me. TAHEREH MAFI Because something inside of my heart is ripping apart and it feels like fear, it tastes like panic a... TAHEREH MAFI Tell me what you want" he [Warner] says desperately. "Tell me what to do," he says, "and I'll do it. TAHEREH MAFI .. but you-with you-" Hefalters. Looks down. "How am I supposed to go back?" he asks, so quietly. "H... TAHEREH MAFI The truth," he says, "is a painful reminder of why I prefer to live among the lies. TAHEREH MAFI Twice. Once for Adam. Once for Warner. TAHEREH MAFI People can think whatever they like....I don't desire their validation. TAHEREH MAFI Hang tight Hold on Look up Stay strong Hang on Hold tight Look strong<... TAHEREH MAFI I would rather be dead, than go back to being silent and suffocated. TAHEREH MAFI All I know next are his arms, the desperate edge to his voice when he says my name, and I'm unraveli... TAHEREH MAFI You know, I can sort of control it now," I tell him, beaming. "I can moderate my strength levels." TAHEREH MAFI I'm not falling for Warner," I say quietly. "Sure you aren't." "I'm not," I insist. "I'm j... TAHEREH MAFI Because I was dying. And Warner could’ve let me die. He was angry and hurt and had ever... TAHEREH MAFI He and I would end up like water going nowhere. Water that never moves-- It's fine for a little whil... TAHEREH MAFI Back to work. And this time, focus. You’re not an ape. Don’t just throw your shit everywhere. TAHEREH MAFI It's incredible how someone can look so right and feel so wrong. Kent is a lucky bastard. TAHEREH MAFI So I take a deep breath. Step forward. Let go. 10 seconds and I'm trying to bre... TAHEREH MAFI At least I'm honest about being a liar TAHEREH MAFI I want to trust but it scares the skin off my bones. TAHEREH MAFI A handful of letters doesn't always make a word, love. TAHEREH MAFI You're naked?" Kenji is suddenly studying my sheet and not bothering to be subtle about it. I flush ... TAHEREH MAFI Juliette,” he says. “Yes?” I can hear him breathing. “Thank... TAHEREH MAFI