The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I just finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I think everybody who has ever felt lost or lonely at some point should read it.

Here's why!!

"So this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

"Not everyone has a sob story, and even if they do, it's no excuse."

"Five minutes of a lifetime were truly spent, and we felt young in a good way."

"You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand."

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

"I love Twinkies, and the reason I am saying that is because we are all supposed to think of reasons to live."

"I don't know if that's good or bad. I don't know if it's better to have your kids be happy and not go to college. I don't know if it's better to be close with your daughter or make sure that she has a better life than you do. I just don't know."

"It was just something that made everyone look around at each other and know that they were there. They looked at me. And I looked at them. And I think they knew. Not anything specific really. They just knew. And I think that's all you can ever ask from a friend."

"And she kissed me. It was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life."

"I thought that all those little kids are going to grow up someday. And all of those little kids are going to do the things that we do. And they will all kiss someone someday. But for now, sledding is enough. I think it would be great if sledding were always enough. But it isn't."

"I don't know if you've ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That's why I'm trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning."

"Sometimes, I look outside, and I think that a lot of other people have seen this snow before. Just like I think that a lot of other people have read those books before. And listened to those songs. I wonder how they feel tonight."

"I guess what I'm saying is that this all feels very familiar. But it's not mine to be familiar about. I just know that another kid has felt this...And all the books you've read have been read by other people. And all the songs you've loved have been heard by other people. And that girl that's pretty to you is pretty to other people. And you know that if you looked at these facts when you were happy, you would feel great because you were describing "unity.""

"Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense."

"Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody."

"There's nothing like the deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons. It was that great."

"I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people."

"And I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn't matter."

"She was sad, though. But it was a hopeful kind of sad. The kind of sad that just takes time."

"We could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn't do or what they didn't know. I don't know, I guess there could always be someone to blame."

"I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

"Even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad."

"Maybe it's good to put things in perspective, but sometimes I think that the only perspective is to really be there...Because it's okay to feel things. And be who you are about them."

"Please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough. And I will believe the same about you."