John Green

we need never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken

Because you simply cannot draw these things out forever. At some point, you just pull off the Band-Aid and it hurts, but then it__ over and you__e relieved.

The thing is that it could never again feel natural to talk to her

And yet still I worried. I like being a person. I wanted to keep at it. Worry is yet another side effect of dying.

I felt the worry start to snatch at my breath when I finished talking.

In my opinion, actual heroism, like actual love, is a messy, painful, vulnerable business__nd I wanted to try to reflect that.

There was quite a lot of competitiveness about it, with everybody wanting to beat not only cancer itself, but also the other people in the room. Like, I realize that this is irrational, but when they tell you that you have, say, a 20 percent chance of living five years, the math kicks in and you figure that__ one in five . . . so you look around and think, as any healthy person would: I gotta outlast four of these bastards.

Photographs are just light and time" - Aza Holmes

I am in love with you, and I am not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things.

My heart is really pounding," I said. "That's how you know you're having fun.

No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can't go all the way around.

The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. Like, I will probably never get struck by lightning, or win a Nobel Prize, or become the dictator of a small nation in the Pacific Islands, or contract terminal ear cancer, or spontaneously combust. But if you consider all the unlikely things together, at least one of them will probably happen to each of us.

Love is always a miracle, everywhere, every time.

But what I want to know is, is there a you independent of circumstances? Is there a way-down-deep me who is an actual, real person, the same person if she has money or not, the same if she goes to this school or that school? Or am I only a set of circumstances?-Aza

If you dont' live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good.

The sun was a toddler insistently refusing to go to bed.

NOTHING HAS EVER LOOKED LIKE THAT EVER IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY,_ he said. His enthusiasm was adorable. I couldn__ resist leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.__ust so you know, I__ right here,_ Mom said. __itting next to you. Your mother. Who held your hand as you took your first infantile steps.___t__ friendly,_ I reminded her, turning to kiss her on the cheek.__idn__ feel too friendly,_ Gus mumbled just loud enough for me to hear. When surprised and excited and innocent Gus emerged from Grand Gesture Metaphorically Inclined Augustus, I literally could not resist.

Hey,' he said, touching my waist. 'Hey. It's okay.' I nodded and wiped my face with the back of my hand. 'He sucks.' I nodded again. 'I'll write you an epilogue,' Gus said. That made me cry harder. 'I will,' he said. 'I will. Better than any sh*t that drunk could write. His brain is Swiss cheese. He doesn't even remember writing the book. I can write ten times the story that guy can. There will be blood and guts and sacrifice. An Imperial Affliction meets The Prince of Dawn. You'll love it.' I kept nodding, faking a smile, and then he hugged me, his strong arms pulling me into his muscular chest, and I sogged up his polo shirt a little but then recovered enough to speak.