Stephen Chbosky quotes
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She wasn't bitter. She was sad, though. But it was a hopeful kind of sad. The kind of sad that just takes time.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
The most beautiful surprise is that you have these moments where you connect with people on a deep level without saying a word. It's one of those wonderful things that you get what you give, and I'm grateful for it.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
There's nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Writing screenplays is incredibly hard. I can't call it joy. Writing Novels? Joy. Directing? Joy. Writing Screenplays? That's where you pay all your dues.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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So, I guess we are who we are for alot 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.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
If the advice is simply to respect yourself and follow the path that you want to follow, that would be the best advice I could ever pass on.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
He's a wallflower. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
You get the right collection of people together and you get the atmosphere together that it is very free where there is no judgment. If you create an atmosphere that is very open you steer the ship.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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I walked over to the hill where we used to go and sled. There were a lot of little kids there. I watched them flying. Doing jumps and having races. And 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.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I just want you to know that you’re very special… and the only reason I’m telling you is that I don’t know if anyone else ever has.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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I'm going to be who I really am. I'm going to figure out what this is.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Sometimes people use thought to not participate in life.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
It’s much easier not to know things sometimes.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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It's strange to describe reading a book as a really great experience, but that's kind of how it felt.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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. Maybe that is what makes people "participate.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
This moment will just be another story someday.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
It's strange because sometimes, I read a book, and I think I am the people in the book.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
We accept the love we think we deserve.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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And how different her face looked the first time she really liked a boy who was not on a poster on her wall. And how her face looked when she realized she was in love with that boy.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I just laid around in my bed, looking at the ceiling, and i smiled because it was a nice kind of quiet.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
And I never felt that good in my life. But I also felt bad because I saw her naked without her permission.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Craig said the problem with things is that everyone is always comparing everyone with everyone
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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It's kind of like when you look at yourself in the mirror and you say your name. And it gets to a point where none of it seems real.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
There are other people who have it a lot worse
-- Stephen Chbosky -
It's like he would take a photograph of Sam, and the photograph would be beautiful. And he would think that the reason the photograph was beautiful was because of how he took it. If I took it, I would know that the only reason it's beautiful is because of Sam. I just think it's bad when a boy looks at a girl and thinks that the way he sees the girl is better then the girl actually is. And I think it's bad when the most honest way a boy can look at a girl is through a camera. It's very hard for me to see Sam feel better about herself just because a boy sees her that way.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
They are all my favourites. All of them.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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deep down...she's a good woman...you should be proud of her." When I told my mom about this, she just looked very sad because he could never say those things to her. Not ever. Not even when he walked her down the aisle.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
And later that night to be with my family at dinnertime and have things just be like they always were. That was the amazing part. Things just keep going. We didn't talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I know that I brought this all on myself. I know that I deserve this. I'd do anything not to be this way. I'd do anything to make it up to everyone. And to not have to see a psychiatrist, who explains to me about being "passive aggressive.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
After a few minutes, it was time for me to leave. I don't know who decides these things. It just happens.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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The perfect song on the perfect drive to make you feel infinite.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I hate you." My sister said it different than she said it to my dad. She meant it with me.She really did. "I love you," was all I could say in return. "You're a freak, you know that? Everyone says so. They always have." "I'm trying not to be.†Then, I turned around and walked to my room and closed my door and put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.[pp.28]
-- Stephen Chbosky -
It is important to say "sir" at these moments. And if they ever call you by your first-middle-last name, you better watch out. I'm telling you.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I said no to having a beer. I once had a beer with my brother when I was twelve, and I just didn't like it. It's really that simple for me. [pp.37]
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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So I started shoveling Bob's driveway, which is a strange thing to do at a New Years Eve Party
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I'm not saying she was lying to me, but she just acted so different before I got to know her, and if she really isn't like what she was at the beginning, I wish she could have just said so.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I didn't know that other people thought things about me. I didn't know that they looked.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. I know other people have it a lot worse. I do know that, but it's crashing in anyway, and I just can't stop thinking that the little kid eating french fries with his mom in the shopping mall is going to grow up and my sister.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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I don't know what's wrong with me. It's like all I can do is keep writing this gibberish to keep from breaking apart.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
What's your favorite book? "The last one I read.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
More like the movie where the guy meets a smart girl who wears a lot of sweaters and drinks cocoa. They talk about books and issues and kiss in the rain.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
It’s much easier not to know things sometimes. And to have french fries with your mom be enough.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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I guess when you see somebody in the hallway or on the field or something, it's nice to know that they are a real person.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
but my dad said it was no excuse. "But I love him!" I had never seen my sister cry that much. "No, you don't." "I hate you!" "No, you don't." My dad can be very calm sometimes. "He's my whole world." "Don't ever say that about anyone again. Not even me." That was my mom.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
on that piece of white paper, sam wrote, "write about me sometime." and i typed something back to her, standing right there in her bedroom. i just typed. "i will.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
in the last month or so, i have read the great gatsby and a separate peace. i am starting to see a real trend in the kind of books bill gives me to read. and just like the tape of songs, it is amazing to hold each of them in the palm of my hand. they are all my favorites. all of them.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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I have finished To Kill a Mockingbird. It is now my favorite book of all time, but then again, I always think that until I read another book.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I was looking at the photographs and I started thinking that there was a time when these weren't memories.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Everyone is special in their own way.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I want to make sure that the first person you kiss loves you, okay?
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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Maybe he didn’t really encourage me to do things, but he didn’t prevent me from doing them either. But after a while, I didn’t do things because I didn’t want him to think different about me. But the thing is, I wasn’t being honest. So, why would I care whether or not he loved me when he didn’t really even know me?
-- Stephen Chbosky -
As much as I feel sad, I think that not knowing is what really bothers me.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
The movie itself was very interesting, but I didn't think it was very good because I didn't really feel different when it was over.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
There were other stories and other names. Second Base Stace, who had breasts in fourth grade and let some of the boys feel them. Vincent, who took acid and tried to flush a sofa down the toilet. Sheila, who allegedly masturbated with a hot dog and had to go to the emergency room. The list went on and on.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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All I could do is lie there and think about how much her voice changed when she asked me if she was pretty, and how much she changed when I answered.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
And she looked at me like she couldn't believe I knew she loved Anne Rice. I guess he didn't know how much she talked or how much I listened.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
To tell you the truth I love Sam. It's not a movie kind of love either. I just look at her sometimes and I think she is the prettiest and nicest person in the whole world.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
And even if she says no, and really means yes, then quite frankly she's playing games and isn't worth the price of dinner.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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Except that my father got a raise, and my mother didn't because she doesn't get paid for housework, and my sister stopped reading those self-esteem books because she met a new boy
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I couldn't believe Sam actually got me a present because i honestly thought the "I love you" was it.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
They just knew. And I think that's all you can ever ask from a friend.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
My dad said I did the right thing. I hope I did, but it's hard to tell sometimes.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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Patrick started driving really fast, and just before we got to the tunnel. Sam stood up, and the wind turned her dress into ocean waves. When we hit the tunnel, all the sound got scooped up into a vacuum, and it was replaced by a song on the tape player. A beautiful song called “Landslide.†When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
The outside lights were on, and it was snowing, and it looked like magic. Like we were somewhere else. Like we were someplace better.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I wonder what my speech would be.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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there was a time when these weren't memories.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
we are all supposed to think of reasons to live.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
calls her beautiful, but she cannot hear...
-- Stephen Chbosky -
To kill a mockingbird. If you haven't read it, I think you should because it is very interesting.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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was very fun to be around. She liked movies, and her brother Frank made her tapes of this great music that she shared with us. But over the summer she had her braces taken off, and she got a little taller and prettier and grew breasts. Now, she acts a lot dumber in the hallways, especially when boys are around. And I think it's sad because Susan doesn't look as happy.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
So, I heard you're this ninja or something.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I spent all night working on it, and I hope Patrick likes it as much as I do. Especially the second side. I hope it's the kind of second side that he can listen to whenever he drives alone and feel like he belongs to something whenever he's sad. I hope it can be that for him.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I wasn't raised very religiously because my parents went to Catholic school, but I do believe in God very much. I just never gave God a name, if you know what I mean. I hope I haven't let Him down regardless.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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Music is a vital part of my life, and it has been since I was a kid. It helped me find my identity as a person, it helped me find my identity as an artist, and it helped me get in touch with emotions that I didn't know I had.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Movies, by nature, are not subjective, they're objective.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Everyone else is either asleep or having sex. I’ve been watching cable television and eating jello.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I know that things get worse before they get better because that’s what my psychiatrist says, but this is a worse that feels too big.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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You should tell her how nice her outfit is because her outfit is her choice whereas her face isn't.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
If the right thing came along, I would absolutely direct something I did not write because I love the process so much, but we'll see. I'm taking it day by day.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Harold and Maude' was a seminal movie for me because it's not only a beautiful love story, but it's also about the moment when misfits find each other.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
It's nice to have things to look forward to.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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Do you think if people knew how crazy you really were, no one would ever talk to you?
-- Stephen Chbosky -
I found, through the process of doing 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower,' that I really love directing movies and I love writing books and so this will become the centerpiece of my career for the next ten or twenty years. Doing these adaptations.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Sam dropped me off. When she was too far away to see me, I started to cry again. Because she was my friend again. And that was enough for me.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
Welcome to the island of misfit toys
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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The truth is, when it gets really quiet, when the silence gets too loud, i really start to miss everyone.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
As people get older, we all know, you get married and you have a child and that becomes your family, but when you're 16 years old, especially, your family is your friends.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
As we all know, when you're an athlete things are a little bit easier for you. It didn't mean that what was going on inside my heart wasn't a bit of a thunderstorm, but outwardly I got along ok. I was really shy in seventh grade.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
The thing is some girls think they can actually change guys
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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The reason I am thinking so far in advance is because school is terribly lonely. I think I've said that before, but it's getting harder every day.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks, when the teacher rings the bell, drop your books and run like hell
-- Stephen Chbosky -
When you think back to your first kiss, your hair is perfect and she was wearing a cool outfit. We remember it with restraint and we remember it with style. We remember it as idealistically as you can think.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
When you publish a book, you do so in part to end the silence. All censorship is silence. I would never, as an author, feel right requiring a young person whose family would object to the book to read it. Just as I would never force that person to read it, I would ask those folks to not force others not to read it. To me, that is just good manners.
-- Stephen Chbosky -
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