Jay Asher Quotes:

No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.84, Penguin

Topics: Life, Impact, People, Thirteen

If my love were an ocean, there would be no more land. If my love were a desert, you would see only sand. If my love were a star- late at night, only light. And if my love could grow wings, I'd be soaring in flight.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.94, Penguin

Topics: Love, Stars, Ocean, Love For Her, Love You So Much

You can hear rumors. But you can't know them.

Topics: Rumor

You can't stop the future You can't rewind the past The only way to learn the secret ...is to press play.

Topics: Inspirational, Change, Past, Rewind

And what about you-the rest of you-did you notice the scars you left behind? No. Probably not. Because most of them can't be seen with the naked eye.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.68, Penguin

Topics: Eye, Naked, Scar, Naked Eyes

You can't go back to how things were. How you thought they were. All you really have is...now.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.107, Penguin

When you hold people up for ridicule, you have to take responsibility when other people act on it.

Topics: Bullying, Responsibility, People

After all, how often do we get a second chance?

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.19, Penguin

Topics: Second Chance, Chance

Like driving along a bumpy road and losing control of the steering wheel, tossing you—just a tad—off the road. The wheels kick up some dirt, but you're able to pull it back. Yet no matter how hard you try to drive straight, something keeps jerking you to the side. You have so little control over anything anymore. And at some point, the struggle becomes too much—too tiring—and you consider letting go. Allowing tragedy... or whatever... to happen.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.124, Penguin

Topics: Letting Go, Struggle, Trying, Losing Control, Bumpy Roads

I needed a break... from myself.

Topics: Break, Needed

If I had a chance with him, I missed it. No, I didn't miss it. I threw it away.

Topics: Missing, Chance

I left. When I should have stayed.

Topics: Should

I was too weak to walk. At least, I thought I was too weak. But in truth, I was too weak to try.

Topics: Trying, Weak, Walks

She wants to believe my excuses so bad. Every time I lie, she wants to believe me so much.

Topics: Lying, Believe, Want

Don't give up on me now. I'm sorry. I guess that's an odd thing to say. Because isn't that what I'm doing? Giving up?

Topics: Giving Up, Sorry

And here he is again, yet things feel like they'll never be as easy between us as they once were.

Topics: Easy, Feels

You don't need to watch out for me, Clay." But I did, Hannah. And I wanted to. I could have helped you. But when I tried, you pushed me away. I can almost hear Hannah's voice speaking my nest thought for me. "Then why didn't you try harder?

Topics: Voice, Trying, Clay

Hannah wasn't my first kiss, but the first kiss that mattered: the first kiss with someone who mattered. (pg 222).

Topics: Kissing, First Kiss, Firsts, My First Kiss

I sat. And I thought. And the more I thought, connecting the events in my life, the more my heart collapsed.

Topics: Heart, Events, My Heart

Everything seemed good, but I knew it had the potential to be awful.

Topics: Awful

How many times had I let myself connect with someone only to have it thrown back in my face?

Topics: Faces, Thrown

Here's a tip. If you touch a girl, even as joke, and she pushes you off, leave... her... alone. Don't touch her. Anywhere! Just stop. Your touch does nothing but sicken her.

Topics: Girl, Doe, Personal Space

Because it may seem like a small role now, but it matters. In the end, everything matters.

Topics: Roles, May, Matter, Small Roles

I swear, guys in groups are capable of the stupidest things." "Like war," Kellan says, heaping napkins and ketchup packets onto her tray. "And jumping off rooftops." "And lighting their farts on fire," she says.

Topics: War, Fire, Jumping, Jumping Off, Stupidest

There are also the people too bizarre to ignore, like Kyle Simpson. Future male stripper.

Topics: People, Males, Bizarre

Whenever I'm out late she makes a sandwich for my school lunch. I always protest and tell her not to, saying I'll make my own when I get home. But she likes it. She says it reminds her of when I was younger and needed her.

Topics: Home, School, Lunch, School Lunch

And as I stood there in the hallway―alone―trying to understand what had just happened and why, I realized the truth: I wasn't worth an explanation―not even a reaction. Not in your eyes.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.168, Penguin

Topics: Eye, Trying, Reactions

Because I've heard so many stories that I don't know which one is the most popular. But I do know which is the least popular. The truth.

Topics: Stories, Heard

I hate not knowing what to believe anymore. I hate not knowing what's real.

Topics: Hate, Real, Believe

It may seem that every time someone offers you a hand up, they just let go and you slip further down.

Topics: Letting Go, Hands, May, Hands Up

My heart and my trust were in the process of collapsing. And that collapse created a vacuum in my chest.

Topics: Heart, Vacuums, Process

You don't know what goes on in anyone's life but your own.

Topics: Goes On

We didn't get that chance because I was afraid. Afraid I had no chance with you.

Topics: Chance

How in the world was I alone? Because I wanted to be. That's all I can say. It's all that makes sense to me.

Topics: World, Wanted, Make Sense

This was not a spurr-of-the-moment decision. Do not take me for granted... again.

Topics: Decision, Moments, Granted

Everything about it was false. Right then, in that office, with the realization that no one knew the truth about my life, my thoughts about the world were shaken.

Topics: Office, Realization, World

The Golden Rule will always be good advice!

Topics: Advice, Golden, Be Good

What the hell happened to Pluto?!

Topics: Pluto, Hell

Teens in the '90s had the same basic desires as they do now.

Topics: Desire, Teens

It's up to the reader to decipher the code, or the words, based on everything they know about life and emotions.

Topics: Emotion, Reader, Code

All you really have... is now.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.107, Penguin

As a writer, my only responsibility is to tell a compelling story.

Topics: Responsibility, Stories, Compelling

I miss video games where the jump-kick was the trickiest combo to master.

Topics: Games, Missing, Video

I've always loved brainstorming with other writers, and I consider having my work critiqued a part of that brainstorming.

Topics: Writing, Brainstorming

When you write a book for publication, you're writing it for other people to read.

Topics: Book, Writing, People

Actually, I love trying to figure out why certain books become hits while others, which may be just as good, have trouble finding an audience.

Topics: Book, Trying, May

Did the poet use red to symbolize blood? Anger? Lust? Or is the wheelbarrow simply red because red sounded better than black?

Topics: Blood, Lust, Black, Wheelbarrows

I want to collapse. I want to fall on the sidewalk right there and drag myself to the ivy.

Topics: Fall, Ivy, Want, Exhaustion

Those are some strong currents you're swimming against.

Topics: Strong, Swimming, Currents

People grow apart, and sometimes, there nothing anyone can do about it.

Topics: People, Sometimes, Grows

I didn't humiliate him by pointing it out because that's not how you treat friends. You don't judge them. You don't humiliate them. I bet he's been judging me all along.

Topics: Judging, Judge Me, Treats

And at some point, the struggle becomes too much-too tiring-and you consider letting go. Allowing tragedy... or whatever... to happen.

Topics: Letting Go, Struggle, Tragedy

This time, for the first time, I saw the possibilities in giving up. I even found hope in it.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.126, Penguin

Topics: Giving Up, Firsts, Saws

But they were wrong. There was a reason.

Topics: Reason

One little ripple started today could create a typhoon fifteen years from now.

Topics: Years, Fifteen, Littles, Fifteen Years, Typhoons

I simply wanted a kiss. I was a freshman girl who had never been kissed. Never. But I liked the boy, he liked me, and I was going to kiss him. That's the story, the whole story, right there.

Topics: Girl, Kissing, Boys, Never Been Kissed

I didn't feel physically sick. But mentally. My mind was twisting in so many ways. (...) We once saw a documentary on migraines. One of the men interviewed used to fall on his knees and bang his head against the floor, over and over during attacks. This diverted the pain from deep inside his brain, where he couldn't reach it, to a pain outside that he had control over.

Topics: Pain, Fall, Men, Migraine, Deep Inside

I decided to find out how people at school might react if one of the students never came back.

Topics: School, People, Might

That's what I love about poetry. The more abstract, the better. The stuff where you're not sure what the poet's talking about. You may have an idea, but you can't be sure. Not a hundred percent. Each word, specifically chosen, could have a million different meanings.

Topics: Ideas, Talking, Stuff, Different Meanings

It's important to be aware of how we treat others. Even though someone appears to shrug off a sideways comment or to not be affected by a rumor, it's impossible to know everything else going on in that person's life, how we might be adding to his/her pain. People do have an impact on the lives of others; that's undeniable.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.298, Penguin

Topics: Pain, Impact, People

Maybe it's not as important to you as it was for me, but that's not for you to decide.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.89, Penguin

Topics: Important

Will I ever get control of my life? Will I always be shoved back and pushed around by those I trust?

Rejection always hurts, but having it come from my best friend was the worst.

Topics: Hurt, Rejection, My Best Friend

They were like two magnets who couldn't decide whether to attract or repel.

Topics: Two, Magnet

The road to publication is like a churro - long and bumpy, but sweet.

Topics: Sweet, Journey, Long

And like I said, I didn't know him very well, but my ears perked up whenever I heard his name. I guess I wanted to hear something - anything - juicy. Not because I wanted to spread gossip. I just couldn't believe someone could be that good. If he was actually that good... wonderful. Great! But it became a personal game of mine. How long could I go on hearing nothing but good things about Clay Jensen? Normally, when a person has a stellar image, another person's waiting in the wings to tear them apart. They're waiting for that one fatal flaw to expose itself. But not with Clay.

Topics: Believe, Games, Names, Fatal Flaws, Stellar

The main thing I wanted to say, and thankfully it’s what most people say they get out of the book, is simply an acknowledgement that we do affect each other in ways we can’t predict.

Topics: Book, People, Way, Acknowledgement

When the right moment appears, the key is to not let it pass.

Topics: Keys, Moments, Right Moment

You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.201, Penguin

Topics: Goes On, Mess, Persons

I hope you're ready, because I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you're listening to these tapes, you're one of the reasons why.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.17, Penguin

Topics: Listening, Tape, Stories, Thirteen

In the end....everything matters.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.13, Penguin

Topics: Matter, Ends

I wanted people to trust me, despite anything they'd heard. And more than that, I wanted them to know me. Not the stuff they thought they knew about me. No, the real me. I wanted them to get past the rumors. To see beyond the relationships I once had, or maybe still had but that they didn't agree with.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.135, Penguin

Topics: Real, Past, People

Because no, I didn’t push her away. I didn’t add to her pain or do anything to hurt her. Instead, I left her alone in that room. The only person who might’ve been able to reach out and save her from herself. To pull her back from wherever she was heading. I did what she asked and I left. When I should have stayed.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.220, Penguin

Topics: Hurt, Pain, Should Have

A flood of emotions rushes into me. Pain and anger. Sadness and pity. But most surprising of all, hope.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.288, Penguin

Topics: Pain, Anger, Sadness

Because when you're posed, you know someone's watching. You put on your very best smile. You let your sweetest personality shine.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.55, Penguin

Topics: Personality, Shining, Best Smile

We all know the sound a camera makes when it snaps a picture. Even some of the digitals do it for nostalgia’s sake.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.49, Penguin

Topics: Cameras, Sound, Sake

Fun drunks make a nice addition to any party. Not looking to fight. Not looking to score. Just looking to get drunk and laugh.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.108, Penguin

Topics: Fun, Nice, Party, Mascots

Maybe if I forgot things once in a while, we'd all be a little bit happier.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.115, Penguin

Topics: Littles, Bits, Little Bit

It's hard to be disappointed when what you expected turns out to be true.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.62, Penguin

Topics: Being True, Turns, Disappointed

I waited a second. Should I? No... but I will.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.133, Penguin

Topics: Should, Should I

I want to look back. To look over my shoulder and see the Stop sign with huge reflective letters, pleading with Hannah. Stop!

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.250, Penguin

Topics: Looks, Letters, Want

But sometimes there’s nothing left to do but move on.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.279, Penguin

Topics: Moving, Sometimes, Left

And in high school, people are always watching so there's always a reason to pose.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.94, Penguin

Topics: School, People, High School

You need to figure out what you want, Josh. If that means you need to swim against the tide to get it, at least youre aiming for something that could make you very happy.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2011). “The Future of Us”, p.187, Penguin

Topics: Mean, Swim, Needs

That's why you did it. You wanted your world to collapse around you. You wanted everything to get as dark as possible.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.133, Penguin

Topics: Dark, World, Collapse

Stories about sensitive issues like sex, drugs or sexual assault, suicide and teen drinking, are often censored because people just don't want to talk about those things. It's not that these things don't happen, but when they're shared in a fictional setting, for some reason they make some people uncomfortable.

source: - Source: www.pbs.org

Topics: Suicide, Drinking, People

Josh will begin disappearing into a future where the only place he and I remain friends is on the Internet.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2011). “The Future of Us”, p.199, Penguin

Topics: Internet, Disappear, Josh

That is all that happened. Why did you hear something else?

Topics: Happened

The longer you wait, and this is true, the slower the hands will move.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.138, Penguin

Topics: Moving, Hands, Waiting

And it feels strange, almost sad, to walk through ther empty halls. Each step I take sounds so lonely.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.145, Penguin

Topics: Lonely, Sound, Steps, So Lonely

Yes, it feels great to plan your life when you believe everything can turn out fine. But what about when you're shown, again and again, how little control you have over anything? No matter what I do to try to fix my future, it doesn't work.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.236, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Believe, Trying, Littles

We both laugh. And it feels good. A release. Like laughing at a funeral. Maybe inappropriate, but definitely needed.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.236, Penguin

Topics: Laughing, Funeral, Feel Good

Because our lies matched. It was a sign.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.20, Penguin

Topics: Lying, Matched

Betrayal. It's one of the worst feelings.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.13, Penguin

Topics: Betrayal, Feelings, Worst

I’m going to be mentally ill in fifteen years, and that’s why my husband doesn’t want to be around me.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.39, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Husband, Years, Fifteen

Because what if I got to know you and you turned out to be just like they said? What if you weren’t the person I hoped you were? That, more than anything, would have hurt the most.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.108, Penguin

Topics: Hurt, What If, Said

I wanted to tell you everything. And that hurt because some things were too scary. Some things even I didn’t understand. How could I tell someone—someone I was really talking to for the first time—everything I was thinking? I couldn’t. It was too soon.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.109, Penguin

Topics: Hurt, Thinking, Talking

Maybe it didn’t seem like a big deal to you Zach. But now, I hope you understand. My world was collapsing. I needed those notes. I needed any hope those notes might have offered. And you? You took that hope away. You decided I didn’t deserve to have it.

Topics: World, Might, Notes

Everything...affects everything

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.294, Penguin

Topics: Suicide

If time was a string connecting all of your stories, that party would be the point where everything knots up. And that knot keeps growing and growing, getting more and more tangled, dragging the rest of your stories into it.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.239, Penguin

Topics: Party, Tangled, Would Be

And after I dropped him off, I took the longest possible route home... I explored alleys and hidden roads I never knew existed. I discovered neighborhoods entirely new to me. And finally... I discovered I was sick of this town and everything in it.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.118, Penguin

Topics: Home, Sick, Towns

I take a slow sip of lukewarm coffee, reopen the book, and read the words scribbled in red ink near the top: Everyone needs an olly-olly-oxen-free.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.91, Penguin

Topics: Coffee, Book, Oxen, Lukewarm

You told me I wrote that poem because I was afraid of dealing with myself. And I used my mom as an excuse, accusing her of not appreciating or accepting me, when I should have been saying those words into a mirror.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.188, Penguin

Topics: Mom, Mirrors, Should Have, Accusing, Should Have Been

‎Because if I hadn't been so afraid of everyone else, I might have told Hannah that someone cared. And Hannah might still be alive.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.181, Penguin

Topics: Alive, Might, Stills

And what if in the future we're at war again, or we still haven't elected a non-white or non-male president, or the Rolling Stones are still dragging their tired old butts on stage? That would depress me way too much.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.56, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Depressing, War, Tired

How can you call it love when it hurt you so badly?" "It was love because it was worth it.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.57, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Hurt, It Hurts, Worth It

Why would anyone say this stuff about themselves on the Internet? It's crazy!

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.39, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Crazy, Stuff, Internet

Normally when a person has a stellar image another person's waiting in the wings to tear them apart. They're waiting for that one fatal flaw to expose itself.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.104, Penguin

Topics: Wings, Waiting, Tears, Fatal Flaws, Stellar

My breathing begins to slow. The tension in my muscles starts to relax. Then, a click in the headphones. A slow breath of air. I open my eyes to bright moonlight. And Hannah, with warmth. Thank you.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.144, Penguin

Topics: Eye, Breathing, Air, Headphones

When you try rescuing someone and discover they can't be reached, why would you ever throw that back in their face?

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.161, Penguin

Topics: Trying, Faces

Sometimes we have thoughts that even we don't understand. Thoughts that aren't even true—that aren't really how we feel—but they're running through our heads anyway because they're interesting to think about.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.174, Penguin

Topics: Running, Thinking, Interesting

Soul Alone by Hannah Baker I meet your eyes you don't even see me You hardly respond when I whisper hello Could be my soul mate two kindred spirits Maybe we're not I guess we'll never know My own mother you carried me in you Now you see nothing but what I wear People ask you how I'm doing You smile and nod don't let it end there Put me underneath God's sky and know me don't just see me with your eyes Take away this mask of flesh and bone and See me for my soul alone

Topics: Mother, Eye, Sky, Kindred Spirit

Imagine ten or tweleve orange chairs arrainged in a circle, with the happy woen from the flyer sitting at opposite ends. Only problem was, from day one, they weren't happy. Someone, whoever made that flyer, must have digitally turned their frowns upside down. They wrote about death. About the evilness of men. About the destruction of-and I quote- "the greenish, bluish orb with wisps of white." Seriously, that's how they descibed it. They went on to call Earth a knocked-up gaseous alien needing an abortion.

Topics: Men, Opposites, Circles, Knocked Up, Flyers

A week went by and nothing. But eventually, as they always will, the rumors reached me. And everyone knows you can't disprove a rumor.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.25, Penguin

Topics: Rumor, Week, Knows

I repeat his words in my head. What's going on? What's going on? Oh, well, since you asked, I got a bunch of tapes in the mail today from a girl who killed herself. Apparently, I had something to do with it. I'm not sure what that is, so I was wondering if I could borrow your Walkman to find out. 'Not much,' I say.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.32, Penguin

Topics: Girl, Tape, Mail, Oh Well

Watching those guys pummel each other so no one would suspect them of being weak was too much for me. Their reputations were more important than their faces.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.112, Penguin

Topics: Guy, Important, Too Much

Could be my soul mate / two kindred spirits / Maybe we're not / I guess we'll never / know

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.190, Penguin

Topics: Two, Soul, Spirit, Kindred Spirit

Half of them kept repeating my name, trying to get it right, while the other half laughed. But they were harmless. Fun drunks make a nice addition to any party: Not looking to fight. Not looking to score. Just looking to get drunk and laugh. I remember those guys. Like the mascots of the party. "Clay! Whatcha doon here? Bah-ha-ha-ha!

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.108, Penguin

Topics: Fun, Nice, Party, Mascots

Why does it say she has three hundred and twenty friends?" Josh asks. "Who has that many friends?

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.38, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Twenties, Doe, Three

It's nothing. A school project. My go-to answer for anything. Staying out late? School project. Need extra money? School project.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.17, Penguin

Topics: School, Needs, Answers

Josh turns to me. “I can’t believe she’s writing these things.” “Not she,” I say. “Me.” “Why would anyone say this stuff about themselves on the Internet? It’s crazy!” “Exactly,” I say. “I’m going to be mentally ill in fifteen years, and that’s why my husband doesn’t want to be around me.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.39, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Husband, Crazy, Believe, Mentally Ill, Fifteen Years

That’s what i love about poetry. The more abstract, the better. The stuff were your not sure what the poets talking about. You may have an idea, but you cant be sure. Not a hundred percent. Each word, specifically chosen, could have a million different meanings. Is it a stand-in ―a symbol for another idea? Does it fit into a larger, more hidden, metaphor? ...I hated poetry until someone showed me how to appreciate it. He told me to see poetry as a puzzle. Its up to the reader to decipher the code, or the words, based on everything they know about life and emotions.

Topics: Talking, Ideas, Appreciate, Decipher, Different Meanings

I don't know exactly what it is, but it looks like interconnected websites where people show their photos and write about everything going on in their lives, like whether they found a parking spot or what they ate for breakfast." "But why?" Josh asks.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.48, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Writing, People, Looks, Parking Spots

And everyone knows you can’t disprove a rumor.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.30, Penguin

Topics: Rumor, Knows

I tried getting my dad to buy me a beeper for my birthday,” he says, “but he thinks only doctors and drug dealers need them.

source: - Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler (2012). “The Future of Us”, p.98, Simon and Schuster

Topics: Dad, Thinking, Doctors

Two steps behind her, I say her name. "Skye.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.288, Penguin

Topics: Names, Two, Steps, Skye

But I need to wake up somehow. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s best to get through the day half-asleep. Maybe that’s the only way to get through today.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.2, Penguin

Topics: Needs, Wake Up, Half

God, I am freaking out. Maybe he doesn’t know. Maybe I just look guilty of something and he’s picking up on that.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.33, Penguin

Topics: Looks, Guilty, Knows, Freaking Out

His door is closed behind me. It's staying closed. He's letting me go. I think I've made myself very clear, but no ones stepping forward to stop me. A lot of you cared, just not enough. And that...that is what i needed to find out. And I did find out. And I'm sorry.

Topics: Sorry, Thinking, Doors

Maybe you didn't know what people thought of you because they themselves didn't know what they thought of you. Maybe you didn't give us enough to go on, Hannah.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.127, Penguin

Topics: People, Giving, Goes On, Thoughts Of You

But you can't get away from yourself. You can't decide not to see yourself anymore. You can't decide to turn off the noise in your head.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.95, Penguin

Topics: Noise, Awareness, Get Away

Justin, honey, you were my very first kiss. My very first hand to hold. But you were nothing more than an average guy. And I don't say that to be mean- I don't. There was just something about you that made me need to be your girlfriend to this day I don't know exactly what that was. But it was there.. and it was amazingly strong. -Thirteen Reasons Why

Topics: Girlfriend, Strong, Mean, Your Girlfriend

And concentrating on the spot where the two spindles should be is the closest I get to looking Hannah's eyes as she tells my story.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.214, Penguin

Topics: Eye, Two, Stories

I could picture life—school and everything else—continuing on without me. But I could not picture my funeral. Not at all. Mostly because I couldn’t imagine who would attend or what they would say.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.127, Penguin

Topics: School, Continuing On, Funeral

I'm listening to someone give up. Someone I knew—someone I liked. I'm listening... but still, I'm too late.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.146, Penguin

Topics: Giving Up, Listening, Too Late, Thirteen

I can't. You can't rewrite the past.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.60, Penguin

Topics: Past, I Can

Then come to realize that you're making mountains out of molehills. Realize how petty you've become. Sure, it may feel like you can't get a grip on this town. It may seem that every time someone offers you a hand up, they just let go and you slip further down. But you must stop being so pessimistic, Hannah, and learn to trust those around you. So I do. One more time.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.79, Penguin

Topics: Letting Go, Hands, Mountain

Do you remember the last thing you said to me? The last thing you did to me? And what was the last thing I said to you? Because trust me when I said it I knew it was the last thing I’d ever say.

Topics: Lasts, Remember, Trust Me

If you're angry, you don't have to write a poem dealing with the cause of your anger. But it needs to be an angry poem. So go ahead... write one. I know you're at least a little bit angry with me. And when you're done with your poem, decipher it as if you'd just found it printed in a textbook and know absolutely nothing about its author. The results can be amazing...and scary. But it's always cheaper than a therapist.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.94, Penguin

Topics: Writing, Scary, Littles

That’s when I said it. That’s when I whispered to her, “I’m so sorry.” Because inside, I felt so happy and sad at the same time. Sad that it took me so long to get there. But happy that we got there together.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.111, Penguin

Topics: Sorry, Long, Together

He looks out into the empty street, allowing me to sit in his car and just miss her. To miss her each time I pull in a breath of air. To miss her with a heart that feels so cold by itself, but warm when thoughts of her flow through me.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.219, Penguin

Topics: Heart, Air, Car, Empty Streets

and i walked for hours the mist growing thick and whole the thought of disappaering like that, so simply, made me so happy

Topics: Growing, Hours, Mist

I’m sorry.” Once again, those were the words. And now, anytime someone says I’m sorry, I’m going to think of her.

source: - Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.280, Penguin

Topics: Sorry, Thinking, I'm Sorry

What you don't understand, you can make mean anything.

Topics: Mean, Thrive

Every reader is different. There's no book that's inappropriate for every person, but there are people who cannot handle everything.

source: - Source: www.pbs.org

Topics: Book, People, Different

A lot of authors see their book being banned or challenged as a badge of honor. But for me, it's nothing but frustrating and upsetting. I hear from readers that my work encouraged them to ask for help or reach out to someone about the situation they're in. When you hear stories like that on a daily basis and then hear adults call for your work to be banned, it's proof of why the stigma around these issues is so dangerous.

source: - Source: www.pbs.org

Topics: Book, Upset, Honor

The young adult literature is relatively new - it just kind of exploded in the 2000s. When I grew up, there weren't bookstores with sections dedicated to teen lit, nor was my generation raised reading books written specifically for us. Because of that, today we still think of books for teens as children's books and so when you write a book that includes sensitive topics, it just seems even more controversial. What's troubling to me about that is these are issues adults know that teens deal with. Not writing about them makes them something we don't, or can't talk about.

source: - Source: www.pbs.org

Topics: Book, Reading, Writing, Young Adult

I felt I had a very innocent childhood and I feel privileged by that. But as an adult, I know that there were people who didn't have that. There are a lot of teens who haven't had as easy a childhood as me, and having literature that explores these "darker" parts helps relieve the burden and stress they may be feeling. As a writer, there is often a temptation to draw back when we write for teens - to preserve their innocence. But the reality is, if someone has already had that innocence taken in their life, then not writing about it is just brushing it under the rug.

source: - Source: www.pbs.org

Topics: Stress, Taken, Writing

Personally, I never understood the power of having books written about your experience - whatever that experience may be - until I wrote one and started hearing from teens. I just got an email from a reader who said that "Thirteen Reasons Why" was the first time they had felt understood. A book shouldn't be anybody's first time feeling understood and that's where censorship bothers me. These books need to be out there.

source: - Source: www.pbs.org

Topics: Book, Feelings, Censorship, Thirteen

That’s when I said it. That’s when I whispered to her, “I’m so sorry.” Because inside, I felt so happy and sad at the same time. Sad that it took me so long to get there. But happy that we got there together.

source: - Jay Asher (2016). “Thirteen Reasons Why 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.111, Penguin

Topics: I'm So Sorry