“Too many people in this world think small is the best they can do. Not you, Libby Strout. You weren't born for small! You don't know how to do small! Small is not in you!”

“Were you planning to jump off?"“Not on pizza day. Never on pizza day, which is one of the better days of the week.” I should mention that I am a brilliant deflector.”

“I like writing, but I like a lot of things. Maybe out of those things, I'm best at writing. Maybe it's what I like best of all. Maybe it's where I've always felt most at home. Or maybe the writing part of me is over. Maybe there's something else I'm supposed to do instead. I don't know.”

“Never bullshit a bullshitter.”

“You are driving me crazy. You have been driving me crazy for weeks.”

“Water is peaceful. I am at rest. In the water, I am safe and pulled in where I can't get out. Everything slows down-the noise and the racing of my thoughts.”

“I can already feel myself falling hard, something I've been known to do. All because she smiled at me.”

“Just be careful" implies that there's an end to it all, maybe in an hour, maybe in three years, but an end just the same.”

“This is followed by laughter because we're in high school, which means we're predictable and almost everything is funny, especially if it's someone else's public humiliation.”

“There are no rules, because life is made up of too many rules as it is.”

“If a song's meant to stay around, you carry it with you in your bones.”