Sarah Dessen Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. Are those the only options? Nothing or forever? This Lullaby

2. But as long as something is never even started, you never have to worry about it ending. It has endless potential. The Truth About Forever

3. But it's important to acknowledge that while we may make mistakes, in the long run, we may also learn from them. Lock and Key

4. But you don’t have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.You don’t have to assume the worst about everyone, either. The world isn’t always out to get you. Lock and Key

5. Fine," he repeated, and I wondered why it was I kept coming back to this, again and again, a word that you said when someone asked how you were but didn't really care to know the truth. The Truth About Forever

6. He was not my boyfriend. On the other hand, he wasn't just a friend either. Instead, our relationship was elastic, stretching between those two extremes depending on who else was around, how much either of us had to drink, and other varying factors. This was exactly what I wanted, as commitments had never really been my thing. And it wasn't like it was hard, either. The only trick was never giving more than you were willing to lose. Lock and Key

7. He wasn't the type for displays of affection, either verbal or not. He was disgusted by couples that made out in the hallways between classes, and got annoyed at even the slightest sappy moments in movies. But I knew he cared about me: he just conveyed it more subtly, as concise with expressing this emotion as he was with everything else. It was in the way he'd put his hand on the small of my back, for instance, or how he'd smile at me when I said something that surprised him. Once I might have wanted more, but I'd come around to his way of thinking in the time we'd been together. And we were together, all the time. So he didn't have to prove how he felt about me. Like so much else, I should just know. The Truth About Forever

8. I felt tears prick my eyes as I looked down at the model again, looking at that girl and boy on the curb. Forever in that place, together. What Happened to Goodbye

9. I knew, in the silence that followed, that anything could happen here. It might be too late: again, I might have missed my chance. But I would at least know I tried, that I took my heart and extended my hand, whatever the outcome."Okay," he said. He took a breath. "What would you do, if you could do anything?"I took a step toward him, closing the space between us. "This," I said. And then I kissed him. The Truth About Forever

10. I like flaws. I think they make things interesting. The Truth About Forever

11. I mean, it's not surprising, really. Once you love something, you always love it in some way. You have to. It's, like, part of you for good. What Happened to Goodbye

12. I realized how truly hard it was, really, to see someone you love change right before your eyes. Not only is it scary, it throws your balance off as well. The Truth About Forever

13. I wondered if emotions were like menstrual cycles, if you get enough women together. Give it time, and everyone was crying. Along for the Ride

14. I'd heard of Evergreen Care Center before. Cass and I had always made fun of the stupid ads they ran on TV, featuring some dragged-out woman with a limp perm and big, painted-on circles under her eyes, downing vodka and sobbing uncontrollably. "We can't heal you at Evergreen", the very somber voiceover said. "But we can help you to heal yourself." It had become our own running joke, applicable to almost anything. "Hey Cass, "I'd say, "hand me that toothpaste." "Caitlin," she'd say, her voice dark and serious. "I can't hand you the toothpaste. But I CAN help you hand the toothpaste to yourself. Dreamland

15. If someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don’t change because of it. It’s just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it. Just Listen

16. If you didn't love him, this never would have happened. But you did. And accepting that love and everything that followed it is part of letting it go. Dreamland

17. It didn't make you noble to step away from something that wasn't working, even if you thought you were the reason for the malfunction. Especially then. It just made you a quitter. Because if you were the problem, chances were you could also be the solution. The only way to find out was to take another shot. Along for the Ride

18. It seemed like this day could go in so many directions, like a spiderweb shooting out toward endless possibilities. Whenever you made a choice, especially one you'd been resisting, it always affected everything else, some in big ways, like a tremor beneath your feet, others in so tiny a shift you hardly noticed a change at all. But it was happening.

19. It was so risky and so scary, and yet at the same time, so beautiful. Maybe the truth was, it shouldn't be easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something's difficult to come by, you'll do that much more to make sure it's even harder -if not impossible- to lose. Along for the Ride

20. It’s funny how one summer can change everything. It must be something about the heat and the smell of chlorine, fresh-cut grass and honeysuckle, asphalt sizzling after late-day thunderstorms, the steam rising while everything drips around it. Something about long, lazy days and whirring air conditioners and bright plastic flip-flops from the drugstore thwacking down the street. Something about fall being so close, another year, another Christmas, another beginning. So much in one summer, stirring up like the storms that crest at the end of each day, blowing out all the heat and dirt to leave everything gasping and cool. Everyone can reach back to one summer and lay a finger to it, finding the exact point when everything changed. That summer was mine. That Summer

21. Life shouldn't be about the either/or. We're capable of more than that, you know? Along for the Ride

22. Look," I said, "We knew Jason and Becky would be back, the break would end. This isn't a surprise, it's what's supposed to happen. It's what we wanted. Right?""Is it?" he asked. "Is it what you want?"Whether he intended it to be or not, this was the final question, the last Truth. If I said what I really thought, I was opening myself up for a hurt bigger than I could even imagine. I didn't have it in me. We changed and altered so many rules, but it was this one, the only one when we'd started, that I would break."Yes," I said. The Truth About Forever

23. Love is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow complete you. This Lullaby

24. Love is so unpredictable. That's what makes it so great. This Lullaby

25. Macy: In Truth, I said, there are no rules other than you have to tell the truth.Wes: How do you win? he askedMacy: That, I said, is such a boy question. The Truth About Forever

26. Maybe if I'd agreed to do the debutante thing like she wanted. Or taken up pageants instead of riding jump bikes with a bunch of grungy boys. I'd always tell her, why can't I do both? Who says you have to be either smart or pretty, or into girly stuff or sports? Life shouldn't be about the either/or. We're capable of more than that, you know?

27. Maybe the truth was, it shouldn't be so easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something's difficult to come by, you'll do that much more to make sure it's even harder--if not impossible--to lose. Along for the Ride

28. Nah," I said. "But if it does, just tell him I said to get back on the bike.""What?""He'll understand.

29. No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater...The love we have for each other is bigger than these small differences. And that's the key. It's like a big pie chart, and the love in a relationship has to be the biggest piece. Love can make up for a lot. This Lullaby

30. Oh darling, don't be bitter. It's the first instinct of the weak. Along for the Ride