Benjamin Alire Sáenz Quotes

11 Sourced Quotes

Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I wondered what that was like, to hold someone's hand. I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Summer was here again. Summer, summer, summer. I loved and hated summers. Summers had a logic all their own and they always brought something out in me. Summer was supposed to be about freedom and youth and no school and possibilities and adventure and exploration. Summer was a book of hope. That's why I loved and hated summers. Because they made me want to believe.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didn't get--and never would get.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Why do we smile? Why do we laugh? Why do we feel alone? Why are we sad and confused? Why do we read poetry? Why do we cry when we see a painting? Why is there a riot in the heart when we love? Why do we feel shame? What is that thing in the pit of your stomach called desire?

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Water was something he loved, something he respected. He understood its beauty and its dangers. He talked about swimming as if it were a way of life.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I didn't think it was my job to accept what everyone said I was and who I should be.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I wondered if my smile was as big as hers. Maybe as big. But not as beautiful.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I wondered about the science of storms and how sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and how the world refused to break.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz