John Green - An Abundance of Katherines (2006)

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He liked the mere act of reading, the magic of turning scratches on a page into words inside his head.

John Green
How do you just stop being terrified of getting left behind and ending up by yourself forever and not meaning anything to the world?

John Green
His every syllable flirted. Honestly, he kind of turned me on. I didn't even know that guys could turn me on-not, like, in real life

John Green
He just wanted to play robot, for God's sake. Was that so wrong?

John Green
The missing piece in his stomach hurt so much-and eventually he stopped thinking about the Theorem and wondered only how something that isn't there can hurt you.

John Green
Whenever I'm asked what advice I have for young writers, I always say that the first thing is to read, and to read a lot. The second thing is to write. And the third thing, which I think is absolutely vital, is to tell stories and listen closely to the stories you're being told.

John Green
I mean, if Hardee's is urban, I'm not sure I want to see rural.

John Green
Dude, you're such a geek. And that's coming from an overweight Star Trek fan who scored a 5 on the AP Calculus test. So you know your condition is grave

John Green
The beautiful thing about driving was that it stole just enough of his attention - car parked on the side, maybe a cop, slow to speed limit, time to pass this sixteen-wheeler, turn signal, check rearview, crane neck to check blind spot and yes, okay, left lane.

John Green
People just liked Hassan, the way people like fast food and celebrities.

John Green
Everywhere man blames nature and fate, yet his fate is mostly but the echo of his character, and passions, his mistakes, and weaknesses."—Democritus An Abundance of Katherines—John Green

John Green
He let his mind wander. It went to a predictable place, and he missed her

John Green
I don't think you can ever fill the empty space with the thing you lost.

John Green
The moment Colin sat down, Hollis asked Hassan, "Would you like to say grace?"
"Sure thing." Hassan cleared his throat. "Bismallah." Then he picked up his fork.
"That's it?" Hollis wondered.
"That's it. We are a terse people. Terse, and also hungry."

John Green
"'Sup?" asked Hassan.
"Sup is not a word," answered Colin withought looking up.
"You're like sunshine on a cloudy day, Singleton. When it's cold outside, you're the month of May."

John Green
Colin had always preferred baths; one of his general policies in life was never to do anything standing up that could just as easily be done lying down

John Green
Because you're only thinking they-might-not-like-me-they-might-not-like-me, and guess what? When you act like that, no one likes you.

John Green
Ergo: girls should always make the first move, because (a) they are, on the whole, less likely to be rejected than guys, (b) that way, girls will never get kissed unless they want to be kissed.

John Green
I don't think your missing pieces ever fit inside you again once they go missing.

John Green
So I was ugly. I was never fat, really, and I never wore headgear or had zits or anything. But I was ugly. I don't even know how ugly and pretty get decided - maybe there's like a secret cabal of boys who meet in the locker room and decide who's ugly and who's hot, because as far as I can remember, there was no such thing as a hot fourth-grader. - Lindsey Lee Wells

John Green
He knew he couldn't tell stories, that he always included extraneous details & tangents that interested only him.

John Green
When it comes to girls (and in Colin's case, it so often did), everyone has a type. Colin Singleton's type was not physical but linguistic: he liked Katherines. And not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, god forbid, Catherines. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. He had dated 19 girls. All of them had been named Katherine. And all of them- every single solitary one- had dumped him.

John Green
If people could see me the way I see myself - if they could live in my memories - would anyone love me?

John Green
Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.

John Green
Half-drunk on well-creamed gas station coffee and the exhilarating loneliness of a freeway in nighttime...

John Green
The punch connected, but (1) Colin forgot to close his fist, so he was slapping not hitting, and (2) instead of slapping TOC, he ended up slapping Hassan flush across the cheek, whereupon Hassan finally succeeded in falling down.

John Green
There's some people in this world who you can just love and love and love no matter what.

John Green
It's just that I learned a while ago that the best way to get people to like you is not to like them too much.

John Green
You matter as much as the things that matter to you. And I got so backwards trying to matter to him. All this time, there were real things to care about: real, good people who care about me, and this place. It's so easy to get stuck. You just get caught in being something, being special or cool or whatever, to the point where you don't even know why you need it; you just think you do.

John Green
But you want to see shapes; you want to see stories, so you pick them out of the sky.

John Green