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And I think it's thanks to Jordan. I would never have done any of this if I hadn't met him, and if he hadn't showed me how to be real and serious with another guy.
Bill Konigsberg
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The idea that because things are worse somewhere else, you’re not allowed to have issues in your life. That’s what people who are trying to avoid having normal feelings say.
Bill Konigsberg
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I turned to Rafe and swam (and sunk) in his hazel eyes.
Bill Konigsberg
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Mom always says all sorts of shit goes down in the world, and it’s up to me to decide how to take it. The one way you’re sure to be unhappy is to frown your way through life, she says, and she’s right. Always look for the bright, vibrant color through the darkness. It’s always there, but sometimes hard to see.
Bill Konigsberg
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It needs to be said that sometimes my mom forgets important details when she talks. Like the time she told us she was considering leather (couches, it turns out), or when I was little and she said, "Here's a napkin to put your balls in" (the Atomic Fireballs that I was eating, she meant).
Bill Konigsberg
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I think it's okay to just say who you are without it being final or something. I mean, none of us are finished products. We change. We keep changing. We won't be finished products 'til the day we die'.
Bill Konigsberg
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I don't know. I mean, it's not all beautifully harmonic, this world we find ourselves in. Clearly. There's shit music, and sometimes the melody goes away completely. There's silence and dissonant chord that cringe your ears. But the synchronicity of a perfectly created chorus? And the fact that you never know when one is coming? And that amazing feeling, the first time you hear a song and now it's going to be with you forever? I have to think that's worth everything.
Bill Konigsberg
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That was the thing about Ben. He could get away with saying shit like that. I totally couldn’t. I wasn’t big or masculine enough. In my mind, anyway. But Ben could get all agape on your ass, and you’d just sit there like, huh. Agape. Interesting.
Bill Konigsberg
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Wow. Did I just write that? I didn't want who I am to come between us? How could I not have seen that?
Bill Konigsberg
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Sitting in a church makes you no more of a Christ follower than sitting in a Ford dealership makes you a Mustang owner.
Bill Konigsberg
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I think some people are bi, definitely.
Bill Konigsberg
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As I opened the car door and stepped back into the chilly night, I was thinking that maybe the key to life is to have goldfish memories. So you can’t remember the time a friend hurt you. So you can give second and third and even fourth chances. To yourself too. Because sometimes it takes multiple.
Bill Konigsberg
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I don't think about relatability (when writing), I think about the heart of the character.
Bill Konigsberg
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Just smile, Max. The paint cannot be stronger than a smile. But it is.
Bill Konigsberg
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Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where no one thought being gay was even something to ride someone about?
Bill Konigsberg
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That was a level of commitment I’d never be able to understand, and I wished there was something out there I felt so strongly about I’d willingly die for it.
Bill Konigsberg
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Acceptance is an affirmation that you’re good enough.
Bill Konigsberg
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No one had really been looking at me all the time. Other than me.
Bill Konigsberg
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But I do think that when we choose the easy path, where people or society reward us for being what they want us to be, against who we really are, a kind of death occurs. To the soul.
Bill Konigsberg
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Guilt is about something you do. Shame is about who you are.
Bill Konigsberg
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I'm so tired of being a type... it's not just a black and white thing. Jock. Geek. Stoner. No one is considered just a human being, it seems like.
Bill Konigsberg
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Lean forward, and head on down the mountain.
Bill Konigsberg
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I’d never been part of a group like that, so it was interesting, like a National Geographic special on wolves that I might watch with my dad. And I was part of the pack.
Bill Konigsberg
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Man, I could get used to this thing where I don’t think I’m a total piece of shit all the time.
Bill Konigsberg
