And when she started becoming a “young lady,” and no one was allowed to look at her because she thought she was fat. And how she really wasn’t fat. And how she was actually very pretty. And how different her face looked when she realized boys thought she was pretty. And how different her face looked the first time she really liked a boy who was not on a poster on her wall. And how her face looked when she realized she was in love with that boy. I wondered how her face would look when she came out from behind those doors.

— Stephen Chbosky

Asleep by the SmithsVapour Trail by Ride Scarborough Fair by Simon & Garfunkel Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Hardier Prudence by the Beatles Gypsy by Suzanne Vega Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues Daydream by Smashing Pumpkins Dusk by Genesis (before Phil Collins was even in the band!)MLK by U2Blackbird by the Beatles Landslide by Fleetwood Mac Asleep by the Smiths (again!)-Charlie's mixtape

— Stephen Chbosky

As you see the opening get closer, you just can't get fast enough. And finally, just when you think you'll never get there, you see the opening right in front of you.

— Stephen Chbosky

Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.

— Stephen Chbosky

But at that moment when my brother took the field, all that washed away, and everyone was proud... I looked up at my dad, and he was smiling. I looked at my mom, and she was smiling even though she was nervous about my brother getting hurt, which was strange because it was a VCR tape of an old game, and she knew he didn't get hurt.

— Stephen Chbosky

But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things.

— Stephen Chbosky

But my dad said it was no excuse." But I love him!" I had never seen my sister cry that much." No, you don't."" I hate you!"" No, you don't." My dad can be very calm sometimes." He's my whole world."" Don't ever say that about anyone again. Not even me." That was my mom.

— Stephen Chbosky

Charlie ... have you ever kissed a girl?" I shook my head no. It was so quiet. "Not even when you were little?" I shook my head no again. And she looked very sad. She told me about the first time she was kissed. She told me that it was with one of her dad's friends. Furthermore, she was seven. And she told nobody about it except for Mary Elizabeth and then Patrick a year ago. And she started to cry. And she said something that I won't forget. Ever. "I know that you know that I like Craig. And I know that I told you not to think of me that way. And I know that we can't be together like that. But I want to forget all those things for a minute. Okay?" "Okay." "I want to make sure that the first person you kiss loves you. Okay?" "Okay." She was crying harder now. And I was, too, because when I hear something like that I just can't help it. "I just want to make sure of that. Okay?" "Okay." And she kissed me. It was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about our loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.

— Stephen Chbosky

Dear Friend, I'm sorry I haven't written to you in a couple of weeks, but I have been trying to 'participate' like Bill said.

— Stephen Chbosky

Do you enjoy holidays with your family? I don't mean your mom and dad family, but your uncle and aunt and cousin family? Personally, I do. There are several reasons for this. First, I am very interested and fascinated by how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other. Second, the fights are always the same.

— Stephen Chbosky