All this hoping for nothing-or someone-that's maybe hopeless

— Rachel Cohn

Beauty’s not only skin deep. Just because a person is beautiful doesn’t mean there’s no soul beneath. Doesn’t mean that person haven’t suffered like everyone else, doesn’t mean they don’t hope to still be a good human being in an awful world. (Gabriel)

— Rachel Cohn

Because I withered under the glare of an actual invitation, I was a firm believer in preventive prevarication--in other words, lying early in order to free myself later on.

— Rachel Cohn

Beneath the water, I can know her. She was fierce, uncompromising. When she loved, she loved deeply, passionately. She loved the blue-eyed water god. She owned him. His heart. But then she felt betrayal, she hated, and she was feared. Hate gave her power.

— Rachel Cohn

Better to end this dream before it becomes a nightmare.

— Rachel Cohn

But isn't this a dance? Isn't all of this a dance? Isn't that what we do with words? Isn't that what we do when we talk, when we spar, when we make plans or leave them to chance? Some of it's choreographed. Some of the steps have been done for ages. And the rest--the rest is spontaneous. The rest has to be decided on the floor, at the moment, before the music ends.

— Rachel Cohn

Can we try to be wise with each other for a very long time?

— Rachel Cohn

Cinderella was such a dork. She left behind her glass slipper at the ball and then went right back to her step-monster's house. It seems to me she should have worn the glass slipper always, to make herself easier to find. I always hoped that after the prince found Cinderella, and they rode away in their magnificent carriage, after a few miles she turned to him and said, "Could you drop me off down the road please? Now that I've finally escaped my life of horrific abuse, I'd like to see something of the world, you know?... I'll catch back up with you later, Prince, once I've found my own way.

— Rachel Cohn

Drosophila,” I said, remembering the word.“What?” Lily asked.“Why do girls always fall for guys with the at mention span of drosophila?”“What?”“Fruit flies. Guys with the attention span of fruit flies.”“Because they’re hot?”“This,” I told her, “is not the time for being truthful.

— Rachel Cohn

Dumped doesn't even begin to describe it. If you're going to use a trash metaphor, incinerated is more like it.

— Rachel Cohn