Top 500 Casey McQuiston Quotes (2026 Update)
Page 9 of 10

401. “Hey, maybe you will,” she says, and she honest-to-god winks. August is going to take out a full-page ad in The Times to scream about it. The city needs to know.”

— Casey McQuiston

402. “Maybe, with Jane on the Q, it’s actually true. Maybe the Q is the answer. Maybe the Q is where August should start.”

— Casey McQuiston

403. “June, I’m the son of the President of the United States. Prince Henry is a figurehead of the British Empire. You can’t just call him my ‘archnemesis,‘” Alex says. He returns to his donut, chewing thoughtfully and adds, “‘Archnemesis’ implies he’s actually a rival to me on any level and not, you know, a stuck-up product of inbreeding who probably jerks off to photos of himself.”

— Casey McQuiston

404. “Harangued Royal Highness.”

— Casey McQuiston

405. “I’ve decided to dunk Detective Primeaux’s balls in peanut butter and push him in the Pontchartrain,” August’s mom says. “Let the fish castrate him for me.”

— Casey McQuiston

406. “Wait, honey,” she calls after him, “I had Planned Parenthood send over all these pamphlets, take one! They sent a bike messenger and everything!”

— Casey McQuiston

407. “She studies August’s face, and August can practically see that confidence meter of hers filling up, right to Smug Bastard, where it usually sits.”

— Casey McQuiston

408. “But isn’t there something to be valued in a happy ending as well?”

— Casey McQuiston

409. “Doing your part to keep the great American gossip industry alive?” “That’s what my journalism degree’s for,” June says.”

— Casey McQuiston

410. “A warning light flashes somewhere in August’s brain. Her mental field guide to making friends is a two-page pamphlet that just says: DON’T.”

— Casey McQuiston

411. “I stupid love you.”

— Casey McQuiston

412. “Er,” Henry says, adding to the list of vowel sounds he has to show for himself. It is, unfortunately, also sexy. After all these weeks, the bar is low.”

— Casey McQuiston

413. “She’s glad it’s Shara. Nobody else would have felt important enough.”

— Casey McQuiston

414. “His dad wasn’t wrong about how ugly things would get with Richards leading the ticket. Utah ugly, Christian ugly, ugliness couched in dog whistles and toothy white smiles. Right-wing think pieces about entitlement thrown in his and June’s direction, reeking of: Mexicans stole the First Family jobs too.”

— Casey McQuiston

415. “Depends if you don’t mind that they’re all about you.”

— Casey McQuiston

416. “Hey, Subway Girl.”

— Casey McQuiston

417. “That night, as Alex stares into the cold, pitiless eyes of a prehistoric beast of prey, he has a few regrets.”

— Casey McQuiston

418. “Sorry I’m not motorboating an encyclopedia from 1927.”

— Casey McQuiston

419. “Maman loved Theo like a fourth child, and Theo loved her like a second mother. Outside of Ollie and Cora, there’s nobody on earth who knows the exact shape and flavor and weight of losing her. That was one of the sharpest pains of losing Theo: losing this vestigial piece of my mother too, the deposit of her love in Theo’s heart. It’s been nice to talk about her without explaining anything.”

— Casey McQuiston

420. “Which means, of course, the next time August steps on the Q, Jane says, “I think I should kiss you.”

— Casey McQuiston

421. “He knows he would’ve chosen this life for himself given the option; he knows she wouldn’t have.”

— Casey McQuiston

422. “Here they are. Two sets of sneakers on a scrap of metal. Two girls in the middle of a hurricane, tearing down the line. She’s looking up at Jane, and Jane’s looking down at her, and August feels her everywhere, even the places she’s not touching, pressed close as the world roars on.”

— Casey McQuiston

423. “He was the first great thing I ever let myself want. This time, I’m keeping him.”

— Casey McQuiston

424. “It’s impossible to know if he moves first or if Henry does, but they meet in the middle of the room, Henry’s arms around Alex’s neck, swallowing him up. If Henry’s voice on the phone was a tether, his body is the gravity that makes it possible, his hand gripping the back of Alex’s neck a magnetic force, a permanent compass north.”

— Casey McQuiston

425. “But the minute you need something – like, actually need something- they’ll let you know just how much of a disappointment you are for asking.”

— Casey McQuiston

426. “And through it all, Alex realizes with a start: He has friends now.”

— Casey McQuiston

427. “What I want is... I want to fall in love. I want to have a big, dramatic, ridiculous love story, like a period piece, and my love interest is played by Saoirse Ronan and I get to wear a fancy corset.”

— Casey McQuiston

428. “Oh my God. She literally shorted out the train because she was horny... She’s an icon.”

— Casey McQuiston

429. “There was this one weekend, a million summers ago, when I sat on the shore drinking a frozen limeade, and I realized the only thing I wanted to look at was the way the sun hit the girls swimming in the lake. The problem has always been this: When I look at you, I taste lime, and I see light on water.”

— Casey McQuiston

430. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just you.” “I’m not a nice person,” she says. “Chloe,” her mom says, “your mama and I decided long before you were born that we would let you be whoever you are, no matter who that is.” “And if who you are is a snarling little Pomeranian with eyes like fire, then that’s who you are, darling,” her mama adds.”

— Casey McQuiston

431. “It was not for me to protect her from my heart. It was only for me to let her see it and decide if she will keep it.”

— Casey McQuiston

432. “If I seem confident, it’s because I have to. You, of all people, know what I mean.”

— Casey McQuiston

433. “Wes whips around, and there is Isaiah, makeup done, wearing a vibrant fuschia scarf around his head and laughing with a couple in matching Pilgrim costumes. He glances over, and August knows the second his eyes lock on Wes’s, because it’s the second Wes starts trying to climb under the table. “Absolutely not, bruh,” Myla says, throwing a kick. “Stand and face love.”

— Casey McQuiston

434. “She links arms with Georgia to dance and sends up her only prayer of the past four years: May they always come back to each other.”

— Casey McQuiston

435. “I observe patterns and data, and they form logical conclusions, and he’s just gay. He’s always been gay.”

— Casey McQuiston

436. “The roots. He could go outside and dig his fingers into the springy ground and understand anything about himself.”

— Casey McQuiston

437. “Do you feel forever about him?”

— Casey McQuiston

438. “I didn’t mean to remediate me!” “You’re kinda hot when you get all indignant.” “Can we focus?” Alex puts in.”

— Casey McQuiston

439. “Don’t miss it this time. He’s too important.”

— Casey McQuiston

440. “I really do admire how devoted he is to believing every woman he meets is his soul mate.”

— Casey McQuiston

441. “Are you psychoanalyzing me?” Henry asks. “I don’t think royal guests are allowed to do that.”

— Casey McQuiston

442. “I never, ever wanted a person to save me until she did.”

— Casey McQuiston

443. “How ’bout the new roommates?” “Fine. I mean, kind of weird. One of them claims to be a psychic. But I don’t think they’re, like, serial killers.” She hums, only half-listening. “Remember the rules. Number one – ” “Us versus everyone.” “And number two – ” “If they’re gonna kill you, get their DNA under your fingernails.” “Thatta girl,” she says.”

— Casey McQuiston

444. “I love him on purpose.”

— Casey McQuiston

445. “The truth is, I never stopped loving that person. I only stopped believing he existed.”

— Casey McQuiston

446. “You’re from Boston, Hunter. You really want to talk about all the places bigotry comes from?”

— Casey McQuiston

447. “August has the sexual prowess of a goldfish and the emotional vocabulary to match.”

— Casey McQuiston

448. “Still kissed him like he wanted him, singularly, not the idea of him.”

— Casey McQuiston

449. “I’ve been trying to be happy my entire idiot life.”

— Casey McQuiston

450. “Some people dye their hair when they go through a breakup. I got a bus.”

— Casey McQuiston