Top 70 Dustin Thao Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “You have a whole life ahead of you. There’s so much to look forward to. And you’re destined to do great things, I know it.”

— Dustin Thao

2. “I miss you, too. I miss you too infinity.”

— Dustin Thao

3. “I really don’t mind being ignored anymore. There’s some peace in being left alone.”

— Dustin Thao

4. “Letting go isn’t about forgetting. It’s balancing moving forward with life, and looking back from time to time, remembering the people in it.”

— Dustin Thao

5. “The world keeps moving, no matter what happens to you.”

— Dustin Thao

6. “Life will pass right by you. And you end up missing the little things, the moments you don’t think matter – but they do. Moments that make you forget about everything else.”

— Dustin Thao

7. “If I could do it all over again, I would. Every second of it.”

— Dustin Thao

8. “He was the music. And I was the words.”

— Dustin Thao

9. “I wish I was there with you. I wish I could see the look on your face.”

— Dustin Thao

10. “You’re one of the best things to ever happen to me. And when I think about my life, I think of you in it. You are my entire world, Julie. And one day, maybe I’ll only be a small piece of yours. I hope you keep that piece.”

— Dustin Thao

11. “We were part of a song. He was the music. And I was the words.”

— Dustin Thao

12. “For a long moment, I can feel him lying there besides me. If I turn my head to look, I’d see him with his arms tucked behind his head, wearing his plaid shirt, his eyes opened wide at the sky, his beautiful dark hair, that handsome smile on his face. But I don’t dare to look, because I’m scared no one will be there. So I just stare straight up at the stars, and allow myself to keep pretending.”

— Dustin Thao

13. “I feel like my life didn’t start until I met you, Julie. You’re the best thing to happen to this small town. To me. I realize it doesn’t matter where we’re going next, as long as we’re together. I’ll be honest. I used to be scared of leaving home. Now I can’t wait to move on and make new memories with you. Just don’t forget the ones we made here. Especially when you make it big. And whatever happens, promise you won’t forget me, okay?”

— Dustin Thao

14. “You are my entire world, Julie. And one day, maybe I’ll only be a small piece of yours. I hope you keep that piece.”

— Dustin Thao

15. “I feel like my life didn’t start until I met you, Julie. You’re the best thing to happen to this small town. To me, I realize it doesn’t matter where we’re going next, as long as we’re together.”

— Dustin Thao

16. “We have too many voices inside our heads. You have to pick out the ones that mean something to you. What story do you want to tell?”

— Dustin Thao

17. “If the ending is this painful, I don’t know if this was worth it all.”

— Dustin Thao

18. “Another world, another life, another thing to keep to myself.”

— Dustin Thao

19. “No matter where you go, you’re destined to do great things. I know it.”

— Dustin Thao

20. “I want to be there with you. I want to graduate with you guys. I want to move out of Ellensburg, and live with you, and grow old together. But I can’t.” Another pause. “But you still can. You can still have all those things, Julie. Because you deserve them. And you deserve to fall in love a dozen times, because you are kind.”

— Dustin Thao

21. “But you were so busy trying to forget him that you were willing to forget me. You forget there were three of us. It wasn’t just you and Sam. I was a part of that too...”

— Dustin Thao

22. “After all this time I finally found him, but I’m too late.”

— Dustin Thao

23. “I feel like my life didn’t start until I met you, Julie. You’re the best thing to happen to this small town.”

— Dustin Thao

24. “There are so many moments I wish I could relive again. Especially the smaller ones. The quieter ones that we often don’t think about. Those are the moments I look back and miss the most.”

— Dustin Thao

25. “You’re wrong about something. You did leave a mark on the world, Sam. You left a mark on me. You changed my life. And I’ll never forget you, okay?”

— Dustin Thao

26. “In this impossible alternate world where time moves in another direction, where the fields are endless, and where the ground beneath us has never been more unstable. Although I’m beginning to lose track of which way is up or down, it’s a wonderful sense of relief to have someone else here with me. Someone who can look, see what I see, and tell me I’m not dreaming. Or maybe we’re dreaming together, I’m not sure. But it doesn’t matter right now. Neither of us wants to wake up from this.”

— Dustin Thao

27. “I try not to daydream anymore. It only tricks me with images of Sam, filling me with the possibility that we can still be together, that there’s still a future for us, until reality comes in like a storm to blow everything away.”

— Dustin Thao

28. “Pristine white, pearly, and translucent, it almost glows from within, giving off its own light. “It’s selenite,” Yuki says. “My mother gave it to me. It’s supposed to bring you luck and protection.”

— Dustin Thao

29. “He might be physically gone, but you will always carry a piece of him with you. I know your time with Sam was much shorter that you wanted it to be, but that time together isn’t something you can give back. Letting go isn’t about forgetting. It’s balancing moving forward with life, and looking back from time to time, remembering the people in it.”

— Dustin Thao

30. “I like the ones that make you cry. I want to cry in a way I’ve never cried before.”

— Dustin Thao

31. “Sam and I have one phone call left. This will be our final call. The last time I ever get to talk to him. I’ll have to say good-bye this time. Sam said this is the only way to end our connection and let us both move on. The call will take place the night of graduation, and will only last a few minutes.”

— Dustin Thao

32. “I don’t want to open my eyes,” Sam says. But the ride is about to come to its end. I can feel it. I squeeze my eyes tighter, hoping to stop time or at least slow it down. Because I don’t want to open mine, either. I don’t want to lose him. I want to keep them shut and live in this memory of us forever. I don’t want to open my eyes and see a world without Sam. But sometimes you just wake up. No matter how hard you try not to.”

— Dustin Thao

33. “The books missed you,” Mr. Lee says with a lift of a hand. While someone else might find his words strange, I’ve grown accustomed to how he imbues personalities into the books of the store, bringing them to life. For instance, when a new book would come in, he’d say, “We’ll need to find this one a home.” It always makes me smile.”

— Dustin Thao

34. “Liam exchanges a look with Taylor before he turns back to me. “Are we bothering your friends? The only ones at school who talk to you? At least they speak English, so that’s something.”

— Dustin Thao

35. “We stayed up all night talking about what we wanted to do ten years from now, waiting to see that burning red glow curve along a dark sky, oblivious to the significance of seeing another day. And oblivious to a future when one of us would be gone.”

— Dustin Thao

36. “No one experiences grief the same way, and we all come out of it differently. It’s okay to wish for those things, and even imagine him here with you. Because those moments inside our heads are just as real as anything else.”

— Dustin Thao

37. “Don’t worry,” Sam says. “I can make you another one. I can make you a thousand more.”

— Dustin Thao

38. “That’s not a way to live life... Always worrying about what comes next... You’re living ahead of yourself. Making decisions and wanting things done, only to set up the future... Life will pass right by you. And you end up missing the little things, the moments you don’t think matter – but they do. Moments that make you forget about everything else.”

— Dustin Thao

39. “You can’t always plan out every detail, though. There will always be things we can’t prepare for. You have to live in the moment sometimes. Let life surprise you.”

— Dustin Thao

40. “I listen to the message again. I listen to it on the way home, and several more times before I fall asleep. I listen to it the next morning when Mika comes over and I replay it for her. I listen to it again that night and the day after that. I listen to it on the days I miss Sam most and want to hear his voice again. I listen to his voice mail until I have it memorized, and I don’t need to play it anymore.”

— Dustin Thao

41. “There’s a long silence before he finally answers this. He says, “I wanted to give us a chance to say good-bye.”

— Dustin Thao

42. “Life will pass right by you,” she says, her eyes focused on the road. “And you end up missing the little things, the moments you don’t think matter – but they do. Moments that make you forget about everything else. Just like with your writing,” she adds out of nowhere. “You don’t write to get to the end. You write because you enjoy doing it. You write and don’t want it to end. Does that make some sense?”

— Dustin Thao

43. “The band is in full uniform, playing a mess of unrecognizable songs.”

— Dustin Thao

44. “I had it all planned out. It was supposed to be special. I didn’t know I would run out of time.”

— Dustin Thao

45. “If only he just this once let me be upset instead of always trying to fix things, no one would be blaming me for what happened. I wouldn’t be blaming me.”

— Dustin Thao

46. “But sometimes you just wake up. No matter how hard you try not to.”

— Dustin Thao

47. “His eyes narrow at me. “At least I showed up to my friend’s funeral. Then again, I didn’t have anything to do with his death.”

— Dustin Thao

48. “To honor Sam, we’re going to release lanterns for him. They’re called memory lanterns. It lets you whisper something to a person you lost, and the lantern will carry the message to them in the sky.”

— Dustin Thao

49. “You don’t write to get to the end. You write because you enjoy doing it. You write and don’t want it to end.”

— Dustin Thao

50. “You have to live in the moment sometimes. Let life surprise you.”

— Dustin Thao