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Top 25 Matt de la Pena Quotes (2025 Update)

Matt de la Pena Quote: “Being the first to go to college in my family was a great thing, but it was also a source of guilt. I felt like almost a sellout going to college.”

1. “Being the first to go to college in my family was a great thing, but it was also a source of guilt. I felt like almost a sellout going to college.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “But when you read books you almost feel like you’re out there in the world. Like you’re going on this adventure right with the main character. At least, that’s the way I do it. It’s actually not that bad. Even if it is mad nerdy.”

2. “But when you read books you almost feel like you’re out there in the world. Like you’re going on this adventure right with the main character. At least, that’s the way I do it. It’s actually not that bad. Even if it is mad nerdy.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “Truth is not a fixed thing. It evolves and morphs and inverts. What is true today may not be true tomorrow.”

3. “Truth is not a fixed thing. It evolves and morphs and inverts. What is true today may not be true tomorrow.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “My chest got this weird feeling, like when you stare into the eyes of a little baby and the baby looks back up at you and you can feel how pure and innocent it is, so much that it makes your stomach feel empty – probably ’cause you realize you used to be pure like that, too, and now you’re not.”

4. “My chest got this weird feeling, like when you stare into the eyes of a little baby and the baby looks back up at you and you can feel how pure and innocent it is, so much that it makes your stomach feel empty – probably ’cause you realize you used to be pure like that, too, and now you’re not.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “But not just alive like I was yesterday and the day before. Alive like I knew I was alive. Like I could feel the breaths coming into my chest. And I knew I was the person inside my own body.”

5. “But not just alive like I was yesterday and the day before. Alive like I knew I was alive. Like I could feel the breaths coming into my chest. And I knew I was the person inside my own body.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt... you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.”

6. “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt... you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “The ocean talks to you. Especially at night. Whispering voices that never let up, not even when you sleep.”

7. “The ocean talks to you. Especially at night. Whispering voices that never let up, not even when you sleep.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “The fact that everyone’s days were numbered, and it didn’t matter if you were in premier class or worked in housekeeping. Those were only costumes people wore. And once you stripped them away you saw the truth. This giant ocean and this dark pressing sky. We only have a few minutes, but the unexplainable world is constant and forever marching forward.”

8. “The fact that everyone’s days were numbered, and it didn’t matter if you were in premier class or worked in housekeeping. Those were only costumes people wore. And once you stripped them away you saw the truth. This giant ocean and this dark pressing sky. We only have a few minutes, but the unexplainable world is constant and forever marching forward.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “All that matters to me as a reader are characters. I want characters to be real, authentic, and rounded. I will be digging into characters for at least a month. Who they are. What they are like. Outside of the story.”

9. “All that matters to me as a reader are characters. I want characters to be real, authentic, and rounded. I will be digging into characters for at least a month. Who they are. What they are like. Outside of the story.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “I guess I don’t really know what I want to do, either. Sometimes I feel like a shook-up bottle of soda. Like, I have all this passion that wants to explode, but I don’t know where to aim it yet.”

10. “I guess I don’t really know what I want to do, either. Sometimes I feel like a shook-up bottle of soda. Like, I have all this passion that wants to explode, but I don’t know where to aim it yet.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “To me, if the writing doesn’t have rhythm, it feels dead. I lose all confidence. The music has to emerge to feel confident enough to move on to the next major chapter.”

11. “To me, if the writing doesn’t have rhythm, it feels dead. I lose all confidence. The music has to emerge to feel confident enough to move on to the next major chapter.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “We only reveal what we want other people to know, right? It’s like we create fictional characters for the public. And inside we’re somebody totally different.”

12. “We only reveal what we want other people to know, right? It’s like we create fictional characters for the public. And inside we’re somebody totally different.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “The feeling it gave me was an odd combination of weightless self-pity and excitement. I understood my life was meaningless, and this knowledge freed me up to accomplish absolutely anything.”

13. “The feeling it gave me was an odd combination of weightless self-pity and excitement. I understood my life was meaningless, and this knowledge freed me up to accomplish absolutely anything.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “My stain will never get fixed ’cause it’s on the inside. And lasers can’t reach there.”

14. “My stain will never get fixed ’cause it’s on the inside. And lasers can’t reach there.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “Some people watch the world with their ears.”

15. “Some people watch the world with their ears.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “He wondered how his nana always found beautiful where he never even thought to look.”

16. “He wondered how his nana always found beautiful where he never even thought to look.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “Nana, how come we don’t got a car?′ ‘Boy, what do we need a car for? We got a bus that breathes fire, and old Mr. Daniels, who always has a trick for you.”

17. “Nana, how come we don’t got a car?′ ‘Boy, what do we need a car for? We got a bus that breathes fire, and old Mr. Daniels, who always has a trick for you.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “I was really drawn to spoken-word style poetry. I loved the rhythms, and for some reason, I was just drawn to this poetry as a way of expressing my feelings, because I didn’t have any other outlet.”

18. “I was really drawn to spoken-word style poetry. I loved the rhythms, and for some reason, I was just drawn to this poetry as a way of expressing my feelings, because I didn’t have any other outlet.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “That’s the weirdest thing, by the way. That every person you come across lays down in a bed, under the covers, and closes their eyes at night. Cops, teachers, parents, hot girls, pro ballers, everybody. For some reason it makes people seem so much less real when I look at them.”

19. “That’s the weirdest thing, by the way. That every person you come across lays down in a bed, under the covers, and closes their eyes at night. Cops, teachers, parents, hot girls, pro ballers, everybody. For some reason it makes people seem so much less real when I look at them.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “Stars shine long after they’ve flamed out and the shine they shine with is love.”

20. “Stars shine long after they’ve flamed out and the shine they shine with is love.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “I feel like I have a lot of novel ideas, but they often come up while I’m already in the process of working on a book. You have to watch out with the slutty new idea.”

21. “I feel like I have a lot of novel ideas, but they often come up while I’m already in the process of working on a book. You have to watch out with the slutty new idea.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “When I’m there, it’s pure silence. There are other writers there, too, and I get super competitive. I have this weird fear that some guy next to me is writing this amazing novel, so I got to compete.”

22. “When I’m there, it’s pure silence. There are other writers there, too, and I get super competitive. I have this weird fear that some guy next to me is writing this amazing novel, so I got to compete.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “I worked in a schizophrenic home when I was an undergrad. You learned to be jaded to the crazy things they would say to you, but there was one man that I always gave crazy respect to, even though he would say the exact same thing to me every single day.”

23. “I worked in a schizophrenic home when I was an undergrad. You learned to be jaded to the crazy things they would say to you, but there was one man that I always gave crazy respect to, even though he would say the exact same thing to me every single day.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “Once I start writing, I am a huge reviser. To me writing is revising. I probably turn over every sentence that I write, to see if I have the rhythm right. That’s why my first drafts take a really long time.”

24. “Once I start writing, I am a huge reviser. To me writing is revising. I probably turn over every sentence that I write, to see if I have the rhythm right. That’s why my first drafts take a really long time.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “It’s not stuff you leave with. It’s love.”

25. “It’s not stuff you leave with. It’s love.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “We can’t be spectators our whole lives, right? At some point we have to take a risk. Step into the action.”

26. “We can’t be spectators our whole lives, right? At some point we have to take a risk. Step into the action.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “When I finish a book, I’ll go to that file and look through them. And I’ll say, these are three that really excite me and I want to do them next. You have the business part; of those three, is the publisher excited about one? Is the agent?”

27. “When I finish a book, I’ll go to that file and look through them. And I’ll say, these are three that really excite me and I want to do them next. You have the business part; of those three, is the publisher excited about one? Is the agent?”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “And sometimes when her light brown eyes locked on to my dark brown ones, it was like she was reaching a hand all the way into my chest, like she was digging around in there for the most honest thing she could find.”

28. “And sometimes when her light brown eyes locked on to my dark brown ones, it was like she was reaching a hand all the way into my chest, like she was digging around in there for the most honest thing she could find.”

— Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena Quote: “So, he was breathing ice now? Great. He couldn’t even have dinner with friends without some random new power messing everything up.”

29. “So, he was breathing ice now? Great. He couldn’t even have dinner with friends without some random new power messing everything up.”

— Matt de la Pena

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