Top 400 Stephen Chbosky Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won’t tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn’t change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have what you have.”

— Stephen Chbosky

152. “I wish I knew. It might make me miss him more clearly. It might have made sad sense.”

— Stephen Chbosky

153. “As much as I feel sad, I think that not knowing is what really bothers me.”

— Stephen Chbosky

154. “Please don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not trying to make you feel uncomfortable. I just want you to know that you’re very special... and the only reason I’m telling you is that I don’t know if anyone else ever has.”

— Stephen Chbosky

155. “And I could hear all these songs on the radio, but the radio wasn’t on.”

— Stephen Chbosky

156. “I didn’t know that other people thought things about me. I didn’t know that they looked.”

— Stephen Chbosky

157. “I’m caught between trying to live my life, and trying to run from it.”

— Stephen Chbosky

158. “The gift from my Secret Santa wasn’t anything special. That makes me sad. I bet you anything that Mary Elizabeth is my Secret Santa because only she would give me socks.”

— Stephen Chbosky

159. “Charlie, you’re one of the most gifted people I’ve ever known. And I don’t mean in terms of my other students. I mean in terms of anyone I’ve ever met.”

— Stephen Chbosky

160. “I know that things get worse before they get better because that’s what my psychiatrist says, but this is a worse that feels too big.”

— Stephen Chbosky

161. “It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.”

— Stephen Chbosky

162. “For me personally, as much as I don’t understand my mom and dad and as much as I feel sorry for them sometimes, I can’t help but love them very much.”

— Stephen Chbosky

163. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep going without a friend. I used to be able to do it very easily, but that was before I knew what having a friend was like. It’s much easier not to know things sometimes. And to have french fries with your mom be enough.”

— Stephen Chbosky

164. “So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.”

— Stephen Chbosky

165. “I read an article about Nirvana on one visit, and it didn’t have any references to honey mustard dressing or lettuce. They kept talking about the singer’s stomach problems all the time, though. It was weird.”

— Stephen Chbosky

166. “I don’t want to start thinking again. Not like I have this last week. I can’t think again. Not ever again.”

— Stephen Chbosky

167. “You ever think Charlie, that our group is the same as any other group like a football team? And the only real difference between us is what we wear and why we wear it?”

— Stephen Chbosky

168. “Nobody felt sad as long as we could postpone tomorrow with more nostalgia.”

— Stephen Chbosky

169. “I was just trying to be a friend,′ I said. ‘But you weren’t, Charlie. At those times, you weren’t being his friend at all. Because you weren’t honest with him.”

— Stephen Chbosky

170. “I guess what I’m saying is that this all feels very familiar. But it’s not mine to be familiar about. I just know that another kid has felt this. This one time when it’s peaceful outside, and you’re seeing things move, and you don’t want to, and everyone is asleep. And all the books you’ve read have been read by other people. And all the songs you’ve loved have been heard by other people. And you know that if you looked at these when you were happy, you would feel great because you are describing “unity”.”

— Stephen Chbosky

171. “I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. I just need to know that someone out there listens and understands and doesn’t try to sleep with people even if they could have. I need to know that these people exist.”

— Stephen Chbosky

172. “My Aunt Helen was my favorite person in the whole world. She was my mom’s sister. She got straight A’s when she was a teenager and she used to give me books to read. My father said that the books were a little too old for me, but I liked them so he just shrugged and let me read.”

— Stephen Chbosky

173. “And we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn’t do or what they didn’t know. I don’t know. I guess there would always be someone to blame.”

— Stephen Chbosky

174. “Then, I turned around and walked to my room and closed my door and put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.”

— Stephen Chbosky

175. “I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people. You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.”

— Stephen Chbosky

176. “Sam dropped me off. When she was too far away to see me, I started to cry again. Because she was my friend again. And that was enough for me.”

— Stephen Chbosky

177. “Writing a novel is a lot like directing a movie because you are creating a world and a tone, you are creating a large canvas and all the details.”

— Stephen Chbosky

178. “I decided then that when I met someone I thought was as beautiful as the song, I should give it to that person. And I didn’t mean beautiful on the outside. I meant beautiful in all ways.”

— Stephen Chbosky

179. “I just think it’s bad when a boy looks at a girl and thinks that the way he sees the girl is better than the girl actually is.”

— Stephen Chbosky

180. “This is not a time for heroes because nobody will let that happen.”

— Stephen Chbosky

181. “Maybe it’s good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the only perspective is to really be there. Like Sam said. Because it’s okay to feel things. And be who you are about them.”

— Stephen Chbosky

182. “Patrick actually used to be popular before Sam bought him some good music.”

— Stephen Chbosky

183. “Please believe that things are going good with me. Even if they’re not they will be soon enough.”

— Stephen Chbosky

184. “Girls are weird, and I don’t mean that offensively. I just can’t put it any other way.”

— Stephen Chbosky

185. “If you are in a movie theater, you can look two people down and they are laughing while you are laughing or you can look three people down and they love that song that you love. It is living proof that you are not alone.”

— Stephen Chbosky

186. “Regardless, I decided to never take LSD again.”

— Stephen Chbosky

187. “It’s a great book. But try to be a filter, not a sponge.”

— Stephen Chbosky

188. “Be skeptical about this one. It’s a great book. But try to be a filter, not a sponge.”

— Stephen Chbosky

189. “To tell you the truth, I’ve just been avoiding everything.”

— Stephen Chbosky

190. “Five minutes of a lifetime were truly spent, and we felt young in a good way.”

— Stephen Chbosky

191. “When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”

— Stephen Chbosky

192. “I don’t know if it’s better to have your kids be happy and not go to college. I don’t know if it’s better to be close with your daughter or make sure that she has a better life than you do. I just don’t know.”

— Stephen Chbosky

193. “Happiness is not this thing for other people. It is for you. It is for me. It is for all of us. We all get an ending. Whether or not it’s happy is up to us.”

— Stephen Chbosky

194. “Something really is wrong with me. And I don’t know what it is.”

— Stephen Chbosky

195. “My dad said I did the right thing. I hope I did, but it’s hard to tell sometimes.”

— Stephen Chbosky

196. “But I’m not afraid anymore because heaven and hell are not destinations. They are decisions.”

— Stephen Chbosky

197. “But at one point, Craig was talking about something, and Sam turned to me and smiled. It was a movie smile in slow motion, and then everything was okay.”

— Stephen Chbosky

198. “Adults are bad at remembering how powerful they can be because somewhere along the line, they were shamed for their imagination.”

— Stephen Chbosky

199. “I wonder if that’s a small price to pay for being a legend.”

— Stephen Chbosky

200. “It’s strange to think about your teachers as being people.”

— Stephen Chbosky