Top 400 Stephen Chbosky Quotes (2025 Update)
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201. “It’s strange to think about your teachers as being people.”

— Stephen Chbosky

202. “You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.”

— Stephen Chbosky

203. “And I made Aunt Helen a promise to only cry about important things because I would hate to think that crying as much as I do would make crying for Aunt Helen less than it is.”

— Stephen Chbosky

204. “Everything can’t be low self-esteem, can it?”

— Stephen Chbosky

205. “I’m not a bulimic, I’m a bulimist, I love bulimia.”

— Stephen Chbosky

206. “The outside lights were on, and it was snowing, and it looked like magic. Like we were somewhere else. Like we were someplace better.”

— Stephen Chbosky

207. “I am starting to see a real trend in the kind of books Bill gives me to read. And just like the tape of songs, it is amazing to hold each of them in the palm of my hand. They are all my favorites. All of them.”

— Stephen Chbosky

208. “I think you of all people would understand that because you of all people are alive and appreciate what that means.”

— Stephen Chbosky

209. “As people get older, we all know, you get married and you have a child and that becomes your family, but when you’re 16 years old, especially, your family is your friends.”

— Stephen Chbosky

210. “It’s just that I don’t want to be somebody’s crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don’t want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it, too. I want them to be able to do whatever they want around me. And if they do something I don’t like, I’ll tell them.”

— Stephen Chbosky

211. “Craig said the problem with things is that everyone is always comparing everyone with everyone.”

— Stephen Chbosky

212. “I was suddenly very aware of the fact it was me standing up in that tunnel with the wind over my face. Not caring if I saw downtown. Not even thinking about it. Because I was standing in the tunnel. And I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite.”

— Stephen Chbosky

213. “When I was done reading the poem, everyone was quiet. A very sad quiet. But the amazing thing was that it wasn’t a bad sad at all. It was just something that made everyone look around at each other and know that they were there.”

— Stephen Chbosky

214. “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.”

— Stephen Chbosky

215. “I don’t want to be just another thing mary elizabeth is in charge of.”

— Stephen Chbosky

216. “My mom chooses her battles carefully, and I can tell you one thing about my family. When my mom does say something, she always gets her way.”

— Stephen Chbosky

217. “He said it was the kind of book you made your own.”

— Stephen Chbosky

218. “I’ve been trying hard to not be a loser.”

— Stephen Chbosky

219. “I think it would be great if sledding were always enough, but it isn’t.”

— Stephen Chbosky

220. “We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.”

— Stephen Chbosky

221. “Part of the reason I wrote the book was I wanted to understand for myself why such good people let themselves get treated so badly.”

— Stephen Chbosky

222. “When you think back to your first kiss, your hair is perfect and she was wearing a cool outfit. We remember it with restraint and we remember it with style. We remember it as idealistically as you can think.”

— Stephen Chbosky

223. “You should tell her how nice her outfit is because her outfit is her choice whereas her face isn’t.”

— Stephen Chbosky

224. “The nights he would pick up someone always made him sad. It’s hard, too, because Patrick began every night really excited. He always said he felt free. And tonight was his destiny. And things like that. But by the end of that night, he just looked sad.”

— Stephen Chbosky

225. “It’s kind of like when you look at yourself in the mirror and you say your name. And it gets to a point where none of it seems real. Well, sometimes I can do that, but I don’t need an hour in front of a mirror. It just happens very fast, and things start to slip away. And I just open my eyes, and I see nothing. And then I start to breathe really hard trying to see something, but I can’t. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it scares me.”

— Stephen Chbosky

226. “It’s like looking at all the students and wondering who’s had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report on top of that.”

— Stephen Chbosky

227. “The sound of the radio fades to nothing because the waves just can’t reach.”

— Stephen Chbosky

228. “Bridget who is crazy said that sometimes she thought about suicide when commercials come on during TV. She was sincere and this puzzled the guidance counselors.”

— Stephen Chbosky

229. “I would give someone a record so they could love the record, not so they would always know that I gave it to them.”

— Stephen Chbosky

230. “Well, I thought a lot of things. But mostly, I thought that your being sad was much more important to me than Craig not being your boyfriend anymore. And if it meant that I would never get to think of you that way, as long as you were happy, it was okay. That’s when I realized that I really loved you.”

— Stephen Chbosky

231. “So what’s the point of using words nobody else knows or can say comfortably? I just don’t understand that.”

— Stephen Chbosky

232. “The movie itself was very interesting, but I didn’t think it was very good because I didn’t really feel different when it was over.”

— Stephen Chbosky

233. “It’s much easier not to know things sometimes. And to have french fries with your mom be enough.”

— Stephen Chbosky

234. “You are part of an infinite family. The people who have been through terrible things and survived them. If you are reading these words, you WON today, You are here. You are alive. You have options. Whatever strategy you choose, you WIN.”

— Stephen Chbosky

235. “I’m not saying she was lying to me, but she just acted so different before I got to know her, and if she really isn’t like what she was at the beginning, I wish she could have just said so.”

— Stephen Chbosky

236. “I feel infinite.” And.”

— Stephen Chbosky

237. “Sometimes, my dad calls her beautiful, but she cannot hear him.”

— Stephen Chbosky

238. “Except that my father got a raise, and my mother didn’t because she doesn’t get paid for housework, and my sister stopped reading those self-esteem books because she met a new boy.”

— Stephen Chbosky

239. “I love my mom so much. I don’t care if it’s corny to say. I think on my next birthday I’m going to buy her a present. I think that should be the tradition.”

— Stephen Chbosky

240. “The reason I am thinking so far in advance is because school is terribly lonely. I think I’ve said that before, but it’s getting harder every day.”

— Stephen Chbosky

241. “Anyway, they have this discussion, and the kid is an idealist in a temporary way. He talks about his “restless generation” and things like that. And he says something like, “This is not a time for heroes because nobody will let that happen.” The book takes place in the 1920′s, which I thought was great because I supposed the same kind of conversation could happen in the Big Boy. It probably already did with our parents and grandparents. It was probably happening with us right now.”

— Stephen Chbosky

242. “I just kind of put my feelings away somewhere after that.”

— Stephen Chbosky

243. “They just knew. And I think that’s all you can ever ask from a friend.”

— Stephen Chbosky

244. “Everyone gets an ending. Whether or not it’s happy is up to them.”

— Stephen Chbosky

245. “So, tomorrow, I’m leaving. And I’m not going to let that happen again with anyone else. I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. And I’m going to figure out what that is. But right now I’m here with you. And I want to know where you are, what you need, and what you want to do.”

— Stephen Chbosky

246. “I hope you have a very nice life because I really think you deserve it. I really do.”

— Stephen Chbosky

247. “You get the right collection of people together and you get the atmosphere together that it is very free where there is no judgment. If you create an atmosphere that is very open you steer the ship.”

— Stephen Chbosky

248. “And I never felt that good in my life. But I also felt bad because I saw her naked without her permission.”

— Stephen Chbosky

249. “Some people’s fake is more honest than other people’s real.”

— Stephen Chbosky

250. “She said that I was really sweet and understanding, but that our relationship was too one-sided.”

— Stephen Chbosky