Han Quotes

Leave it to the Alderaanians to slap a cheery end on a nice little grisly children's morality tale. ~ Timothy Zahn

It's all relative, I suppose. You think you know love, you think you know real pain, but you don't. You don't know anything. ~ Jenny Han

Maybe this is why Mommy told Margot not to go to college with a boyfriend. When you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, you only want to be with that person, and you forget about everybody else, and then when the two of you break up, you've lost all your friends. They were off doing fun stuff without you. ~ Jenny Han

He came up and kissed me on my forehead, and before he stepped away, I closed my eyes and tried hard to memorize this moment. I wanted to remember him exactly as he was right then, how his arms looked brown against his white shirt, the way his hair was cut a little too short in the front. Even the bruise, there because of me.

Then he was gone.

Just for that moment, the thought that I might never see him again… it felt worse than death. I wanted to
run after him. Tell him anything, everything. Just don't go. Please just never go. Please just always be near me, so I can at least see you.

Because it felt final. I always believed that we would find our way back to each other every time. That no matter what, we would be connected - by our history, by this house. But this time, this last time, it felt final. Like I would never see him again, or that when I did, it would be different, there would be a mountain between us.

I knew it in my bones. That this time was it. I had finally made my choice, and so had he. He let me go. I was relieved, which I expected. What I didn't expect was to feel so much grief.

Bye bye, Birdie. ~ Jenny Han

I open the box, and there are notes. Notes and notes and notes. Peter's notes. Peter's notes I threw away.
"I found them when I was emptying your trash," she says. Hastily she adds, "I only read a couple. And then I saved them because I could tell they were important."
I touch one that Peter folded into an airplane. "Kitty…you know Peter and I aren't getting back together, right?"
Kitty grabs the bowl of popcorn and says, "Just read them." Then she goes into the living room and turns on the TV.
I close the hatbox and take it with me upstairs. When I am in my room, I sit on the floor and spread them out around me.
A lot of the notes just say things like "Meet you at your locker after school" and Can I borrow your chemistry notes from yesterday?" I find the spiderweb one from Halloween, and it makes me smile. Another one says, "Can you take the bus home today? I want to surprise Kitty and pick her up from school so she can show me and my car off to her friends." "Thanks for coming to the estate sale with me this weekend. You made the day fun. I owe you one." "Don't forget to pack a Korean yogurt for me!" "If you make Josh's dumb white-chocolate cranberry cookies and not my fruitcake ones, it's over." I laugh out loud. And then, the one I read over and over: "You look pretty today. I like you in blue."
I've never gotten a love letter before. But reading these notes like this, one after the other, it feels like I have. It's like…it's like there's onl ~ Jenny Han

We're still here. It's not the future yet. * ~ Jenny Han

People are submissive to power, and few of them can be influenced by doctrines of righteousness. ~ Han Fei

People come in and out of your life. For a time they are your world; they are everything. And then one day they're not. There's no telling how long you will have them near. ~ Jenny Han

Though Plente that is goddesse of rychesses hielde adoun with ful horn, and withdraweth nat hir hand, as many richesses as the see torneth upward sandes whan it is moeved with ravysshynge blastes, or elles as manye rychesses as ther schynen bryghte sterres in hevene on the sterry nyghtes; yit, for al that, mankende nolde nat cese to wepe wrecchide pleyntes. And al be it so that God resceyveth gladly hir preiers, and yyveth hem, as fool-large, moche gold, and apparayleth coveytous folk with noble or cleer honours; yit semeth hem haven igeten nothyng, but alwey hir cruel ravyne, devourynge al that they han geten, scheweth othere gapynges (that is to seyn, gapyn and desiren yit after mo rychesses.) What brydles myghte withholden to any certeyn ende the disordene covetise of men, whan evere the rather that it fletith in large yiftes, the more ay brenneth in hem the thurst of havynge? Certes he that qwakynge and dredful weneth hymselven nedy, he ne lyveth nevermo ryche. ~ Geoffrey Chaucer

Remember that summer you liked that girl who worked at the
boardwalk? Angie?"
"No," he said, but I knew he was lying. "What about her?"
"Did you ever hook up with her?"
Conrad finally lifted his head up from the couch. "No," he said.
"I don't believe you."
"I tried, once. But she socked me in the head and said she wasn't that kind of girl.I think she was a Jehovah's Witness or something. ~ Jenny Han

I love you', he said.
'I know', she said.
'You know?' he repeated. She smiled, so he kissed her.
'You're not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know.'
'I'm totally the Han Solo', she whispered.
It was good to hear her. It was good to remember it was Eleanor under all this new flesh.
'Well, I'm not the Princess Leia,' he said. ~ Rainbow Rowell

You know the saddest part? Josh and I will never be friends like we were before. Not after all this. That part's just over now. He was my best friend." I ~ Jenny Han

From the moment Leo comes on screen in that navy blue suit, I have chest palpitations. He's like an angel, a beautiful, damaged angel.
"What's he so stressed out about?" Peter asks, reaching down and stealing a handful of Kitty's popcorn. "Isn't he a prince or something?"
"He's not a prince," I say. "He's just rich. And his family is very powerful in this town."
"He's my dream guy," Kitty says in a proprietary tone.
"Well, he's all grown up now," I say, not taking my eyes off the screen. "He's practically Daddy's age." Still…
"Wait, I thought I was your dream guy," Peter says. Not to me, to Kitty. He knows he's not my dream guy. My dream guy is Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. Handsome, loyal, smart in school.
"Ew," Kitty says. "You're like my brother."
Peter looks genuinely wounded, so I pat him on the shoulder.
"Don't you think he's a little scrawny?" Peter presses.
I shush him.
He crosses his arms. "I don't get why you guys get to talk during movies and I get shushed. It's pretty bullshit."
"It's our house," Kitty says.
"Your sister shushes me at my house too!"
We ignore him in unison. ~ Jenny Han

I wondered if it was possible to take someone's pain away with a kiss. Because that was what i wanted to do, take all of his sadness and pour it out of him, comfort him, make the boy i knew come back. ~ Jenny Han

There is no elevator to success to have to take the stairs. ~ Hyacil Han

Lots of people misunderstand this. They think not experiencing fear means they're courageous. Bravery isn't about not being afraid, it's about persevering despite your fears. ~ Kim Du-han

It didn't blow up last time," Han said. "Maybe it won't blow up this time, either. ~ James S.A. Corey

Victory is a thousand times sweeter when you're the underdog. ~ Jenny Han

I don't think relationships are just physicality. There are ways to show you care about someone, not just using your lips ... Or any other body part. ~ Jenny Han

Things feel like they'll be forever, but they aren't. Love can go away, or people can, without even meaning to. Nothing is guaranteed. ~ Jenny Han

It wasn't was easy as picking one over the other. Nothing ever was. It wasn't as though I'd even had a choice, not really. ~ Jenny Han

Han made no effort to put up a brave front. Most of the time he just screamed himself hoarse, though a couple of times he amused himself by screaming Fionas's name as if he were in the throes of passion. FEEE-OHHH-NAAA! Lord Bayar made him pay for that, but afterward, Fiona didn't come down anymore, which Han appreciated. ~ Cinda Williams Chima

Then she'll drink. Sometimes it's like there's this well of sadness inside her, and she has to drink to fill it up. And then sometimes it's like there's a monster inside of her, and drinking's the only thing that will calm it down. And sometimes she drinks just because. ~ Jenny Han

Can we all just agree that Han shot first? ~ Sam Maggs

Families shrink and expand. All you can really do is be glad for it, glad for each other, for as long as you have each other. ~ Jenny Han

In the whole history of my letters, of my liking boys, not once has a boy liked me back at the same time as I liked him. It was always me alone, longing after a boy, and that was fine, that was safe ~ Jenny Han

After Josh leaves and Kitty goes upstairs to watch TV, I'm tidying up the living room and Peter's sprawled out on the couch watching me. I keep thinking he's about to leave, but then he keeps lingering.
Out of nowhere he says, "Remember back at Halloween how you were Cho Chang and Sanderson was Harry Potter? I bet you that wasn't a coincidence. I bet you a million bucks he got Kitty to find out what your costume was and then he ran out and bought a Harry Potter costume. The kid is into you."
I freeze. "No, he isn't. He loves my sister. He always has and he always will."
Peter waves this off. "Just you wait. As soon as you and I are done, he's gonna pull some cheesy-ass move and, like, profess his love for you with a boom box. I'm telling you, I know how guys think."
I yank away the pillow he's got cushioning his bac and put it on the recliner. "My sister will be home for winter break soon. I bet you a million dollars they get back together."
Peter holds his hand out for me to shake on it, and when I take it, he pulls me onto the couch next to him. Our legs touch. He has a mischievous glint in his eye, and I think maybe he's going to kiss me, and I'm scared, but I'm excited, too. But then I hear Kitty's footsteps coming down the stairs, and the moment's over. ~ Jenny Han

Being vulnerable, letting people in, getting hurt... it's all part of being in love. ~ Jenny Han

Peter and I were hanging out and he told me about what you guys were doing today. ~ Jenny Han

Your parents met at twenty; we met at--"
"Twelve," I supply.
Peter frowns, annoyed that I've messed up his argument. "Okay, so we met when were kids, but we didn't get together until we were seventeen--"
"I was sixteen."
"We didn't get together for real until we were both basically seventeen. Which is basically the same thing as eighteen, which is basically the same thing as twenty." He has the self-satisfied look of a lawyer who has just delivered a winning closing statement.
"That's a very long and twisty line of logic," I say. "Have you ever thought about being a lawyer?"
"No, but now I'm thinking maybe? ~ Jenny Han

Honey, I appreciate that so much, I really do, but it's not just transferring that I'm worrying about. I'm worried about his mind-set. When he gets to UVA, he needs to be focused. He's going there to be a student athlete. He can't be driving down to North Carolina every weekend. It just isn't practical. You're both so young. Peter's already making big life decisions based on you, and who even knows what's going to happen with you two in the future. You're teenagers. Life doesn't always work out the way you think it's going to work out. . . . I don't know if Peter ever told you this, but Peter's dad and I got married very young. And I'd - I'd just hate to see you two make the same mistakes we did." She hesitates. "Lara Jean, I know my son, and he's not going to let you go unless you let him go first." I ~ Jenny Han

I do this to feign confidence, because the more I fake it, the more it's supposed to feel true. ~ Jenny Han

People who don't face their problems head-on are the worst kind of cowards. ~ Jenny Han

The two ethnic groups that remain fundamentally different from the Han Chinese - in terms of history, culture, language, religion and physical appearance - are the Uighurs and Tibetans. In these two groups, the Han Chinese come face to face with difference. ~ Martin Jacques

It's probably because you were each other's firsts. That's why you can't let each other go. I've heard that's how it is with firsts, especially with guys. ~ Jenny Han

We are not even a speck of dust in the cells of the Cosmos."-Han Storm ~ H. Gibson

I hate when people say that they have something to tell you and they don't just say it. ~ Jenny Han

I would advise all young musicians to not only experience and play chamber music, but to go to operas, speak to the singers, to explore and expand your horizons. ~ Wu Han

It's scary when it's real. When it's not just thinking about a person, but, like, having a real live person in front of you, with, like, expectations. And wants. ~ Jenny Han

I say looking on the bright side of life never killed anybody. ~ Jenny Han

That's life. Things don't always work out. ~ Jenny Han

I worried he'd let go, but he didn't. We held hands like this the whole rest of the way home. ~ Jenny Han

Nothing good happens after two a.m. ~ Jenny Han

If you were mine, I would never have broken up with you, not in a million years. ~ Jenny Han

I hate change more than almost anything. ~ Jenny Han

One of the unique features of China is that, notwithstanding the fact that it has a population of 1.3 billion, around 92% regard themselves as Han Chinese. This is quite different from the world's other most populous countries, such as India, the U.S. and Indonesia, which are ethnically diverse. ~ Martin Jacques

It is difficult to associate these horrors with the proud civilizations that created them: Sparta, Rome, The Knights of Europe, the Samurai... They worshipped strength, because it is strength that makes all other values possible. Nothing survives without it. Who knows what delicate wonders have died out of the world, for want of the strength to survive. ~ Han From Enter The Dragon

The content that Jessica Nigri puts out, really displays cosplay in the wrong light. ~ Yaya Han

It doesn't matter if you don't burn. Protect your skin so you don't end up looking like an old leather bag." That's what Stormy used to tell me.
Kitty giggles at "old leather bag." "Like Mrs. Letty. Her skin is hot dog-colored."
"Well, I wasn't talking about any one person in particular. But yeah. She should've worn sunscreen in her younger days. Let that be a lesson to you, my sister." Mrs. Letty is our neighbor, and her skin hangs on her like crepe.
Peter puts on his sunglasses. "You guys are mean."
"Says the guy who once toilet-papered her lawn!"
Kitty giggles and steals a sip of my Coke. "You did that?"
"All lies and propaganda," Peter says blithely. ~ Jenny Han

I thought I was over him. When I wrote my letter, when I said my goodbyes, I mean it, I swear I did. It wasn´t even that hard, not really. ~ Jenny Han

I'd nursed a crush on Conrad for whole school years. I could survive for months, years, on a crush. It was like food. It could sustain me. If Conrad was mine, there was no way I'd break up with him over a summer-or a school year, for that matter. ~ Jenny Han

You'd choose him over me?"

"He ain't the one making me choose. ~ Cinda Williams Chima

Daddy thinks that Mama is everything a woman should be: beautiful, clever, charming. Beauty has a way of making the bad things tolerable. When Mama tilts her green eyes at you, it's hard to remember why you were mad in the first place. ~ Jenny Han

I love Jere more than anybody. He's my brother, my family. I hate myself for doing this. But when I see you two together, I hate him too." His voice broke.
"Don't marry him. Don't be with him. Be with me. ~ Jenny Han

He made it so hard not to love him. When he was sweet like this, I remembered why I did. Used to love him, I mean. I remembered everything. ~ Jenny Han

Sometimes I like you so much I can't stand it. It fills up inside me, all the way to the brim, and I feel like I could overflow. I like you so much I don't know what to do with it. My heart beats so fast when I know I'm going to see you again. And then, when you look at me the way you do, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. ~ Jenny Han

We all look so young. John with his rosy cheeks, Trevor with his chubby ones, Peter with his skinny legs.
Underneath the picture I wrote, THE BEGINNING. "Aww," he says tenderly. "Baby Lara Jean and Baby Peter. Where'd you find this?"
"In a shoe box."
He flicks John's smiling face. "Punk."
"Peter!"
"Just kidding," he says. ~ Jenny Han

People are gonna disappoint you sometimes. We're flawed creatures. Not one of us is perfect, not even you, and you've gotta let people mess up and then you've gotta forgive them. That's just life. ~ Jenny Han

And then Micah Bayar swept back his cloak and dropped to his knees, bowing his head, his amulet swinging forward. Fiona glared down at him like she wanted to stomp on him.
Ho, Han thought. Micah breaks with his family? That's interesting. ~ Cinda Williams Chima

You'd rather make up a fantasy version of somebody in your head than be with a real person. ~ Jenny Han

Where were you this morning?" Peter demands.
I cross my arms and try to stand tall. It's hard, because I'm so short and he really is tall. "You're one to talk."
Peter huffs, "At least I texted you! I've called you like seventeen times. Why is your phone off?"
"You know we're not allowed to have our phones on at school!"
He huffs, "Lara Jean, I waited in front of your house for twenty minutes."
Yikes. "Well, I'm sorry."
"How'd you get to school? Sanderson?"
"Yes."
Peter exhales. "Listen, if you were pissed I couldn't come over last night, you should've just called and said so instead of the shit you pulled this morning."
In a small voice I say, "Well, what about that shit you pulled last night?"
A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. "Did you just say 'shit'? It sounds really funny coming out of your mouth. ~ Jenny Han

Exploitation and oppression is not a matter of race. It is the system, the apparatus of world-wide brigandage called imperialism, which made the Powers behave the way they did. I have no illusions on this score, nor do I believe that any Asian nation or African nation, in the same state of dominance, and with the same system of colonial profit-amassing and plunder, would have behaved otherwise. ~ Han Suyin

So much of love is chance. There's something scary and wonderful about that. ~ Jenny Han

I went over and over everything that had ever happened between us. I couldn't keep doing it, going back and fourth, holding her close and then pushing her away. It wasn't right ~ Jenny Han

Bet you can't even name one romantic movie you like," she teased.
She felt smug when a few minutes went by and Oliver was still unable to name one romantic movie he could profess to enjoy.
The Empire Strikes Back," Oliver finally declared, tapping his horn at a Prius that wandered over the line.
The Empire Strikes Back? The Star Wars movie? That's not romantic!" Schuyler huffed, fiddling with the air conditioner controls.
Au contraire, my dear, it's very romantic. The last scene, you know, when they're about to put Han in that freezing cryogenic chamber or whatever? Remember?"
Schuyler mmm-hmmmed.
And Leia leans over the ledge and says, 'I love you.'"
That's cheesy, not romatic," Schuyler argued, although she did like that part.
Let me explain. What's romantic is what Han says back. Remember what he says to her? After she says 'I love you'?"
Schuyler grinned. Maybe Oliver had a point. "Han says, 'I know.'"
Exactly," Oliver tapped the wheel. "He doesn't have to say anything so trite as 'I love you." Because that's already understood. And that's romantic. ~ Melissa De La Cruz

A soul doesn't have a body, so how can it be watching us? ~ Han Kang

Smiling, he said, Did you know that astronomers call them interplanetary dust? ~ Jenny Han

There are certain memories that remain inviolate to the ravages of time. And to those of suffering. It is not true that everything is colored by time and suffering. It is not true that they bring everything to ruin. ~ Han Kang

I wonder, though ... what would it be like? To be that close to a boy and have him see all of you, no holding back. ~ Jenny Han

There have been other girls. But they weren't her. ~ Jenny Han

Good for you, Jason. It's perfectly natural to be angry with your mother for dying. Everybody who loses someone special goes through that. It's just part of the grieving process. ~ Han Nolan

I don't want to forget any of this. The way he's looking at me at this very moment. How, when he kisses me, I still get shivers down my back, every time. I want to hold on to everything so tight. ~ Jenny Han

Or perhaps it was simply that things were happening inside her, terrible things, which no one else could even guess at, and thus it was impossible for her to engage with everyday life at the same time. ~ Han Kang

I'm too young to die."
"Yeah, and I'm too well known."
-Droma and Han Solo ~ James Luceno

There are two kinds of girls in this world. The kind who breaks hearts and the kind who gets her heart broken. ~ Jenny Han

When I see Peter at the bus the next morning, he's standing around with all this lacrosse friends, and at first I feel shy and nervous, but then he sees me, and his face breaks into a grin. "C'mere, Covey," he says, so I go to him and he throws my tote over his shoulder. In my ear he says, "You're sitting with me, right?"
I nod.
As we make our way onto the bus, somebody wolf whistles. It seems like people are staring at us, and at first I think it's just my imagination, but then I see Genevieve look right at me and whisper to Emily Nussbaum. It sends a chill down my spine.
"Genevieve keeps staring at me," I whisper to Peter.
"It's because you're so adorably quirky," he says, and he rests his hands on my shoulders and gives me a kiss on the cheek, and I forget all about Genevieve. ~ Jenny Han

Unni will come, if not today, then tomorrow. Today is nearly gone, but other todays stir fecund in the word tomorrow, many other todays when this one has lapsed from existence. And because I think of Unni, invoking his name in this for ever recurrent today, already he is here for me. - The Mountain is Young ~ Han Suyin

But then she says, "What if we use our cookie cutter to make heart-shaped pancakes instead? And put in red food coloring?"
I beam at her. "Attagirl!" So maybe she's got a little bit of me in her after all.
Kitty continues. "We could put red food coloring in the syrup, too, to make it look like blood. A bloody heart! ~ Jenny Han

Annabelle, what happened to you?" Lillian asked the next morning. "You look dreadful. Why aren't you wearing your riding habit? I thought you were going to try out the jumping course this morning. And why did you disappear
so suddenly last night? It's not like you to simply vanish without saying - "

"I didn't have a choice in the matter," Annabelle said testily, folding her fingers around the delicate bowl of a porcelain teacup. Looking pale and exhausted, her blue eyes ringed with dark shadows, she swallowed a mouthful of heavily sweetened tea before continuing. "It was that blasted perfume of yours - as soon as he caught one whiff of it, he went berserk."

Shocked, Lillian tried to take in the information, her stomach plummeting. "It… it had an effect on Westcliff, then?" she managed to ask.

"Good Lord, not Lord Westcliff." Annabelle rubbed her weary eyes. "He couldn't have cared less what I smelled like. It was my husband who went completely mad. After he caught the scent of that stuff, he dragged me up to our room and…well, suffice it to say, Mr. Hunt kept me awake all night. All night ," she repeated in sullen emphasis, and drank deeply of the tea.

"Doing what?" Daisy asked blankly.

Lillian, who was feeling a rush of relief that Lord Westcliff had not been attracted to Annabelle while she
was wearing the perfume, gave her younger sister a derisive glance. "What do you think they were doing? Playing a few han ~ Lisa Kleypas

Style" comes on and we all go crazy, screaming in each other's faces and jumping up and down. Peter goes craziest of all. He keeps asking me if I'm having fun. He only asks out loud once, but with his eyes he asks me again and again. They are bright and hopeful, alight with expectation. With my eyes I tell him, Yes yes yes I am having fun.
We're starting to get the hang of slow dancing, too. Maybe we should take a ballroom-dancing class when I get to UVA so we can actually get good at it.
I tell him this, and fondly he says, "You always want to take things to the next level. Next-level chocolate chip cookies."
"I gave up on those."
"Next-level Halloween costumes."
"I like for things to feel special." At this, Peter smiles down at me and I say, "It's just too bad we'll never dance cheek to cheek."
"Maybe we could order you some dancing stilts."
"Oh, you mean high heels?"
He snickers. "I don't think there's such a thing as ten-inch heels."
I ignore him. "And it's too bad your noodle arms aren't strong enough to pick me up."
Peter lets out a roar like an injured lion and swoops me up and swings me around, just like I knew he would. It's a rare thing, to know someone so well, whether they'll pivot left or right. Outside of my family, I think he might be the person I know best of all. ~ Jenny Han

He who claims to be sure of something for which there is no evidence is a fool, and he who acts on the basis of what cannot be proved is an imposter. ~ Han Fei

His face darkens. He glares at me and I glare back. "Fine!" he yells. "I'm jealous! Are you happy now!"

And then he jerks is head toward mine and he kisses me. On the lips. ~ Jenny Han

Some seek pleasure in love
blind to the trials of a mortal body
others see a bubble or mirage
and realize impermanence undoes us all
a real man's will is straight like iron
in an uncrooked heart the Way is true
dense and tall bamboos in the snow
show you the mind not used in vain ~ Han-shan

Wait!" Alex yells up to the driver. "Stop! Stop the car!"

Up close, it's beautiful. Two stories tall. He can't imagine how somebody was able to put together something like this so fast.

It's a mural of himself and Henry, facing each other, haloed by a bright yellow sun, depicted as Han and Leia. Henry in all white, starlight in his hair. Alex dressed as a scruffy smuggler, a blaster at his hip. A royal and a rebel, arms around each other.

He snaps a photo on his phone, and fingers shaking, types out a tweet: Never tell me the odds. ~ Casey McQuiston

Han Solo," came the clipped voice of the gang leader, "you are a dead man." Not ~ Alan Dean Foster

I never knew kissing could be this good ~ Jenny Han

I tell him I'd better get going, because Margot's coming home from Scotland tonight, and I want to stock the fridge with all her favorite foods.
Peter's face falls. "You don't want to hang out a little longer? I can take you to the store."
"I still have to clean up the upstairs, too," I say, standing up.
He tugs on my shirt and tries to pull me back onto the bed. "Come on, five more minutes."
I lie back down next to him and he cuddles in close, but I'm still thinking about the yearbook. I've been working on his scrapbook for months; the least he can do is write me a nice yearbook message.
"This is good practice for college," he murmurs, pulling me toward him, wrapping his arms around me. "The beds are small at UVA. How big are the beds at UNC?"
My back to him, I say, "I don't know. I didn't get to see the dorms."
He tucks his head in the space between my neck and shoulder. "That was a trick question," he says, and I can feel him smile against my neck. "To check and see if you visited a random UNC guy's dorm room with Chris. Congrats, you passed the test."
I can't help but laugh. ~ Jenny Han

If they named him Tate, we could call him Tater Tot," I muse.
Two red blotches appear on Kitty's cheeks, and just like that, she looks as young as I always picture her in my head: a little kid. "I don't want them to have another baby. If they have a baby, I'll be in the middle. I'll be nothing."
"Hey!" I object. "I'm in the middle now!"
"Margot's oldest and smartest, and you're the prettiest." I'm the prettiest?? Kitty thinks I'm the prettiest? I try not to look too happy, because she's still talking. ~ Jenny Han

I wanna see the dance!"
"Forget about it," I tell him. We're in the living room; each of us has our own couch or armchair. I poured us iced teas and put out a bowl of potato chips, which we've already finished.
"Come on," he pouts. "Show me the dance. Please, please show me the dance."
"That's not going to work on me, Peter."
"What's not going to work?"
I wave my hand in his Handsome Boy face. "That. I'm immune to your charms, remember?"
Peter lifts his eyebrows like I've dared him. "Is that a challenge? 'Cause I'm warning you, you do not want to step into the ring with me. I'll crush you, Covey." He doesn't take his eyes off mine for several long seconds, and I can feel my smile fade and my cheeks heat up.
"Come on, Lara Jean!"
I blink. Kitty. I'd forgotten she was still in the room. ~ Jenny Han

I spur my horse past the ruined city;
the ruined city, that wakes the traveler's thoughts:
ancient battlements, high and low;
old grave mounds, great and small.
Where the shadow of a single tumbleweed trembles
and the voice of the great trees clings forever,
I sigh over all these common bones
No roll of the immortals bears their names. ~ Han-shan

All of this love crap makes me want to puke. ~ Jenny Han

Leia: 'Han, what have we done?'
Han: 'The same thing we always have, Princess. What we had to.'
--Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo ~ Troy Denning

What's this new shampoo you're wearing?"
"I stole it from Margot. It's juicy pear. Nice, right?"
"It's all right, I guess. But can you go back to the one you used to wear? The coconut one? I love the smell of that one." A dreamy look crosses his face, like evening fog settling over a city. ~ Jenny Han

I keep trying to block it out, but it keeps on coming back. ~ Jenny Han

I smuggle, not snuggle. ~ Chuck Wendig

It's hard to concentrate when your feelings are hurt. ~ Jenny Han

You're bored. Two weeks without someone trying to kill us and you're bored out of your mind.

Leia to Han ~ Greg Keyes

When someone's been gone a long time, at first you save up all the things you want to tell them. You try to keep track of everything in your head. But it's like trying to hold on to a fistful of sand: all the little bits slip out of your hands, and then you're just clutching air and grit. ~ Jenny Han

I truly don't mind staying in the guest room. I'd hate to make things awkward."
Daddy starts to answer him, but Margot gets there first. "No, it's totally fine," she assures Ravi. "Let's go get the rest of our stuff out of the car."
The second they leave, Kitty and I turn to each other. At the same time we say, "Oh my God."
Kitty ponders, "Why do they need to stay in the same room together? Do they have to have sex that bad?"
"Enough, Kitty," Daddy says, his tone sharper than I've heard him use with her. He turns and leaves, and I hear the sound of his office door closing. His office is where he goes when he is really mad. Ms. Rothschild gives her a stern look and follows after him.
Kitty and I look at each other again. "Yikes," I say.
"He didn't have to snap," Kitty says sullenly. "I'm not the one whose boyfriend is staying in my bed."
"He didn't mean it." I tuck her against me, wrapping my arms around her bony shoulders. "Gogo has a lot of nerve, huh?" She's very impressive, my sister. I just feel sorry for Daddy. This isn't a fight he's used to having--or any kind of fight at all, really.
Of course I text Peter right away and tell all. He sends back a lot of wide-eyed emojis. And: Do you think your dad would let us stay in the same room?? Which I ignore. ~ Jenny Han

The boy had seemed to light up the whole world when he'd first arrived: this simple, impossible sliver of hope amid so much death and destruction. ~ Daniel Jose Older