Paper Towns Quotes

I always like routine. I suppose I never found boredom very boring. ~ John Green

Because it's kind of great, being an idea that everybody likes. But I could never be the idea to myself, not all the way. And Agloe is a place where a paper creation became real. A dot on the map became a real place, more real than the people who created the dot could never have imagined. I thought maybe the paper cutout of a girl could start becoming real here also. And it seemed like a way to tell that paper girl who cared about popularity and clothes and everything else: 'You are going to the paper towns. And you are never coming back. ~ John Green

But then again, if you don't imagine, nothing ever happens at all. Imagining isn't perfect. You can't get all the way inside someone else. I could never have imagined Margo's anger at being found, or the story she was writing over. But imagining being someone else, or the world being something else, is the only way in. ~ John Green

I feel like I might start crying and that I'm going to cry pee. ~ John Green

I always got very nervous whenever I heard that Margo was about to show up, on account of how she was the most fantastically gorgeous creature that God has ever created. ~ John Green

Foever is composed of nows. ~ Paper Towns - John Green

You will do to the paper towns and you will never come back ~ John Green

By the power of the superglue beer sword, I designate you my driver! ~ John Green

I know it's impossible for you to see your peers this way, but when you're older, you start to see them
the bad kids and the good kids and all kids
as people. They're just people, who deserve to be cared for. ~ John Green

I spy with my little eye a great story. ~ John Green

Here's what's not beautiful about it: from here, you can't see the rust or the cracked paint or whatever, but you can tell what the place really is. You can see how fake it all is. It's not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. It's a paper town. I mean, look at it, Q: look at all those culs-de-sac, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart. All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters. ~ John Green

Remember that time in the minivan, twenty minutes ago, when we didn't die? ~ John Green

We bring the fucking rain Q, not the scattered showers. ~ John Green

That poem is so damned long. You'd think old Walt could have taken a line or two to tell us how to unscrew the door from its jamb. ~ John Green

Margo was so beautiful that even her fake smiles were convincing. (54) ~ John Green

What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person. ~ John Green

I'd been in the dark so long I was still craving it. ~ John Green

We imagine people as animals or gods. -But she was just a person, a girl. ~ John Green

I leave, and the leaving is so exhilarating I know I can never go back. But then what? Do I just keep leaving places, and leaving them, and leaving them, tramping a perpetual journey? ~ John Green

You're upsetting the black Santas. ~ John Green

Paper Towns for a Paper Girl, who wants to think and read clearly ~ John Green

It was a lame string, for sure, but it was the one I had left and every paper girl needs at least one string, right? (58) ~ John Green

It's more impressive," I said out loud. "From a distance, I mean. You can't see the wear on things, you know? You can't see the rust or the weeds or the paint cracking. You see the place as someone once imagined it. ~ John Green

And I wanted to tell her that the pleasure for me wasn't planning or doing or leaving; the pleasure was in seeing our strings cross and separate and then come back together. ~ John Green

I can almost imagine a happiness without her, the ability to let her go, to feel our roots are connected even if I never see that leaf of grass again. ~ John Green

I'm a big believer in random capitalization. The rules of capitalization are so unfair to the words in the middle. (32) ~ John Green

The town was paper, but the memory was not. ~ John Green

You were with Margo Roth Spiegelman last night? At THREE A.M.? I nodded. Alone? I nodded. Oh my God, if you hooked up with her, you have to tell me every single thing that happened. You have to write me a term paper on the look and feel of Margo Roth Spiegelman's breasts. Thrity pages, minimum! I want you to do a photo-realistic pencil drawing. A sculpture would also be acceptable. I was wondering if it would be possible for you to write a sestina about Margo Roth Spiegelman's breasts? Your six words are: pink, round, firmness, succulent, supple, and pillowy. Personally, I think at least one of the words should be buhbuhbuhbuh. ~ John Green

Please stop," I said. "You're upsetting the black Santas. ~ John Green

Maybe she skimmed it for what she was looking for. We often read poems that way. ~ John Green

She loved so much misteries tha she became one ~ John Green

You're cute when you're confident. And less when you're not. -John Green, Paper Towns ~ John Green

On time for us was thirty minutes before actually started, because the half hour before the first bell was the highlight of our social calendars: standing outside the side door that led into the band room and just talking. ~ John Green

I have never really thought of him as a person, either ... A guy whose strings were broken, who didn't feel the root of his leaves of grass connected to the field, a guy who was cracked. Like me. ~ John Green

It's kind of great, being an idea that everybody likes. But I could never be the idea to myself, not all the way. ~ John Green

ALSO BY JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... An Abundance of Katherines ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Paper Towns ... ... ... ... ... ... Will Grayson, Will Grayson WITH DAVID LEVITHAN ~ John Green

The last time I was this scared, I peed myself."
"The last time I was this scared," Radar says, "I actually had to face a Dark Lord in order to make the world safe for wizards. ~ John Green

Physical space between us evaporates. We play the broken strings of our instruments one last time ~ John Green

How can you seperate those things though? The people are the place is the people. ~ John Green

But it was the last string. It was a lame string, for sure, but it was the one I had left, and every paper girl needs at least one string, right? ~ John Green

All those poeple living in their paper houses, burning they paper future to stay warm. All the paper kids, drinking paper beer some bum bought for them at the paper convienience store ... All this things paper-thin and paper-frail. ~ John Green

A poem can't do its work if you only read snippets of it. ~ John Green

Do you guys remember that one time, in the minivan, twenty minutes ago, that we somehow didn't die? ~ John Green

Getting you a date to prom is so hard that the hypothetical idea itself is actually used to cut diamonds," I added. Radar tapped a locker twice with his fist to show his approval, and then came back with another. "Ben, getting you a date to prom is so hard that the American government believes the problem cannot be solved with diplomacy, but will instead require force. ~ John Green

She never really got what it's all about. The adventure. She seemed pretty depressed, actually. ~ John Green

I looked down and thought about how I was made of paper. I was the flimsy-foldable person, not everyone else. ~ John Green

I am thinking that I don't want this to happen. I don't want to die. I don't want my friends to die. And to be honest, as the time slows down and my hands are in the air, I am afforded the chance to think one more thought, and I think about her. I blame her for this ridiculous, fatal chase
for putting us at risk, for making me into the kind of jackass who would stay up all night and drive too fast. I would not be dying were it not for her. I would have stayed home, as I have always stayed home, and I would've been safe, and I would have done the one thing I have always wanted to do, which is to grow up. ~ John Green

You're just a really loud, awkward ninja, but we are both ninjas. ~ John Green

It became a weekend of reading, of trying to see her in the fragments of the poem she'd left for me. ~ John Green

These kids, they're like tied-down helium balloons. They strain against the string and strain against it, and then something happens, and that string gets cut, and they just float away. ( ... ) But once that string gets cut, kid, you can't uncut it. ~ John Green

It was psychological trick called empathic listening. You say what the person is feeling so they feel understood. ~ John Green

I don't believe in prom,' I reminded her as she rounded a corner. I expertly angled my raisin bran to accomodate the g-forces. I'd done this before. ~ John Green

Above all, don't lie to yourself." – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

"I don't want to die without any scars." – Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

"Not all those who wander are lost." – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not." – André Gide, Autumn Leaves

"If you're making mistakes it means you're out there doing something." – Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art

"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." – Paulo Coelho, Brida

"If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives."
– Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator

"The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." – Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

"I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do." – Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

"If you don't imagine, nothing ever happens at all." – John Green, Paper Towns

"Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer." – Dan Brown, Digital Fortress

"Fear is an illusion..." - Dark Templar, Starcraft 2 ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Its a paper town, with paper houses and paper people, everything is uglier up close. ~ John Green

Pg. 231-232: They'd given me a minivan. They could have picked any car and they picked a minivan. A minivan. O God of the Vehicular Justice, why dost thou mock me? Minivan, you albatross around my neck! You mark of Cain! You wretched beast high ceilings and few horsepower! ~ John Green

From the front Rdar announces, "Don't you go talking bad about GoFast bars. Do you want me to stop this car?"
"Whenever I eat a GoFast bar," Ben says, "I'm always like, 'So this is what blood tastes like to mosquitoes. ~ John Green

To find Margo Roth Spiegelman, you must become Margo Roth Spiegelman.
And I had done many of the things she might have done: I had engineered a most unlikely prom coupling. I had quieted the hounds of caste warfare. I had come to feel comfortable inside the rat-infested haunted house where she did her best thinking. I had seen. I had listened. But I could not yet become the wounded person. ~ John Green

Hidden in a toolbox, in the rafters of his four-car garage, was an envelope full of pictures taken by a private detective...They were pictures of a scrawny, boyish looking nine year old with a wide mouth and a tangle of brown hair...Her eyes were oblong and deep set, their color hidden from the camera by the slant of the sun. The angles and planes of her face were oddly beautiful just then, in that moment, frozen on Kodak paper. A hint of the woman she would someday become. ~ Shirley A. Martin

This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. ~ Ray Bradbury

Stop the tape, cut the paper! I will just write another poem and grab a microphone and push record again! ~ Delano Johnson

To give money to a sufferer is only a come-off. It is only a postponement of the real payment, a bribe paid for silence, a creditsystem in which a paper promise to pay answers for the time instead of liquidation. We owe to man higher succors than food and fire. We owe to man. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Alice: "I'll play you for it. Rock, paper, scissors."
Edward: "Why don't you just tell me who wins?"
Alice: "I do. Excellent. ~ Stephenie Meyer

I will say it one last time: Demonation! The feeling of it! There are no words -how can there be?- to describe what it feels like to become words, to feel your life encoded, and laid out in black ink on white paper. All my love and hatred, melted into words. It was like the End of the World. ~ Clive Barker

Sharon had seen a penis, but it was her brother's so it didn't count. Carol was the only girl in our group who had touched a real one....Carol said the penis felt like eyelid skin. Could that be right? For weeks after she told us, I would brush a finger over the skin above my eye and I would marvel that something that was made of boy could be so silky and fine, like tissue paper. ~ Allison Pearson

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities. ~ Sarah Palin

Monochromatic color schemes are lacking in contrast, which is why I start many of my canvas or paper pieces in this way. I can add layers of contrasting elements later on if desired. Adding tints and shades will give you a larger range of colors with which to create a richness of hues in your projects. ~ Roxanne Padgett

I do hope to travel," he said. "But not alone." She swallowed. "Oh?" Henry pulled something from his coat pocket and unfolded it. "Here is my itinerary." He held the piece of paper toward her. "What do you think of it?" Emma accepted the single sheet and glanced at the list of Italian destinations - cities, churches, ruins, palazzos, and pensiones - preparing to offer some polite comment. Instead she stared. She turned to her aunt's desk, opened her notebook, and compared it to their own Italian itinerary - the one they'd had to discard. Except for the handwriting, the lists were identical. She glanced up at him, lips parted in astonishment. He stepped nearer. "I had hoped to travel with my wife, but she is, as yet, unavailable." Her neck heated. "Oh . . . why?" Henry dipped his chin and raised his brows. "Because she has yet to agree to marry me. ~ Julie Klassen

As any reader knows, a printed page creates its own reading space, its own physical landscape in which the texture of the paper, the colour of the ink, the view of the whole ensemble acquire in the reader's hands specific meanings that lend tone and context to the words. ~ Alberto Manguel

I feel blessed that I had an opportunity to be in the Big Ten for four years as a player and be in the Big Ten as a coach for eight years. To get 12 years in a conference like the Big Ten - it's a first-class league with great towns and great fans. ~ Steve Alford

The guest thought long and hard and then said, with deliberation: Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper. ~ Terry Pratchett

The library in summer is the most wonderful thing because there you get books on any subject and read them each for only as long as they hold your interest, abandoning any that don't, halfway or a quarter of the way through if you like, and store up all that knowledge in the happy corners of your mind for your own self and not to show off how much you know or spit it back at your teacher on a test paper. ~ Polly Horvath

Writing takes a pen, a sheet of paper and, to start with, just the shadow of an idea. ~ Francoise Sagan

An educated man is thoroughly inoculated against humbug, thinks for himself and tries to give his thoughts, in speech or on paper, some style. ~ Alan K. Simpson

Sure, I've had some bad times, but everybody does. But people don't get to talk about them like I do, unless they do to a therapist. People don't get to put them in the paper like I do. ~ Lynn Johnston

There were many things he had to tell her, but what he really needed to say was simple. "I've missed you so much and ache to see you again. Every moment of the day no matter what else I'm doing you're in my thoughts. I want to … need to see you again.
Please come to me."
Pressing pencil to paper, he wrote. "See me. 7. Jim." He thought a moment and added "Livery Stable" just as it was printed on the sign above the door of the building.
Folding the paper, he wrote "Miss Johnson" on the outside. ~ Bonnie Dee

All I liked to do when I was a kid was draw. ~ Maurice Sendak

Shadow had no idea what a pasty was, but he said that would be fine, and in a few moments Mabel returned with a plate with what looked like a folded-over pie on it. The lower half was wrapped in a paper napkin. Shadow picked it up with the napkin and bit into it: it was warm and filled with meat, potatoes, carrots, onions. "First pasty I've ever had," he said. "It's real good. ~ Neil Gaiman

Your hands are not made to type out memos. Or put paper through fax machines. Or hold a phone up while you talk to people you dislike. One hundred years from now, your hands will rot like dust in your grave. You have to make wonderful use of those hands now. Kiss your hands so they can make magic. ~ James Altucher

I keep 'The Paper Bag Princess' by Robert Munsch on my shelf to remind me that my prince will love me no matter what I wear. Cheesy! ~ Brittany Snow

Anything beats an expensive stack of paper. ~ Larry Niven

Nothing quite has reality for me till I write it all down
revising and embellishing as I go. I'm always waiting for things to be over so I can get home and commit them to paper. ~ Erica Jong

I love leather and it's great to be a bad girl at times. But there is a time and place for everything. When I'm with Grandma it's flowers, and when I'm out on the town scoping guys, you know ... ~ Eliza Dushku

Language dazzles and deceives because it is masked by faces, because we see it emerging from the lips, because lips please and eyes beguile. But words on paper, black on white, reveal the naked soul. ~ Guy De Maupassant

On investments, 1998: Where I'm from we don't trust paper. Wealth is what's here on the premises. If I open a cupboard and see, say, 30 cans of tomato sauce and a five-pound bag of rice, I get a little thrill of well-being - much more so than if I take a look at the quarterly dividend report from my mutual fund. ~ Garrison Keillor

The poem builds in my mind and sits there, as if in a register, until the poem, or a piece of a longer poem, is finished enough to write down. I can hold several lines in my head for quite some time, but as soon as they are written down, the register clears, as it were, and I have to work with what is on the paper. ~ John Burnside

The town's young parents especially prized this idea of Newton as a child's paradise. Many of them had left the hip, sophisticated city to move here. They had accepted massive expenses, stultifying monotony, and the queasy disappointment of settling for a conventional life. To ~ William Landay

Helpfiles are traditionally outnumbered by no-help files, which superficially resemble a helpfile in form but not in content because they don't actually tell you anything you don't already know, or they answer every question except the one you're asking, or you open them and a giant animated paper clip leaps out and cheerfully asks where you want to go today. And wikis are worse. ~ Charles Stross

The Great Fires"

Love is apart from all things.
Desire and excitement are nothing beside it.
It is not the body that finds love.
What leads us there is the body.
What is not love provokes it.
What is not love quenches it.
Love lays hold of everything we know.
The passions which are called love
also change everything to a newness
at first. Passion is clearly the path
but does not bring us to love.
It opens the castle of our spirit
so that we might find the love which is
a mystery hidden there.
Love is one of many great fires.
Passion is a fire made of many woods,
each of which gives off its special odor
so we can know the many kinds
that are not love. Passion is the paper
and twigs that kindle the flames
but cannot sustain them. Desire perishes
because it tries to be love.
Love is eaten away by appetite.
Love does not last, but it is different
from the passions that do not last.
Love lasts by not lasting.
Isaiah said each man walks in his own fire
for his sins. Love allows us to walk
in the sweet music of our particular heart. ~ Jack Gilbert