Leila Sales

But you know better than anyone how the Internet sees everything and nothing, all at the same time.

There were people in this world who didn't know how to take care of others. There were people who walked away even when they'd made a promise to stand by you. There were people who threw around the word love but only acted on it when it was convenient for them.

This should have been a red flag, I realize in retrospect. Working really hard on anything is, by definition, not cool.

I liked projects where I could take things apart and figure out exactly how they worked. The problem is, you can't do that with people.

Don't you ever want to have just one thing that no one else knows about, so no one can ruin it for you?

The thing about being an artist," Dad said, folding his newspaper and setting it down on the table, "is that there are always going to be people who want to stop you from doing your art. But this usually says more about them and their issues than it does about you and your art. Trust me.

I have a theoryd that the first person you fall for creates a model for how you approach relationships going forward. Like, it frames how you'll look at every person who you date after that.

People have to create some sort of art so they have something to think about other than their shitty lives.

Some people were nice to you simply because they liked you.

When you die, you just die. No ghost, no reincarnation, no heaven. People want to believe that their souls live on or whatever, but that's only because they can't handle the idea of the world going on without them.

Because before the time when you're heartbroken, you get to be in love, and that's worth it.

Well, you can't have heartbreak without love," Dan pointed out. "If your heart was really broken, then at least you know you really loved him.

I think love without heartbreak is a myth. A pretty myth, but the kind of myth that ultimately makes us feel worse about ourselves because we're somehow not able to make it come true.

If there's one common thread throughout all of history, it's that people have always fallen for the wrong people.

We shouldn't be doing this." Dan broke the silence, his voice low. "We would both get in trouble." He stood up. "Let's go back.""We shouldn't be doing what?" I scrambled to my feet. "What exactly are we doing?""This.""You mean consorting?""Sure, consorting. Cavorting. Carousing." He paused to take a deep breath."Kissing." Then he leaned in and pressed his mouth to mine.

What really happened doesn't matter. What matters is how we agree to remember it.

Throughout it all, you are still, always, you: beautiful and bruised, known and unknowable.