Jenny Han > Quotes

“Moments, when lost, can't be found again. They're just gone.”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“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, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“It's the imperfections that make things beautiful”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That's the part of the risk. I don't want to be scared anymore.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“You'd rather make up a fantasy version of somebody in your head than be with a real person.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“He didn’t give me flowers or candy. He gave me the moon and the stars. Infinity

-Belly Conklin-”
― Jenny Han, We'll Always Have Summer

“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, P.S. I Still Love You

“I will never look at you in the same way ever again. I'll never be that girl again. The girl who comes running back every time you push her away, the girl who loves you anyway.”
― Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You

“Life doesn't have to be so planned. Just roll with it and let it happen.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“How do you regret one of the best nights of your entire life? You don't. You remember every word, every look. Even when it hurts, you still remember.”
― Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You

“That's when I finally got it. I finally understood. It wasn't the thought that counted. It was the actual execution that mattered, the showing up for somebody. The intent behind it wasn't enough. Not for me. Not anymore. It wasn't enough to know that deep down, he loved me. You had to actually say it to somebody, show them you cared. And he just didn't. Not enough.”
― Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You

“Do you know what it’s like to like someone so much you can’t stand it and know that they’ll never feel the same way?”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“It's not like in the movies. It's better, because it's real.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“There’s a Korean word my grandma taught me. It’s called jung. It’s the connection between two people that can’t be severed, even when love turns to hate. You still have those old feelings for them; you can’t ever completely shake them loose of you; you will always have tenderness in your heart for them.”
― Jenny Han, P.S. I Still Love You

“We stood there, looking at each other, saying nothing. But it was the kind of nothing that meant everything. In his eyes, there was no trace of what had happened between us earlier and I could feel something inside me break.
So that was that. We were finally, finally over.
I looked at him, and I felt so sad, because this thought occurred to me: 'I will never look at you the same way again. I'll never be that girl again. The girl who comes running back every time you push her away, the girl who loves you anyway.'
I couldn’t even be mad at him, because this was who he was. This was who he’d
always been. He’d never lied about that. He gave and then he took away. I felt it in the pit of my stomach, the familiar ache, that lost, regretful feeling only he could give me. I never wanted to feel it again. Never, ever.
Maybe this was why I came, so I could really know. So I could say good-bye.
I looked at him, and I thought, 'If I was very brave or very honest, I would tell him.'
I would say it, so he would know it and I would know it, and I could never take it back. But I wasn’t that brave or honest, so all I did was look at him. And I think he knew anyway.
'I release you. I evict you from my heart. Because if I don't do it now, I never will.'
I was the one to look away first.”
― Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You

“And no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can’t stop
yourself from dreaming.”
― Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You

“In the dark you can feel really close to a person. You can say whatever you want.”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“You only like guys you don't have a chance with, because you're scared.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“Maybe that was how it was with all first loves. They own a little piece of your heart, always.”
― Jenny Han, We'll Always Have Summer

“Best friends are important. They're the closest thing to a sister you'll ever have.”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“We stood there, looking at each other, saying nothing. But it was the kind of nothing that meant everything.”
― Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You

“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, We'll Always Have Summer

“I don’t have to be so afraid of good-bye, because good-bye doesn’t have to be forever.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“Would you rather live one perfect day over and over or live your life with no perfect days but just decent ones?”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“I want to say yes, but I don't want to be with a boy whose heart belongs to somebody else. Just once, I want to be somebody else's first choice”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“Never say no when you really want to say yes.”
― Jenny Han, Always and Forever, Lara Jean

“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. That's why you can't save it all up like that.

Because by the time you finally see each other, you're catching up only on the big things, because it's too much bother to tell about the little things. But the little things are what make up life.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“When you walk on the beach at night, you can say things you can't say in real life.”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“I know now that I don’t want to love or be loved in half measures. I want it all, and to have it all, you have to risk it all.”
― Jenny Han, P.S. I Still Love You

“I didn't fall for you, you tripped me!”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before