Jandy Nelson > Quotes

“Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Meeting your soul mate is like walking into a house you've been in before - you will recognize the furniture, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves, the contents of drawers: You could find your way around in the dark if you had to.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes a part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“I gave up practically the whole world for you,” I tell him, walking through the front door of my own love story. “The sun, stars, ocean, trees, everything, I gave it all up for you.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I love you,” I say to him, only it comes out, “Hey.”
“So damn much,” he says back, only it comes out, “Dude.”
He still won’t meet my eyes.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I didn’t know you could get buried in your own silence.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“The sky is everywhere, it begins at your feet.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people,” I say. “Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.” Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“grief is a house
where the chairs
have forgotten how to hold us
the mirrors how to reflect us
the walls how to contain us

grief is a house that disappears
each time someone knocks at the door
or rings the bell
a house that blows into the air
at the slightest gust
that buries itself deep in the ground
while everyone is sleeping

grief is a house where no one can protect you
where the younger sister
will grow older than the older one
where the doors
no longer let you in
or out”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“When people fall in love, they burst into flames.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“His soul might be a sun. I’ve never met anyone who had the sun for a soul.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Quick, make a wish.
Take a (second or third or fourth) chance.
Remake the world.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Each time someone dies, a library burns.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“People die, I think, but your relationship with them doesn't. It continues and is ever-changing.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“You have to see the miracles for there to be miracles.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“what is bad for the heart is good for art. The terrible irony of our lives as artists.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“In one split second I saw everything I could be, everything I want to be. And all that I’m not.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“There once was a girl who found herself dead.
She peered over the ledge of heaven
and saw that back on earth
her sister missed her too much,
was way too sad,
so she crossed some paths
that would not have crossed,
took some moments in her hand
shook them up
and spilled them like dice
over the living world.
It worked.
The boy with the guitar collided
with her sister.
"There you go, Len," she whispered. "The rest is up to you.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“I wish my shadow would get up and walk beside me.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“Reality is crushing. The world is a wrong-sized shoe. How can anyone stand it?”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Sometimes you think you know things, know things very deeply, only to realize you don’t know a damn thing.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“There were once two sisters
who were not afriad of the dark
because the dark was full of the other's voice
across the room,
because even when the night was thick
and starless
they walked home together from the river
seeing who could last the longest
without turning on her flashlight,
not afraid
because sometimes in the pitch of night
they'd lie on their backs
in the middle of the path
and look up until the stars came back
and when they did,
they'd reach their arms up to touch them
and did.”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“We wish with our hands, that’s what we do as artists.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“If bad luck knows who you are, become someone else.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“This is what I want: I want to grab my brother’s hand and run back through time, losing years like coats falling from our shoulders.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“It's never occurred to me that the stars are still up there shining even in the daytime when we can't see them.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“... if you're someone who knows the worst thing can happen at any time, aren't you also someone who knows the best thing can happen at any time too?”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“When he plays
all the flowers swap colors
and years and decades and centuries
of rain pour back into the sky”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“There should be a horn or gong or something to wake God. Because I’d like to have a word with him. Three words actually: WHAT THE FUCK?!”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun