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“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
― Oscar Wilde

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”
― Bernard M. Baruch

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

“That's the choice. I love him, with all that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Sometimes you just jump and hope it's not a cliff.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“I thought, this is the most incredible thing I have ever seen, and I had better keep it a safe distance away from me. I thought, if someone like that ever loved me, it would set me on fire.
And then I was a careless fool, and I fell in love with you anyway. When you rang me at truly shocking hours of the night, I loved you. When you kissed me in disgusting public toilets and pouted in hotel bars and made me happy in ways in which it had never even occurred to me that a mangled-up, locked-up person like me could be happy, I loved you.
And then, inexplicably, you had the absolute audacity to love me back. Can you believe it?
Sometimes, even now, I still can't.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Take anything you want and know you deserve to have it.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“History, huh?”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Straight people, he thinks, probably don't spend this much time convincing themselves that they're straight.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“He called Henry the North Star once. That wasn’t bright enough.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Henry looks Philip square in the face and says, “I’ve been gay as a maypole since the day I came out of Mum, Philip.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Oh my God, I thought you were getting into international relations or something.”
“I mean, technically—”
“If you finish that sentence, I’m gonna spend tonight in jail.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“What are we even defending here, Philip? What kind of legacy? What kind of family, that says, we’ll take the murder, we’ll take the raping and pillaging and the colonizing, we’ll scrub it up nice and neat in a museum, but oh no, you’re a bloody poof? That’s beyond our sense of decorum! I’ve bloody well had it. I’ve sat about long enough letting you and Gran and the weight of the damned world keep me pinned, and I’m finished. I don’t care. You can take your legacy and your decorum and you can shove it up your fucking arse, Philip. I’m done.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“What?" Henry shouts over the noise when he sees the look on Alex's face.
"My life is a cosmic joke and you're not a real person," Alex says, wheezing.
"What?" Henry yells again.
"I said, you look great, baby!”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Are you quite finished?" Henry says, sounding strangled. "Can you perhaps stop putting your sodding life in danger now?"

"Aw, you do care," Alex says. "I'm learning all your hidden depths today, sweetheart."

Henry exhales and slumps off him. "I can't believe even mortal peril will not prevent you from being the way you are.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“He wants to set himself on fire, but he can’t afford for anyone to see him burn.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“The class is Ethical Issues in International Relations. He really has got to stop taking classes so painfully relevant to his life.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“God, I want to fight everyone who's ever hurt you, but it was me too, wasn't it? All that time.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Christ, you are as thick as it gets,' he says, and he grabs Alex's face in both hands and kisses him.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“One does not foster a lifelong love of Star Wars without knowing an “empire” isn’t a good thing.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“None of it is satisfying—it never has been, not really, but it never mattered as much as it does now that there’s the sharp counterpoint of Henry, who knows him. Henry who’s seen him in glasses and tolerates him at his most annoying and still kissed him like he wanted him, singularly, not the idea of him.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Alex makes a mental note to figure out which shadowy gay noble taught Henry all this and send the man a fruit basket.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Listen,” he says, pulling a curled fist out of his pocket. He takes one of Alex’s hands and turns it to press something small and heavy into his palm. “I want you to know, I’m sure. A thousand percent.”

He removes his hand and there, sitting in the center of Alex’s callused palm, is the signet ring.

“What?” Alex’s eyes flash up to search Henry’s face and find him smiling softly. “I can’t—”

“Keep it,” Henry tells him. “I’m sick of wearing it.”

It’s a private airstrip, but it’s still risky, so he folds Henry in a hug and whispers fiercely, “I completely fucking love you.”

At cruising altitude, he takes the chain off his neck and slides the ring on next to the old house key. They clink together gently as he tucks them both under his shirt, two homes side by side.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“You need to get back to fucking England now, and if anyone sees you leave, I will personally end you. Ask me if I’m afraid of the crown.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Then, unprompted, Henry says into the stretching stillness, “Return of the Jedi.” A beat. “What?” “To answer your question,” Henry says. “Yes, I do like Star Wars, and my favorite is Return of the Jedi.” “Oh,” Alex says. “Wow, you’re wrong.” Henry huffs out the tiniest, most poshly indignant puff of air. It smells minty. Alex resists the urge to throw another elbow. “How can I be wrong about my own favorite? It’s a personal truth.” “It’s a personal truth that is wrong and bad.” “Which do you prefer, then? Please show me the error of my ways.” “Okay, Empire.” Henry sniffs. “So dark, though.” “Yeah, which is what makes it good,” Alex says. “It’s the most thematically complex. It’s got the Han and Leia kiss in it, you meet Yoda, Han is at the top of his game, fucking Lando Calrissian, and the best twist in cinematic history. What does Jedi have? Fuckin’ Ewoks.” “Ewoks are iconic.” “Ewoks are stupid.” “But Endor.” “But Hoth. There’s a reason people always call the best, grittiest installment of a trilogy the Empire of the series.” “And I can appreciate that. But isn’t there something to be valued in a happy ending as well?” “Spoken like a true Prince Charming.” “I’m only saying, I like the resolution of Jedi. It ties everything up nicely. And the overall theme you’re intended to take away from the films is hope and love and … er, you know, all that. Which is what Jedi leaves you with a sense of most of all.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“If Alex's head is a storm, Henry is the place lightning hits ground.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Buy a summer home in Majorca with the turkey...”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Diaz, you insane, hopeless romantic little shit," says the voice of the President of the United States, muffled in the bed. "It had better be forever. Be safe.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“You listen to me,” she says. Her jaw is set, ironclad. It’s the game face he’s seen her use to stare down Congress, to cow autocrats. Her grip on his hand is steady and strong. He wonders, half-hysterically, if this is how it felt to charge into war under Washington. “I am your mother. I was your mother before I was ever the president, and I’ll be your mother long after, to the day they put me in the ground and beyond this earth. You are my child. So, if you’re serious about this, I’ll back your play.”
Alex is silent.
But the debates, he thinks. But the general.
Her gaze is hard. He knows better than to say either of those things. She’ll handle it.
“So,” she says. “Do you feel forever about him?”
And there’s no room left to agonize over it, nothing left to do but say the thing he’s known all along.
“Yeah,” he says, “I do.”
Ellen Claremont exhales slowly, and she grins a small, secret grin, the crooked, unflattering one she never uses in public, the one he knows best from when he was a kid”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Henry, who can drone on about Lord Byron until you threaten to block his number.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue