Bernarda > Bernarda's Quotes

“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

“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

“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

“Reality is crushing. The world is a wrong-sized shoe. How can anyone stand it?”
― 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

“And even as I'm kissing him and kissing him and kissing him, I wish I were kissing him, wanting more, more, more, more, like I can't get enough, never will be able to get enough.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“He's the one. And some thoughts once thought are very hard to unthink.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“He floated into the air high above the sleeping forest, his green hat spinning a few feet above his head. In his hand was the open suitcase and out of it spilled a whole sky of stars.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people," I say. "Maybe we're accumulating these new selves all the time.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“And why do English people sound smarter than the rest of us? Like they should be awarded the Nobel Prize for a simple greeting?”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“In a flash, we're through the door, across the street and into the woods, running for no reason and laughing for no reason and totally out of breath and out of our minds when Brian catches me by my shirt, whips me around, and with one strong hand flat against my chest, he pushes me against a tree and kisses me so hard I go blind.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“People think people are in charge, but they're wrong; it's the trees.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Portrait: The Boy with All the Keys in the World with All the Locks”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. —E.E. CUMMINGS”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“It occurs to me that Jude does this too, changes who she is depending on who she’s with. They’re like toads changing their skin color. How come I’m always just me?”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“(Self Portrait: Boy Remakes World Before World Remakes Boy)”
― 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

“Pockets are hand jails.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I go behind the telescope, peer into the eyepiece, and all the stars crash down on my head. It’s like taking a shower in the cosmos. I gasp.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I look like the freaking Aurora Borealis..”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I love pizza, meaning: Even when I’m in the middle of eating pizza, I wish I were eating pizza.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“We walk and walk through the gray ashy dusk and the forest starts to fall asleep: The trees lie down side by side by side, the creek halts, the plants sink back into the earth, the animals switch places with their shadows, and then, so do we.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“The sunset has turned the sky into a carnival of color as Noah and Brian walk out of the forest, hand in hand. Brian notices Dad and me first and shrugs his hand away, but Noah immediately finds it again. At this, Brian's eyes squint up and his face cracks open in a heart-crushing smile. Noah, like always around Brian, can barely keep his head on his neck, he's so happy.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I’m having a hand problem. How come everyone else seems to know what to do with them? Pockets, I remember with relief, pockets, I love pockets!”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Space garbage," he answers like it's obvious. "The sky's always falling. Always. You'll see. People have no idea."

No people don't, because they're not revolutionaries like us.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I notice he doesn't have his meteorite bag and see out the window it's probably going to pour any minute, but wee need to et out of here. Immediately. "We're going to search for meteorites," I say, like that's what most people do on winter mornings. I never really told either of them too much about last summer, which is reflected in both of their flummoxed faces. But who freaking cares?

Not us.

In a flash, we're through the door, across the street and into the woods, running for no reason and laughing for no reason and totally out of breath and out of our minds when Brian catches me by my shirt, whips me around, and with one strong hand flat against my chest, he pushes me against a tree and kisses me so hard I go blind.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“What happened between us has colonized every last brain cell. I can barely tie my shoelaces. I forgot how to chew this morning.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“Every picture taken of you reduces your spirit and shortens your life”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I run my hands through his hair, finally, finally, finally, then bring his head to mine and kiss him so hard our teeth collide, planets collide, kissing him now for each and every time we didn't all summer long. I know absolutely how to kiss him too, how to make his whole body tremble just from biting his lip, how to make his whole body tremble just from biting his lip, how to make him moan right inside my mouth by whispering his name, how to make his head fall back, his spine arch, how to make him groan through his teeth.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun