Jay Asher Quotes

If my love were an ocean,
there would be no more land.
If my love were a desert,
you would see only sand.
If my love were a star-
late at night, only light.
And if my love could grow wings,
I'd be soaring in flight.

— Jay Asher

Sometimes we have thoughts that even we don't understand. Thoughts that aren't even true-that aren't really how we feel-but they're running through our heads anyway because they're interesting to think about.

— Jay Asher

“I sat. And I thought. And the more I thought, connecting the events in my life, the more my heart collapsed.”

— Jay Asher

That's why you did it. You wanted your world to collapse around you. You wanted everything to get as dark as possible.

— Jay Asher

“Actually, I love trying to figure out why certain books become hits while others, which may be just as good, have trouble finding an audience.”

— Jay Asher

“When you write a book for publication, you're writing it for other people to read.”

— Jay Asher

“But sometimes there's nothing left to do but move on.”

— Jay Asher

“Because it may seem like a small role now, but it matters. In the end, everything matters.”

— Jay Asher

Maybe you didn't know what people thought of you because they themselves didn't know what they thought of you. Maybe you didn't give us enough to go on, Hannah.

— Jay Asher

“When you hold people up for ridicule, you have to take responsibility when other people act on it.”

— Jay Asher

But I need to wake up somehow. Or maybe not. Maybe it's best to get through the day half-asleep. Maybe that's the only way to get through today.

— Jay Asher

“Everything seemed good, but I knew it had the potential to be awful.”

— Jay Asher

If time was a string connecting all of your stories, that party would be the point where everything knots up. And that knot keeps growing and growing, getting more and more tangled, dragging the rest of your stories into it.

— Jay Asher

“This was not a spurr-of-the-moment decision. Do not take me for granted ... again.”

— Jay Asher

“Rejection always hurts, but having it come from my best friend was the worst.”

— Jay Asher

I want to look back. To look over my shoulder and see the Stop sign with huge reflective letters, pleading with Hannah. Stop!

— Jay Asher

“Half of them kept repeating my name, trying to get it right, while the other half laughed.
But they were harmless. Fun drunks make a nice addition to any party: Not looking to fight. Not looking to score. Just looking to get drunk and laugh.
I remember those guys. Like the mascots of the party.
Clay! Whatcha doon here? Bah-ha-ha-ha!”

— Jay Asher

“And like I said, I didn't know him very well, but my ears perked up whenever I heard his name. I guess I wanted to hear something - anything - juicy. Not because I wanted to spread gossip. I just couldn't believe someone could be that good.
If he was actually that good ... wonderful. Great! But it became a personal game of mine. How long could I go on hearing nothing but good things about Clay Jensen?
Normally, when a person has a stellar image, another person's waiting in the wings to tear them apart. They're waiting for that one fatal flaw to expose itself.
But not with Clay.”

— Jay Asher

“Because our lies matched. It was a sign.”

— Jay Asher

But they were wrong. There was a reason.

— Jay Asher

“That's when I said it. That's when I whispered to her, "I'm so sorry." Because inside, I felt so happy and sad at the same time. Sad that it took me so long to get there. But happy that we got there together.”

— Jay Asher

“I didn't feel physically sick. But mentally. My mind was twisting in so many ways. ( ... ) We once saw a documentary on migraines. One of the men interviewed used to fall on his knees and bang his head against the floor, over and over during attacks. This diverted the pain from deep inside his brain, where he couldn't reach it, to a pain outside that he had control over.”

— Jay Asher

“The longer you wait, and this is true, the slower the hands will move.”

— Jay Asher

Josh turns to me. "I can't believe she's writing these things." "Not she," I say. "Me." "Why would anyone say this stuff about themselves on the Internet? It's crazy!" "Exactly," I say. "I'm going to be mentally ill in fifteen years, and that's why my husband doesn't want to be around me.

— Jay Asher

“And here he is again, yet things feel like they'll never be as easy between us as they once were.”

— Jay Asher

“Maybe it's not as important to you as it was for me, but that's not for you to decide.”

— Jay Asher

“And in high school, people are always watching so there's always a reason to pose.”

— Jay Asher

“-Because if I hadn't been so afraid of everyone else, I might have told Hannah that someone cared. And Hannah might still be alive.”

— Jay Asher

“Because no, I didn't push her away. I didn't add to her pain or do anything to
hurt her. Instead, I left her alone in that room. The only person who might've been able to reach out and save her from herself. To pull her back from wherever she was heading.
I did what she asked and I left. When I should have stayed.”

— Jay Asher

“The name sounds almost too perfect. And as I said, you look perfect, too. The only thing left ... is to be perfect.”

— Jay Asher

“I pretended not to notice him. Not because I had anything against him, but because my heart and my trust were in the process of collapsing. And that collapse created a vacuum in my chest. Like every nerve in my body was withering in, pulling away from my fingers and toes. Pulling back and disappearing.”

— Jay Asher

“God, I am freaking out. Maybe he doesn't know. Maybe I just look guilty of something and he's picking up on that.”

— Jay Asher

“Did the poet use red to symbolize blood? Anger? Lust? Or is the wheelbarrow simply red because red sounded better than black?”

— Jay Asher

“Unsure of what I was. An optimist? A pessimist?
Neither. A fool.”

— Jay Asher

Her words, they're not warm anymore. She might want me to hear them that way, but they're burning me up instead. In my mind. In my heart

— Jay Asher

“You have so little control over anything anymore. And at some point, the struggle becomes too much-too tiring-and you consider letting go.”

— Jay Asher

“Yes, there are major gaps in my story. Some parts I just couldn't figure out how to tell. Or couldn't bring myself to say out loud. Events I haven't come to grips with ... that I'll never come to grips with. And if I never have to say them out loud, then I never have to think them all the way trough.”

— Jay Asher

“He's always looking out windows,
contemplating something.”

— Jay Asher

“Unanswered? I would've answered any question, Hannah. But you never asked.”

— Jay Asher

He's doing sit-ups in his tighy-whities! His chest looks toned, but ... tighty-whities?

— Jay Asher

“As the song goes, 'You are lost and gone forever, oh my darling, Valentine.'
[ ... ]
I'm listening to someone give up. Someone I knew. Someone I liked.
I'm listening. But still, I'm too late.”

— Jay Asher

“But now it's too late.
And that's why, right at this moment, I feel so much hate. Toward myself. I deserve to be on this list. Because if I hadn't been so afraid of everyone else, I might have told Hannah that someone cared. And Hannah might still be alive.
I pull my gaze back from the neon sign.”

— Jay Asher

The road to publication is like a churro- long and bumpy, but sweet.

— Jay Asher

“I stood there and watched you disappear. Forever”

— Jay Asher

I wonder if she means Graham. His locker is near mine, so I get to see him pull Emma into a groping session every morning.
It always fills me with so much joy.

— Jay Asher

“You can't rewrite the past”

— Jay Asher

“After your visits, I twisted my blinds shut every night. I locked out the stars and I never saw lightning again. Each night, I simply turned out the lights and went to bed.”

— Jay Asher

Because you never wore makeup, Hannah. You didn't need it.

— Jay Asher

Looking back, i stopped writting in my notebook when i stopped wanting to know myself anymore

— Jay Asher

“I repeat his words in my head. What's going on? What's going on? Oh, well, since you asked, I got a bunch of tapes in the mail today from a girl who killed herself. Apparently, I had something to do with it. I'm not sure what that is, so I was wondering if I could borrow your Walkman to find out. 'Not much,' I say.”

— Jay Asher