It was becoming clear to me that I shouldn’t become too attached to anything. Turn your back and you lose it. Just like that.

—Sarah Dessen in The Truth About Forever

ephemerality attachment

About Sarah Dessen

Portrait of Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen (born June 6, 1970) is an American novelist known for her contributions to young adult fiction. Her first book, That Summer, was published in 1996, and has since published more than a dozen other novels and novellas. In 2017, Dessen won the Margaret Edwards Award for some of...

More quotations from Sarah Dessen

Strange how you could barely know a person and they were still able to bring out the worst in you.

—Sarah Dessen in Once and for All

All anyone really wants from another person is their attention. It's so easy to give and counts for so much.

—Sarah Dessen in Once and for All

And now, as I reached up, closing my fingers over his, I was grateful more than ever for something, finally, to hold on to.

—Sarah Dessen in Just Listen

He's just not a keeper. He's not worth working my schedule around if we're only going to break up in a few weeks anyway.

—Sarah Dessen in This Lullaby

It was just one boy, that same boy I always started to think about more and more as the hours passed.

—Sarah Dessen in Along for the Ride

More quotations tagged with “ephemerality”

For all things come from earth, and all things end by becoming earth.

becoming ephemerality earth

Not everything is supposed to become something beautiful and long-lasting. Sometimes people come into your life to show you what is right and what is wrong, to show you who you can be, to teach you to love yourself, to make you feel better for a little while, or to just be someone to walk with at night and spill your life to. Not everyone is going to stay forever, and we still have to keep on going and thank them for what they've given us.

life beauty ephemerality forever

Maybe some people just aren’t meant to be in our lives forever. Maybe some people are just passing through. It’s like some people just come through our lives to bring us something: a gift, a blessing, a lesson we need to learn.

—Danielle Steel in The Gift

relationships learning time people ephemerality

That’s what life is about: People come and go.

—Cecelia Ahern in Love, Rosie

life people relationship ephemerality

If, every day, I dare to remember that I am here on loan, that this house, this hillside, these minutes, are all leased to me, not given, I will never despair. Despair is for those who expect to live forever. I no longer do.

life preciousness ephemerality despair permanence