“ The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ I hated being volunteered. The problem with my life was that it was someone else's idea. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didn't get--and never would get. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ I wanted to tell them that I'd never had a friend, not ever, not a real one. Until Dante. I wanted to tell them that I never knew that people like Dante existed in the world, people who looked at the… Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ I had a feeling there was something wrong with me. I guess I was a mystery even to myself. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ I renamed myself Ari.If I switched the letter, my name was Air.I thought it might be a great thing to be the air.I could be something and nothing at the same time. I could be necessary and also invisi… Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ And it seemed to me that Dante's face was a map of the world. A world without any darkness.Wow, a world without darkness. How beautiful was that? Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ People who have monsters recognize each other. They know each other without even saying a word. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ One of my roommates, Rafael, he's an expert on monsters. Not that he talks about them. I can just tell. People who have monsters recognize each other. They know each other without even saying a word. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ Adam says I isolate. He is addicted to telling me that I spend too much time in my head. It’s an unhealthy behavior. Look, I don’t see how not bothering other people with your screwed-up vision of the… Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“ What is it with you and that book?"Rafael laughed. "We have a personal relationship. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
