Influential Quotes

• “If we don’t change the direction we are headed, we will end up where we’re going.”(1)-Chinese Proverb

This is an important quote to the novel as I believe it is really Picoult's message. This is also important because of the placement of this quote. At the start of the novel, it informs the audience that something needs to change. It means if you keep doing a routine the wrong way, it will become permanent and harder to get out of the situation. If you keep doing something wrong, you will eventually end up in the wrong. I also believe this quote relates to society today. Even though there is always room for improvement, we currently may not all share the same good morals. If we don't change these morals, society will only get worse.

• "A mathematical formula for happiness:Reality divided by Expectations.There were two ways to be happy:improve your reality or lower your expectations."

This quote is coincidentally stated by Lewis, Peter's father, who has obviously had to examine his life experiences to produce a formula for happiness. Did Lewis really achieve happiness after all he had been through? I think this quote offers an opinion, not an appropriate formula that should be practiced everyday. The first part of the formula of improving your reality means to make your life better. Take what you are given and make the best of it, but the last part of the equation means to be happy lower your expectations, in other words, lower your standards, rethink your dreams. I think these two variables contradict each other, and may confuse the audience.

• "Can you hate someone for what they have done, but still love them for whom they had been?"

This question is asked about Peter. Although Peter had made a huge mistake, thinking back did anyone really love him? People make mistakes, but can you look past their mistakes and love them for who they really were, that is truly what this quote asks. It is a question that makes you think instead of just hating someone for what they have done, think deeper and can you still love them for whom they had been? It allows the reader to think more into the novel, and asks if it really was love in the first place.

• "If you spent your life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were?"

This quote refers to a typical high school concern. The quote really states, if you worry so much about what others think, you will be obsessed with everyone else's opinions and perhaps forget about your own. The setup of this question allows the audience to think past the novel, and maybe into personal matters of past or present experiences. It will trigger the reader to analyze why they allow the others to influence their own decisions. Why let other's opinions play such an important role in your own life, where it isn't always appropriate.

• "You don't need water to feel like you're drowning, do you?"

During stressful situations you can still endure the same feeling of anxiety when you drown, even if your not actually drowning. When a person drowns they are suffocated with water, in this figure of speech, a person can be suffocated from aspects in ones life that cause stress. In any of the characters situations in the novel, they go through a traumatic scenario that can take them under, into a darker side. Too much of the little things cause society to feel like they are drowning, much of the time it is, but not always necessary. Let the water relax you.

• "So much of the language of love was like that: you devoured someone with your eyes, you drank in the sight of them, you swallowed them whole. Love was substance, broken down and beating through your bloodstream."

Above was Josie stating these lines, and her feelings towards Matt.
This figurative language incorporated in the quote helps demonstrate how strong love really is. The first sentence is viewed similar to a definition and helps the audience who maybe haven't experienced this strength of love, really understand that it can happen. It may give some readers hope, while other readers may be feeling this now, or remembering this feeling. The last part of this quote shows how much love takes over your body and even your life. Love makes people crazy. It really is something everyone should appreciate and wish to experience everyday.

• "When you begin a journey of revenge, start by digging 2 graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself"(331).

This quote means that two wrongs don't make a right. Anytime you wish to get revenge, you might as well be considered just as bad as the other person. This quote relates to Peter's revenge he had on all the bullies at the school, which actually resulted in Peter having a shorter life he originally expected. Peter thought getting back the bullies would make things better and would change his life for the better, little did he know it would only make things worse, that would eventually result in suicide. This quote allows us to see that Peter's intentions were wrong, and would only conclude in a worse way.

• "I know how difficult it can be when the image you've had of something doesn't match its reality; when the friend beside you turns into a monster."

This bundle of words associates that people can be deceiving. It means who you think you know, may not be who they really are. People aren't always who they seem to be. Again, this quote is related to Peter. He always seemed to be the quiet, incapable, nerd, but when pushed in the right directions, transformed into a monster. This quote doesn't have to suggest a person isn't who they seem to be, it could indicate that a dream, or even reality may not be what they are perceived as.