"There was this one part where the main character, who is this architect, is sitting on a boat with his best friend, who is a newspaper tycoon. And the newspaper tycoon says that the architect is a very cold man. The architect replies that if the boat were sinking, and there was only room in the lifeboat for one person, he would glady give up his life for the newspaper tycoon. And then he says something like this...

"I would die for you. But I won't live for you."

Something like that. I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make choice to share it with other people. Maybe that is what makes people "participate.""

- The perks of being a wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

“I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won't tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn't change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad. (...) Maybe it's good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the onlu perspective is to really be there. Like Sam said. Because it's okay to feel things. And be who you are about them."

- The perks of being a wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

“So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

- The perks of being a wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

“Charlie, I told you not to think of me that way nine months ago because of what I’m saying now. Not because of Craig. Not because I didn’t think you were great. It’s just that I don’t want to be somebody’s crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don’t want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it, too. I want them to be able to do whatever they want around me. And if they do something I don’t like, I’ll tell them."

(...)

"You know I blamed Craig for not letting me do things? You know how stupid I feel abut that now? Maybe he didn’t really encourage me to do things, but he didn’t prevent me from doing them either. But after a while, I didn’t do things because I didn’t want him to think different about me. But the thing is, I wasn’t being honest. So, why would I care whether or not he loved me when he didn’t really even know me?"

(...)

"So, tomorrow, I’m leaving. And I’m not going to let that happen again with anyone else. I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. And I’m going to figure out what that is. But right now I’m here with you. And I want to know where you are, what you need, and what you want to do.”

- The perks of being a wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

"But because things change. And friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody."

- The perks of being a wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

“And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”

- The perks of being a wallflower, Stephen Chbosky