Augusten Burroughs Quotes

You would be amazed by what you can give up, lose, or break, and yet still be a person who gets happy over brownies.

...handsome people are always interesting to watch. But a handsome person in crisis is riveting.

You need to grab your dream out of the sky like it's a kite and pinch the string through your fingers until you reach the spool.

I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.

I can't tell you how much I love Target and Costco, that kind of culture, because it's something I never felt a part of. I've always felt like a tourist because I have never fit in anywhere.

Should I just sit down, right here at carousel seven, and shake until somebody's arms are around me and they're saying, 'It's okay, I'm here, I'm here, come with me to the institute.

You are allowed to be alive. You are allowed to be somebody different. You are allowed to not say goodbye to anybody or explain a single thing to anyone, ever.

His laugh is made if porch swings and lemonade

But I can also write in crappy motel rooms, while standing in line, or sitting in the dentist's chair.

I really look at my childhood as being one giant rusty tuna can that I continue to recycle in many different shapes.

I wouldn't want to waste any of my brain cells on forgiving if it's holding me back.

This is what you should know about losing someone you love. They do not travel alone. You go with them.

There is no shame in being hungry for another person. There is no shame in wanting very much to share your life with somebody.

Smoking had become my favorite thing in the world to do. It was like having instant comfort, no matter where or when.

When people meet me, many times they're very surprised because they expect someone who is kind of wacky with seven piercings and very hip and cool and New York City, and I'm not.

Although I was able to maintain a pleasant expression, I was mentally throwing up in her face.

Like cubic zirconia, I only look real. I'm an imposter. The fact is, I am not like other people.

Maybe you feel pressure to be positive because so many people rely on your good, fake-positive energy? If that's the case, screw everybody else. You're not a bottle of Valium.

Nothing made sense to me anymore. I knew I was young, I knew I was small. But I was worried that I might already be ruined.

But she did love him. I believe it. I know exactly how that is. To love somebody who doesn't deserve it. Because they are all you have. Because any attention is better than no attention.

Real optimism is not the pep talk you give yourself. It is earned through the labor involved in emotional housekeeping.

Thanksgiving was nothing more than a pilgrim-created obstacle in the way of Christmas; a dead bird in the street that forced a brief detour.

And of course, the answer came to me in the same way Jesus comes to those who drink in trailers: as an epiphany.

Stars should not be seen alone. That's why there are so many. Two people should stand together and look at them. One person alone will surely miss the good ones.

Do not wait for the healing to arrive. It will never come. The holes will never leave or be filled with anything at all. But holes are interesting things.

I once read about a guy who lost his arms in a fire. The nurse took pity on him and gave him a hand job. I don't even get that.

Red hair is great. It's rare, and therefore superior.

The dark side of blogging is, of course, people can be (and are) just savage and uncivilized, deeply cruel and fully unaccountable.

Love is a helium-based emotion; Love always takes the high road.

Because here is the truth: If you want to have a chance at meeting somebody with whom you are genuinely compatible, never put your best foot forward.

After was better. Before was only there so After could happen.

The truth is that nobody is owed an apology for anything. Apologies are lovely when they happen. But they change nothing. They do not reverse actions or correct damage. They are merely nice to hear.

I think I love him, but I also think that you can love people who aren't good for you.

Long marriages have ended in ruin over tiny and insignificant grievances that were never properly aired and instead grew into a brittle barnacle of hatred.

My mistake was in underestimating the emotional force of a song you have already hear a thousand times.

I know exactly how that is. To love somebody who doesn't deserve it.

When I ate vanilla frosting straight from the can, I could feel God standing right nest to me like a real best friend, watching, and smiling, and wishing he had a mouth.

I hate news and information and anything that threatens to puncture the bubble of oblivion in which I live.

You manufacture beauty with your mind

Imperfections are attractive when their owners are happy with them.

My attraction had been immediate and profound. And it had nothing to do with the way he looked. My attraction was to what resided between his lines.

When you have your health, you have everything. When you do not have your health, nothing else matters at all.

This is what happens when you go against the grain of truth. You get splinters later on.

My window fogs and this makes me feel like there is no world outside of the car.

My thoughts seem thick, ketchup stuck in a bottle. Like trying to feel someone's face while wearing goosedown mittens.

As a writer, you can't allow yourself the luxury of being discouraged and giving up when you are rejected, either by agents or publishers. You absolutely must plow forward.

Miracles do happen. You must believe this. No matter what else you believe about life, you must believe in miracles.

It turned out I had always been a smoker. I just hadn't had any cigarettes.

Bad news should be followed with soup. Then a nap.

I like, though, that people have a hunger to connect with other people. They're desperate to know that you're not lying to them or misleading them.