In celebration of one of my favourite authors being named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014, I thought I’d share some of my favourite excerpts and quotes of his. John Green is a 30-something young-adult fiction writer from Indianapolis, IN. He is a Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, his most well-known books being Looking for Alaska (2005) and The Fault in Our Stars (2012). He is also involved in several projects with his brother, Hank Green, including (but certainly not limited to) the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel, VidCon, and Project for Awesome – a community-building project that takes over YouTube once a year to raise money for charities (their fundraising goal last year was $100,00 and they ended up raising $869,171!)
Shailene Woodley will be acting in the lead role of the film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars (set to be released June 6th!) and wrote a short article for the Time 100 about John Green. She completes the piece with true and beautiful words: “He sees people with curiosity, compassion, grace, and excitement. And he’s encouraging a huge community of followers to do the same. What a gift to be alive at the same time as this admirable leader.”
Here is a collection of some of my favourite John Green quotes:
I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.
– The Fault in Our Stars
Thomas Edison’s last words were “It’s very beautiful over there.” I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.
– Looking for Alaska
Here’s my advice: study broadly and without fear; learn a language if you can because that will make you life more interesting; read a little bit everyday. But most importantly, try to surround yourself with people you like and make cool stuff with them. In the end, at least in my experience, what you do isn’t going to be nearly as interesting or important as who you do it with.
– What To Do With Your Life | vlogbrothers
Maybe there’s something you’re afraid to say, or someone you’re afraid to love, or somewhere you’re afraid to go. It’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna hurt because it matters.
– Will Grayson, Will Grayson
But it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he has Cassius note, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves.”
– The Fault in Our Stars
I hope you take the time this summer to familiarize yourself with John Green’s writing and projects. He’s really just an incredibly admirable and inspiring human being. Happy Tuesday!
| alex
Streamers of Stardust 