Home > Author > Matt de la Peña
1 " But when you read books you almost feel like you're out there in the world. Like you're going on this adventure right with the main character. At least, that's the way I do it. It's actually not that bad. Even if it is mad nerdy. "
― Matt de la Peña , We Were Here
2 " But not just alive like I was yesterday and the day before. Alive like I knew I was alive. Like I could feel the breaths coming into my chest. And I knew I was the person inside my own body. "
3 " Sometimes when you're surrounded by dirt...you're a better witness for what's beautiful. "
― Matt de la Peña , Last Stop on Market Street
4 " - Qué raro es que a veces deseas algo, como ver la nieve, y al día siguiente deseas que desparezca, ¿verdad? "
― Matt de la Peña
5 " Nana, how come we don't got a car?' 'Boy, what do we need a car for? We got a bus that breathes fire, and old Mr. Daniels, who always has a trick for you. "
6 " People always think there's this huge hundred-foot-high barrier that separates doing good from doing bad. But there's not. There's nothing. There's not even a little anthill. You just take one baby step in any direction and you're already there. You've doing something awful. And your life is changed forever. "
7 " But mostly I remember every morning before school. How she'd say "Hey, honey!" just I was walking out the apartment door. And me stopping and turning around and saying "What?" And her saying "I love you." And me rolling my eyes like I just wanted to hurry up so I didn't miss the bus. I'd start going again and she'd say "Hey, honey!" and I'd pretend I was so annoyed 'cause she was wasting time and I had to go catch the bus. And how secretly it was my favorite part of every day. "
― Matt de la Peña , I Will Save You
8 " We only reveal what we want other people to know, right? It's like we create fictional characters for the public. And inside we're somebody totally different. "
9 " My chest got this weird feeling, like when you stare into the eyes of a little baby and the baby looks back up at you and you can feel how pure and innocent it is, so much that it makes your stomach feel empty - probably 'cause you realize you used to be pure like that, too, and now you're not. "
10 " The ocean talks to you. Especially at night. Whispering voices that never let up, not even when you sleep. "
― Matt de la Peña , The Living (The Living, #1)
11 " Some people watch the world with their ears. "
12 " He'd give anything to be out there playing instead of standing here watching. Trying to maintain this smile out of respect. He digs into his wrists some more with his nails. Breaks previously broken skin and pulls away. A smear of blood he wipes away with his other hand, rubs off across his dark jeans. Back home his mom is always on him to stop digging, but that only makes him want to dig more."-exerpt from "Mexican White Boy "
13 " It's not stuff you leave with. It's love. "
― Matt de la Peña , Love
14 " He stared at the glowing moon again, and he listened to the whispering ocean. His thoughts were more staticky than before, but for the first time since the summer started, he felt like he understood the ocean's whispering. It all came down to this. The darkness. The loneliness. The mystery. The fact that everyone's days were numbered, and it didn't matter if you were in premier class or worked in housekeeping. Those were only costumes people wore. And once you stripped them away you saw the truth. This giant ocean and this dark pressing sky. We only have a few minutes, but the unexplainable world is constant and forever marching forward. "
15 " He wondered how his nana always found beautiful where he never even thought to look. "
16 " Truth is not a fixed thing. It evolves and morphs and inverts. What is true today may not be true tomorrow. "
― Matt de la Peña , The Hunted (The Living, #2)
17 " Stars shine long after they've flamed out and the shine they shine with is love. "
18 " And all the sounds you heard- the wind whipping past your ears and the ocean's whispering and the trickle of whitecaps against your boat- that was the earth's blood pumping through imperceptible veins, and some of those veins were nothing more than people like Shy or Carmen or Addie. And when the end came it smelled like morning dew and brine and everything around you morphed into a man, and that man shined a flashlight in your eyes and kneeled down beside you to pet your hair and he said: You're gonna be okay, young fella. Now come on. And when he lifted you into his arms and carried you like a child into a hidden cave, where you would grow back into the earth's rich soil from which you came and where you would forever belong. "
19 " That’s the weirdest thing, by the way. That every person you come across lays down in a bed, under the covers, and closes their eyes at night. Cops, teachers, parents, hot girls, pro ballers, everybody. For some reason it makes people seem so much less real when I look at them. "
20 " And sometimes when her light brown eyes locked on to my dark brown ones, it was like she was reaching a hand all the way into my chest, like she was digging around in there for the most honest thing she could find. "
― Matt de la Peña , My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories
