Quotes from book
Along for the Ride

Along for the Ride
Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride is a novel by Sarah Dessen. It was released on June 16, 2009. The novel focuses on Auden West, who never sleeps at night due to her parents' continuous fighting when she was in high school. Before heading off to college, Auden decides to spend her summer before college with her father and his new wife and baby. Although Auden is at first reluctant, she comes to really like her stepmother and half sister. Auden also ends up spending her nights making up for her lost childhood with Eli, a loner and insomniac with an intriguing past. She learns that second chances are possible and questions if people can truly change.

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“I'd come here planning to leave as soon as I could. It was a pit stop, not a destination. I had my whole life mapped out."
"So what happened?"
"I guess that map didn't turn out to be mine after all”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

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“I waited. Because with Eli, he was never trying to get you to finish for him. He always knew where he was going, even if it took a little while to get there.”

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“Life is full of screwups. You're supposed to fail sometimes. It's a required part of the human existance.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Variant: You're supposed to fail sometimes. It's a required part of the human existence
-Eli
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“You just walk over there and into the office and say, 'Hey, be my prom date,'" he said. "It's that simple.”

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“Morning would come before we knew it. It always did. But we still had the night, and for now, we were together, so I just closed my eyes and drank it all in.”

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“Impulsiveness can be charming but deliberation can have an appeal, as well.”

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“It was so easy to disown what you couldn’t recognize, to keep yourself apart from things that were foreign and unsettling”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

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“I wondered if emotions were like menstrual cycles, if you get enough women together. Give it time, and everyone was crying.”

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“It’s the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth.”

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“What," I said, "is that a crime here or something? Like only buying one thing at the Gas/Gro?”

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“Sometimes, you get things right the first time. Others, the second. But the third time, they say, is the charm.”

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“Because if you were the problem, chances were you could also be the solution. The only way to find out was to take another shot.”

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“I told you, everyone understands a quest.”

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“If you're not getting hurt, you're not riding hard enough.”

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“I trailed off and he didn't push me to finish. I was finding that I liked that.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

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“That first love. And the first one who breaks your heart. For me, they just happen to be the same person.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

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“Who says there has to be a point?" He asked. "Or a reason. Maybe it's just something you have to do.”

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“You didn't fail. You just opted out. There's a difference.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

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