John Green Quotes

Powerful John Green for Daily Growth

About John Green

John Green (born August 24, 1977) is an esteemed American novelist, educator, vlogger, and YouTube personality, best known for his poignant young adult fiction that explores love, loss, and the complexities of human experience. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Green was raised as part of a devout Catholic family and attended college at Kansas University before earning a PhD in English Literature from Oxford University. Green's writing career began in 2005 with the publication of his debut novel, "Looking for Alaska," a story about love, loss, and self-discovery among teenagers in a boarding school setting. The book earned critical acclaim and established Green as a powerful voice in young adult literature. In 2006, Green co-created the popular YouTube channel Vlogbrothers with his brother Hank Green, where they share videos on various topics such as education, social issues, and science. This online presence has allowed him to engage directly with his readers and fans, fostering a strong connection between author and audience. In 2012, Green released "The Fault in Our Stars," a heart-wrenching story about two teenage cancer patients who fall in love. The novel became an international bestseller, spent more than 95 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, and was adapted into a feature film in 2014. Green's other notable works include "An Abundance of Katherines" (2006), "Paper Towns" (2008), which was also adapted into a film, and "Turtles All the Way Down" (2017). Throughout his career, Green has been recognized for his unique storytelling abilities, emotional depth, and ability to address difficult topics with sensitivity and insight. Green's life experiences, particularly his struggles with anxiety and mental health issues, have deeply influenced his writing. His works often tackle themes of love, loss, friendship, and the search for meaning in a complex world, resonating with readers across generations.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

This quote by John Green suggests that there can be varying degrees or magnitudes of "infinity", just as one number can be larger than another. It's a thought-provoking reflection on the abstract concept of infinity, implying that not all infinite quantities are created equal, and some may indeed hold more "stuff" than others. This idea is used metaphorically to illustrate that even when considering limitless possibilities or potentialities, there can still be differences in scope or scale.


"The marks humans leave are too often scratches that hurt."

This quote by John Green suggests that human actions, particularly those left as permanent reminders, often cause harm rather than good. It emphasizes the potential negative impact of our interactions with the world around us, encouraging mindfulness and empathy in our daily lives.


"I fell in love with a ghost, or more accurately, I fell in love with a story about a ghost."

This quote suggests that the speaker has fallen in love not just with a person, but with the story they know about them – in this case, a story about a 'ghost', symbolizing something or someone that may be elusive, intangible, or seemingly unattainable. It signifies a deep emotional connection to an idea, narrative, or memory rather than a physical presence. The 'ghost' here serves as a metaphor for something beautiful and mysterious that captures the heart, often leaving an indelible impression.


"We accept the love we think we deserve."

This quote by John Green suggests that the quality and depth of love we allow into our lives is often reflective of our self-perception and the value we place upon ourselves. If we believe we are unworthy, we may attract or accept relationships that validate these beliefs, thus limiting our ability to experience profound, healthy, and fulfilling love. Conversely, when we recognize and embrace our worthiness, we open ourselves up to receiving and giving love in its most beautiful forms.


"It is okay to want the person you're pretending not to be in love with."

This quote by John Green acknowledges and validates the complexity of human emotions, particularly when it comes to unrequited or unacknowledged love. It suggests that it is normal, natural even, to have feelings for someone, regardless of whether they are reciprocated or not. The phrase "pretending not to be" highlights the common human tendency to suppress or hide our true feelings out of fear, shame, or the desire to maintain a status quo. However, acknowledging these hidden emotions can help us understand ourselves better and potentially navigate relationships more honestly in the future.


I think instead writers and publishers and readers need to go to the places where people are, and make the argument that there is great value to the quiet, contemplative process of reading a novel, that reading great books carefully offers pleasures and consolations that no iPad app ever can.

- John Green

I Think, Publishers, Where, Argument

I don't think we should see the world of books as fundamentally separate from the world of the Internet. Yes, the Internet contains a lot of videos of squirrels riding skateboards, but it can also be a place that facilitates big conversations about books.

- John Green

Think, Big, Separate, Conversations

My responsibility is to try to tell true stories. To me a true story is always hopeful, but never simply, uncomplicatedly happy.

- John Green

Tell, Always, Stories, True Story

I think it's crazy, crazy that book tours lose so much money. They shouldn't. Book tours should be part of what keeps independent bookstores vibrant and profitable.

- John Green

Think, Vibrant, I Think, Bookstores

There is a lot of talk in publishing these days that we need to become more like the Internet: We need to make books for short attention spans with bells and whistles - books, in short, that are as much like 'Angry Birds' as possible. But I think that's a terrible idea.

- John Green

Idea, I Think, Bells, Spans

I am still bowled over by this great young adult novel by David Levithan called 'Every Day,' which is about a character with no gender or body who wakes up every day in the body of a different person. It's a really impressive execution of a really great premise.

- John Green

Gender, Every Day, Young, Premise

I've read a lot of bad books. I used to review books for a living, and when you're a reviewer you read tons of terrible books.

- John Green

Living, Bad, Read, Tons

Chicago is the Great American City, and it was really great to live there during a time of economic expansion and opportunity and growth. I felt like I was living at the center of the world. Unlike New York, no one expects you to be a professional writer.

- John Green

City, Professional, American, Expects

When you go to a great concert, you feel this arc, almost like the music of a well-chosen set takes you on this trip through emotions and through various forms of intellectual engagement.

- John Green

Emotions, Through, Set, Arc

I always wondered if there was a purpose to the universe, if there was a plan, if there was some sort of organizing factor, hopefully that I played a role in.

- John Green

Some, Always, Role, Factor

I don't decide where I live. My wife decides. She's a curator of contemporary art, and she works at an art museum, so we go wherever she has a job. All basements look the same, so I can write from whatever basement I happen to be living in.

- John Green

Decide, Basement, Works, Contemporary Art

I love making YouTube videos. I love Tumblr, I love Twitter. I love talking with people I find interesting about stuff I find interesting, and the Internet is a great way to do that.

- John Green

Love, YouTube, Making, Tumblr

When you're writing a novel, you spend four years sitting in your basement and a year waiting for the book to come out and then you get the feedback. When you do work online, the moment you're finished making it, people start responding to it which is really fun and allows for a kind of community development you just can't have in novels.

- John Green

Waiting, Year, Basement, Novels

I like to know the places I write about. I feel like it helps me ground the novel. My novels are 'realistic novels,' but they can also be fantastical, so it's nice to have a setting that grounds them a little bit.

- John Green

Feel, I Write, About, Novels

We don't tend to write about disease in fiction - not just teen novels but all American novels - because it doesn't fit in with our idea of the heroic romantic epic. There is room only for sacrifice, heroism, war, politics and family struggle.

- John Green

Politics, Fiction, Idea, Novels

Teenagers have more intense reading experiences because they've had fewer of them. It's like the first time you fall in love. You have a connection to that first person you fell in love with because it was so intense and unprecedented.

- John Green

Love, More, Like, Unprecedented

I'm a very introverted person. Nothing that's happened has changed that, but one of the reasons I write for teens is it's a real privilege to have a seat at the table in the lives of young people when they're figuring out what matters to them.

- John Green

Very, Reasons, I Write, Table

Different authors write different ways, have different relationships with their audiences, and those are all legitimate.

- John Green

Relationships, Ways, Authors

Teenage readers also have a different relationship with the authors whose work they value than adult readers do. I loved Toni Morrison, but I don't have any desire to follow her on Twitter. I just want to read her books.

- John Green

Loved, Twitter, Teenage, Authors

It's hard to get movie studios to pay a lot of money for movies that don't have robots or explosions.

- John Green

Movies, Studios, Lot, Robots

We have this habit of romanticizing the lives of writers. I remember when I was a kid, I was like, 'I want to be Kurt Vonnegut.'

- John Green

I Remember, Remember When, Kurt

Read a lot. Read broadly... Tell stories to your friends, and pay attention to when they get bored... Write a lot.

- John Green

Pay Attention, Stories, Read, Bored

One of the pitfalls of writing about illness is that it is very easy to imagine people with cancer as either these wise, beyond-their-years creatures or else these sad-eyed, tragic people. And the truth is people living with cancer are very much like people who are not living with cancer.

- John Green

Very, About, Either, Pitfalls

I was enrolled in divinity school and thought I was going to become a minister - I'm Episcopalian - but I was disavowed of that notion pretty quickly while working at the hospital. I found myself really unfulfilled by the answers that are traditionally offered to questions of why some people suffer and why others suffer so little.

- John Green

Thought, Some, Divinity, Episcopalian

Every time I try to set something in Chicago, I get intimidated by 'Augie March.' It's easy to set something in Indianapolis - we don't have 'Augie March' here. But I love writing about Chicago, and I love being there and imagining lives in Chicago. I hope to set something there in the future, but it's intimidating.

- John Green

Love, Here, About, Being There

I enjoy writing about people falling in love, probably because I think the first time you fall in love is the first time that you have to figure out how you're going to orient your life. What are you going to value? What's going to be most important to you? And I think that's really interesting to write about.

- John Green

Love, I Think, About, Love Is

I like to build places online where readers can have productive conversations about books.

- John Green

Places, Like, Books, Readers

I wrote my first novel and my second novel in Chicago. It was the place where I became a writer. It's my favorite city.

- John Green

City, Became, Wrote, Chicago

'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' is about two guys named Will Grayson who live in different Chicago suburbs who eventually meet each other.

- John Green

Other, Suburbs, Named, Chicago

I'm a big believer in pairing classics with contemporary literature, so students have the opportunity to see that literature is not a cold, dead thing that happened once but instead a vibrant mode of storytelling that's been with us a long time - and will be with us, I hope, for a long time to come.

- John Green

Storytelling, Big, Been, Contemporary

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