Everyone has favorites. A favorite color, song, sports team, even food. But when it comes to a novel and movie, mine are both the same. I know what you're thinking, how can someone possibly like the same book and movie? It sounds a bit crazy so let me explain. When I first read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, I remember as I was flipping through the pages that this book was special. A coming-of-age novel set in the 1990's follows Charlie, a fifteen-year-old introverted teenager through his freshman year of high school.The book details his unconventional style of thinking as he navigates between the worlds of adolescence and adulthood, and attempts to deal with poignant questions spurred by his interactions with both his friends and family.

The book is organized as letters that Charlie writes to an anonymous person, perhaps the reader themselves. Because of the style of writing, the book literally makes you feel like you're talking to Charlie and you're in his world. The movie adaptation gives off the same feeling as well. I'll be honest, when I heard this book was going to be made into a movie I was a bit skeptical about it. I'm the type of person who prefers the book version better than the movie version because most of the time, no matter how much they try to get everything from the book into the movie, it doesn't necessarily come off as the same. However, that wasn't the case for this, and I can truly say that I prefer the movie to the book. As soon as I saw this movie in theaters I knew that wouldn't be the last time I ever saw it. So I bought the DVD and I can't even tell you how many times I've watched it since. It's the only movie that when I'm feeling anxious or depressed or alone or lost or confused about things with life and the world, I know that when I put that disk in and I start watching, all the troubles and thoughts that were in my head I'm able to forget for those one-hundred and three minutes.

I could go on forever about how much this book and film mean to me and have changed my perception about life. But one thing I love about it is the quotes and how relatable they are. Anyone can relate to the words being read and spoken and they strike a chord inside you that's different from anything you've ever felt because these words hit home in all the right ways. So here are, for me, the best quotes from The Perks of Being a Wallflower that anyone can relate to.

1. "We accept the love we think we deserve."

2. " So this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

3. "Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody."

4. "There's nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons."

5. "Enjoy it. Because it's happening."

6. "I just want you to know that you're very special...and the only reason I'm telling you is that I don't know if anyone else ever has."

7. "Please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough. And I will always believe the same about you."

8. "If you care about somebody, you should want them to be happy. Even if you wind up being left out."

9. "People who try to control situations all the time are afraid that if they don't, nothing will work out the way they want."

10. "It's just that I don't want to be somebody's crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don't want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it too."

11. "I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. And I'm going to figure out what that is."

12. "So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

13. "To tell you the truth, I've just been avoiding everything."

14. "I don’t know if I will have the time to write any more letters, because I might be too busy trying to participate. So, if this does end up being the last letter, I just want you to know that I was in a bad place before I started high school, and you helped me. Even if you didn’t know what I was talking about, or know someone who’s gone through it, you made me not feel alone. Because I know there are people who say all these things don’t happen. And there are people who forget what it’s like to be sixteen when they turn seventeen. I know these will all be stories some day, and our pictures will become old photographs. We all become somebody’s mom or dad. But right now, these moments are not stories. This is happening. I am here, and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite."

Thank you Stephen Chbosky, for creating a masterpiece.