Quote 1
She put her arm around me and squeezed my shoulder. It felt weird. "You know we love you, Hazel, but right now we just need to be a family." (15.20)
Is it wrong of Augustus's mom to shut out Hazel like that? Or is the power of family stronger than the power of teenage love?
Quote 2
"You realize that trying to keep your distance from me will not lesson my affections for you," he said. (8.55)
Augustus is truly a persistent suitor, wearing Hazel down even though she doesn't want to get close to him.
Quote 3
"Really?" I asked. I was surprised. I'd always associated belief in heaven with, frankly, a kind of intellectual disengagement. (11.94)
Augustus has some pretty interesting ideas about what the afterlife entails. Even if he's not super-religious, it helps him contemplate his impending death. Hazel Grace gets her mind opened a bit when she realizes it's possible to be religious and intellectual. Fancy that.
Quote 4
"That's the thing about pain," Augustus said, and then glanced back at me. "It demands to be felt." (4.110)
Just because you're brave, doesn't mean you can't feel trophy-smashing rage and pain.
Quote 5
"I'll fight it. I'll fight it for you. Don't you worry about me, Hazel Grace. I'm okay. I'll find a way to hang around and annoy you for a long time." (13.36)
Even in the darkest moments, Augustus has that fiery desire to carry on and take life for all it's worth.
Quote 6
"Everyone wants to lead an extraordinary life."
"Not everyone," I said, unable to disguise my annoyance. (11.101-102)
Truth, as brought to us by the worldly and wise teens of The Fault in Our Stars. Hazel and Augustus have completely different views on how they want to be remembered in the future.
Quote 7
"You know," he said after a while, "it's kids' stuff, but I always thought my obituary would be in all the newspapers, that I'd have a story worth telling. I always had this secret suspicion that I was special." (17.8)
Augustus isn't trying to be arrogant—he just desperately wants to fulfill what he thought he was going to be in life.
Quote 8
"If you don't live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won't get either a life or a death that means anything." (11.97)
Augustus feels like he has a responsibility to make something of himself before he dies—for the sake of the universe. That's a lot of pressure.
Quote 9
"I'm hopefully I'll get to attend as a ghost, but just to make sure, I thought I'd—well, not to put you on the spot, but I just this afternoon thought I could arrange a prefuneral…" (20.38)
Augustus organizes his own prefuneral so he can hear what Isaac and Hazel have to say about him. What do you think: morbid or brave?