The Fault in Our Stars Minor Characters Quotes

"You are not a grenade, not to us. Thinking about you dying makes us sad, Hazel, but you are not a grenade. You are amazing. You can't know, sweetie, because you've never had a baby become a brilliant young reader with a side interest in horrible television shows" (6.98)

Hazel throws a pretty loaded (and depressing) metaphor at her parents, but Dad sets her straight.

Also, throughout the book we are hit over the head with the fact that no one but a fellow cancer kid can understand what Hazel, Augustus, and Isaac are going through. Here, we get another angle: no one but a fellow cancer parent can understand what Hazel's parents are feeling.

Gus's father: "Our children are weird."

My dad: "Nicely phrased." (15.13-14)

Touché, parents. Touché. It's little touches like this that remind us that these are just normal kids with normal parents. Well, normal and a little weird, of course.

"It's total bulls***," he said. "The whole thing… He was such a bright kid. It's bulls***. I hate it. But it was sure a privilege to love him, huh?" (22.56)

Hazel's dad really does always know the right thing to say. And we have a feeling he's talking about how much Hazel loves Augustus because of how much he loves Hazel.