Here I have annotated important events and symbols that are mentioned in the Fault in Our Stars. They might be able to inspire me for creating my book cover.
1. "My thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations." - Augustus.
The stars represent Augustus' thoughts. He is using this metaphor to say that they don't link together well.
2. "... some infinities are bigger than other infinities." - Van Houten.
Van Houten is trying to make a point to Augustus and Hazel. He's describing how some infinities are bigger than other infinities. This is an important quote in the book as Hazel picks up on it and uses it later on in the story.
3. '"There will come a time," I said, "when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this"-I gestured encompassingly-"will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was a time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that's what everyone else does."' - Hazel
In this quote, Hazel talks about oblivion. This is the first thing that Hazel has said to Augustus in the book. She challenges his views on the world - he wants to be remembered long after he's dead. This is an important quote because throughout the book, Augustus learns from Hazel that he doesn't need to be remembered.
4. '... oxygen-drizzling nubs tickled my nostrils.' - Hazel's stream of consciousness.
Here she mentions the nubs that allow her to breathe. These play a big part in her appearance as she has to wear them all the time.
5. '"Oh, I'm grand." Augustus Waters smiled with a corner of his mouth. "I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."' - Augustus.
This metaphor describes how Augustus is feeling. He makes a point in saying how he just keeps feeling better and better. This is ironic as he goes down hill when he is nearing death.
6. '... the oxygen tank ball-and-chaining in the cart by my side,' - Hazel's stream of consciousness.
She describes her oxygen tank as being heavy and annoying to pull around. This plays a big part in her appearance as she always has to have it with her.
7. '"They don't kill you unless you light them," "And I've never lit one. It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do it's killing."' - Augustus.
This metaphor links in with Hazel's lung cancer. Augustus describes how he stays in control of death. Ironic because he dies later on in the story.
8. '"Okay," he said after forever. "Maybe okay will be our always." - Augustus.
The start of the 'Okay? Okay.' saying that runs through out the book. It's a personal joke between the two characters. They hear their friends constantly saying 'Always.' to each other. Hazel and Augustus decide to have 'Okay' as their 'Always' because they often ask each other if they are or if something is ok.
9. "Do you know," he asked in a delicious accent, "what Dom Perignon said after inventing champagne?" ... "He called out to his fellow monks, 'Come quickly: I am tasting the stars.'" - A waiter in Amsterdam.
This is the first time Augustus and Hazel try champagne. The quote gives more emphasis on how special this occasion is for them. This is a happy point in the book, before a sad point.
10. '"I'm in love with you," he said quietly.' '"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labour has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have and I am in love with you."' - Augustus.
This is the first time Augustus tells Hazel that he loves her. This may be the most romantic scene in the book, making it one of the most iconic. This is setting up the reader for a dramatic turn - Augustus telling Hazel that his cancer is back.
11. '"The world," he said, "is not a wish-granting factory," - Augustus.
This is after he tells Hazel that his cancer is back and that he is dying.
11. "I can't talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful." - Hazel.
She reads a eulogy that she wrote for Augustus. He listens to it before his cancer makes him ill. She explains how some infinities are bigger than other infinities - as Van Houten had done to her earlier on on the book. She applies it to how many days left they have alive.
12. "But I will say this: When the scientists of the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell the scientists to screw off, because I do not want to see a world without him." - Isaac.
Augustus and Hazel's friend Isaac also reads his eulogy. The humour stands out from the sad context, making it a memorable quote.
13. "What else? She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. you don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers." - Augustus.
This is the last page of the book. Augustus is dead and Van Houten gives Hazel an email that Augustus had sent him.
14. '"Keep your shit together," I whispered to my lungs.'
This shows how Hazel's lungs are in bad condition.
15. 'The shirt was a screen print of a famous Surrealist artwork by Rene Magritte in which he drew a pipe and then beneath it wrote in cursive Ceci nest pas use pipe. ("This is not a pipe.")'
"I just don't get that shirt," Mom said. ... "But it is a pipe."
"No, it's not," I said. "It's a drawing of a pipe. Get it? All representations of a thing are inherently abstract. It's very clever."' - Hazel and her mom.
In this passage, Hazel describes to her mom how a print of a pipe on her T-shirt isn't actually a pipe.
