I was sixteen the first time someone told me I was pretty. Not in a “you’re cute” way or a “nice haircut” way—but in that breath-catching, world-shifting way that makes you realize you’ve been invisible and suddenly you’re not.
It happened during what I now call my “summer of becoming.” Three months that felt like three years of growth packed into pool parties, late-night conversations, and the kind of mistakes that teach you who you really are. Sound familiar?
Here’s what I’ve learned: we all have our “summer I turned pretty” moment. Maybe it’s not about physical beauty at all—maybe it’s about finally feeling seen, heard, or brave enough to take up space.
I’ve been collecting 111 quotes from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and beyond that capture this feeling perfectly. These aren’t just pretty words for your Instagram story (though they work for that too). They’re the kind of quotes that make you pause, breathe deep, and remember that growing up—even the messy parts—is kind of magical.
Ready to feel everything? Let’s go.
Love and Longing: When Summer Steals Your Heart
You know that feeling when someone looks at you and you forget how to breathe? Summer love hits different because everything feels possible when the days stretch forever.
Quote 1: “He looked at me like I was the answer to his prayers.” – Jenny Han
This one still gives me chills. There’s something about being seen—really seen—that changes everything.
Quote 2: “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
Quote 3: “If this were a movie, this would be the part where we kiss.” – Jenny Han
The fourth quote that completely wrecked me? “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” – Maya Angelou
Quote 5: “You can’t just go around breaking people’s hearts just because you’re unsure.” – Jenny Han
Real talk: this quote called me out. Sometimes we hurt people because we’re scared of our own feelings.
Quote 6: “You can’t be real. You’re like a dream.” – Jenny Han
Quote 7: “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” – Nicholas Sparks
Quote 8: “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The ninth quote hits when you realize love isn’t just about butterflies: “The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” – Victor Hugo
Quote 10: “You can love someone so much…But you can never love people as much as you can miss them.” – John Green
Missing someone is its own kind of love language, isn’t it?
Quote 11: “It’s like the second you stop thinking about them, they send a psychic message to text you.” – Jenny Han
Quote 12: “Why does everyone have to ruin everything with feelings?” – Jenny Han
This made me laugh because feelings are inconvenient and beautiful and absolutely unavoidable.
Summer and Transformation: The Season That Changes Everything
Last summer, I kept a list in my notes app called “moments that mattered.” Most of them happened after 9 PM, under string lights, with people who made me brave.
Quote 13: “Summer was here again. Summer, summer, summer. I loved and hated summers. Summers had a logic all their own and they always brought something out in me.” – Jenny Han
The fourteenth quote captures why summer feels so intense: “It was a summer I would never, ever forget. It was the summer everything began. It was the summer I turned pretty.” – Jenny Han
Quote 15: “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.” – Jenny Han
Quote 16: “I turned pretty. And it felt like an exclamation point.” – Jenny Han
This isn’t just about physical beauty—it’s about that moment you realize you’re becoming who you’re meant to be.
Quote 17: “When you walk on the beach at night, you can say things you can’t say in real life.” – Jenny Han
Quote 18: “Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to anyone.” – Paul Theroux
Quote 19: “The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me were meant for the rain.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
Sometimes our seasons don’t match everyone else’s, and that’s okay too.
I love how these positive July month quotes uplift summer energy connects to this idea that certain months just hold more magic.
Friendship and Support: The People Who Make Summer Safe
Quote 20: “Best friends are important. They’re the closest thing to a sister you’ll ever have.” – Jenny Han
The twenty-first quote reminds me why friendship is sacred: “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” – Woody Allen
Quote 22: “Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.” – Oscar Wilde
This one stings because it’s so true. Supporting friends when they’re winning? That’s advanced friendship.
Quote 23: “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” – Linda Grayson
Quote 24: “It’s the imperfections that make things beautiful.” – Jenny Han
This applies to friendships too—the weird inside jokes, the ugly crying sessions, the 2 AM texts.
Quote 25: “In the dark you can feel really close to a person. You can say whatever you want.” – Jenny Han
Quote 26: “I don’t believe in luck. I believe in hard work that you can’t see.” – Unknown
Good friendships are like this—invisible effort that makes everything easier.
I was seventeen when my best friend and I spent an entire night talking about our fears. No phones, just us and the kind of honesty that only happens when you feel completely safe with someone.
Self-Discovery and Growth: Becoming Who You’re Meant to Be
Quote 27: “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anyone.” – Maya Angelou
This took me years to believe. You don’t have to earn your worth.
Quote 28: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis
Quote 29: “The journey of self-discovery is not about finding out who you are, but about uncovering who you have been all along.” – Unknown
The thirtieth quote that changed how I see growth: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
Quote 31: “You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.” – Mary Tyler Moore
Quote 32: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
Quote 33: “For the first time in forever, I felt like the world was mine.” – Jenny Han
This feeling—when possibility opens up and you realize you’re capable of more than you thought.
Quote 34: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Quote 35: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
Quote 36: “You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then you will always end up interpreting yourself in terms of other people’s words.” – Carl Jung
Quote 37: “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” – Coco Chanel
Quote 38: “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Quote 39: “You don’t have to be better than anybody else, you just have to be better than you used to be.” – Unknown
Memories, Nostalgia, and What We Keep
Quote 40: “Moments, when lost, can’t be found again. They’re just gone.” – Jenny Han
This quote makes me want to pay attention better, you know?
Quote 41: “Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be driven.” – Jean Paul
Quote 42: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” – Leslie Poles Hartley
The forty-third quote captures why nostalgia hurts so good: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde
Quote 44: “What is history? An echo of the past in the present; and what is the past? A reflection from the mirror of the future.” – Unknown
Quote 45: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard
Quote 46: “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.” – Unknown
This one hits when you realize you’ve been stuck in memories instead of making new ones.
Quote 47: “Regret is a tough emotion to deal with, but it can also be a powerful motivator.” – Unknown
Quote 48: “The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” – Samuel Johnson
Quote 49: “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
These summer letter board quotes remind me how we try to capture these feelings in simple, beautiful words.
Emotions and the Mess of Feeling Everything
Quote 50: “Emotions are the chief source of all becoming-conscious. There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.” – Carl Jung
The fifty-first quote that validates every big feeling: “The deepest feelings are those we have no words for.” – Unknown
Quote 52: “The heart is a heavy burden to carry in times of sorrow, but it is also a source of strength in times of joy.” – Unknown
Quote 53: “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” – Cormac McCarthy
Quote 54: “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz
Quote 55: “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama XIV
Quote 56: “The mind is everything; what you think, you become.” – Buddha
Quote 57: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Quote 58: “Life is a culmination of all the things we wish for, and all the things we don’t wish for.” – Unknown
Hope, Resilience, and New Beginnings
When life knocked me down last fall, I came back to these quotes like old friends.
Quote 59: “Hope is the thing with feathers—That perches in our Soul—” – Emily Dickinson
Quote 60: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
The sixty-first quote that got me through my hardest season: “Victory is a thousand times sweeter when you’re the underdog.” – Jenny Han
Quote 62: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
Quote 63: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene
Quote 64: “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey
Quote 65: “The best is yet to come.” – Unknown
Quote 66: “The greatest wealth is health.” – Virgil
Quote 67: “It’s not about being the best, it’s about being better than you were yesterday.” – Unknown
Quote 68: “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” – George Washington Carver
Quote 69: “Would you rather live one perfect day over and over or live your life with no perfect days but just decent ones?” – Jenny Han
This question stopped me cold. What would you choose?
Quote 70: “The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
Quote 71: “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” – Unknown
Quote 72: “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
Quote 73: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dreams, Aspirations, and What Comes Next
Quote 74: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
This is my phone wallpaper. Some days I need the reminder.
Quote 75: “Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream.” – Debby Boone
Quote 76: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk.” – Mark Zuckerberg
Quote 77: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
The seventy-eighth quote that pushes me when I’m scared: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
Quote 79: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke
Quote 80: “The difference between a dream and a goal is the work you put into it.” – Unknown
Quote 81: “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
Quote 82: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
Quote 83: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar
Quote 84: “The future is not something we enter, but something we create.” – Leonard I. Sweet
Quote 85: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
Change, Uncertainty, and Growing Forward
Quote 86: “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy
Quote 87: “You can’t have a million-dollar dream with a minimum-wage work ethic.” – Stephen C. Hogan
The eighty-eighth quote that calls out my procrastination: “The biggest risk is not taking the risk. You’ve got to be willing to go all in.” – Mark Zuckerberg
Quote 89: “If this were a movie, this would be the part where we kiss.” – Jenny Han
Sometimes life feels scripted, sometimes it doesn’t. Both are okay.
Quote 90: “Everything that happened this past summer, and every summer before it, has all led up to this. To now.” – Jenny Han
Quote 91: “It’s not summer without you.” – Jenny Han
Quote 92: “Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.” – Oscar Wilde
Quote 93: “When you walk on the beach at night, you can say things you can’t say in real life.” – Jenny Han
Quote 94: “Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to anyone.” – Paul Theroux
The Final Collection: Wisdom for Every Season
Quote 95: “Creating One’s Own Definition of Womanhood” – The Summer I Turned Pretty Theme
Quote 96: “It was a summer I would never, ever forget.” – Jenny Han
The ninety-seventh quote that wraps it all up: “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.” – Jenny Han
Quote 98: “Summer was here again. Summer, summer, summer. I loved and hated summers.” – Jenny Han
Quote 99: “I turned pretty. And it felt like an exclamation point.” – Jenny Han
Quote 100: “Why does everyone have to ruin everything with feelings?” – Jenny Han
Quote 101: “In the dark you can feel really close to a person.” – Jenny Han
Quote 102: “You can’t just go around breaking people’s hearts just because you’re unsure.” – Jenny Han
Quote 103: “Moments, when lost, can’t be found again. They’re just gone.” – Jenny Han
Quote 104: “It’s like the second you stop thinking about them, they send a psychic message to text you.” – Jenny Han
Quote 105: “Best friends are important. They’re the closest thing to a sister you’ll ever have.” – Jenny Han
Quote 106: “Victory is a thousand times sweeter when you’re the underdog.” – Jenny Han
Quote 107: “For the first time in forever, I felt like the world was mine.” – Jenny Han
Quote 108: “It’s the imperfections that make things beautiful.” – Jenny Han
Quote 109: “You can love someone so much…But you can never love people as much as you can miss them.” – John Green
Quote 110: “Would you rather live one perfect day over and over or live your life with no perfect days but just decent ones?” – Jenny Han
Quote 111: “He looked at me like I was the answer to his prayers.” – Jenny Han
And there you have it. All 111 quotes that capture what it means to have your own summer transformation.
Your Summer, Your Story
Here’s what I know after collecting these quotes and living through my own seasons of change: you don’t need permission to become who you’re meant to be.
Some summers change us overnight. Others plant seeds that don’t bloom until years later. Both count.
The girl who felt invisible at sixteen needed these words. The woman I’m becoming still does. Maybe you do too.
Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t, and remember—your “summer I turned pretty” moment is waiting. It might not look like anyone else’s, but it’s yours.
Which quote made you pause and screenshot? I’d love to hear about it. Sometimes the words that move us most are the ones we needed to hear all along.
Your story is still being written. Make it beautiful.
