Red White And Royal Blue Quotes

“I am, and always have been - first, last, and always - a child of America.

You raised me. I grew up in the pastures and hills of Texas, but I had been to thirty-four states before I learned how to drive. When I caught the stomach flu in the fifth grade, my mother sent a note to school written on the back of a holiday memo from Vice President Biden. Sorry, sir—we were in a rush, and it was the only paper she had on hand.

I spoke to you for the first time when I was eighteen, on the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, when I introduced my mother as the nominee for president. You cheered for me. I was young and full of hope, and you let me embody the American dream: that a boy who grew up speaking two languages, whose family was blended and beautiful and enduring, could make a home for himself in the White House.

You pinned the flag to my lapel and said, “We’re rooting for you.” As I stand before you today, my hope is that I have not let you down.

Years ago, I met a prince. And though I didn’t realize it at the time, his country had raised him too.

The truth is, Henry and I have been together since the beginning of this year. The truth is, as many of you have read, we have both struggled every day with what this means for our families, our countries, and our futures. The truth is, we have both had to make compromises that cost us sleep at night in order to afford us enough time to share our relationship with the world on our own terms.

We were not afforded that liberty.

But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable. America has always believed this. And so, I am not ashamed to stand here today where presidents have stood and say that I love him, the same as Jack loved Jackie, the same as Lyndon loved Lady Bird. Every person who bears a legacy makes the choice of a partner with whom they will share it, whom the American people will “hold beside them in hearts and memories and history books. America: He is my choice.

Like countless other Americans, I was afraid to say this out loud because of what the consequences might be. To you, specifically, I say: I see you. I am one of you. As long as I have a place in this White House, so will you. I am the First Son of the United States, and I’m bisexual. History will remember us.

If I can ask only one thing of the American people, it’s this: Please, do not let my actions influence your decision in November. The decision you will make this year is so much bigger than anything I could ever say or do, and it will determine the fate of this country for years to come. My mother, your president, is the warrior and the champion that each and every American deserves for four more years of growth, progress, and prosperity. Please, don’t let my actions send us backward. I ask the media not to focus on me or on Henry, but on the campaign, on policy, on the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans at stake in this election.

And finally, I hope America will remember that I am still the son you raised. My blood still runs from Lometa, Texas, and San Diego, California, and Mexico City. I still remember the sound of your voices from that stage in Philadelphia. I wake up every morning thinking of your hometowns, of the families I’ve met at rallies in Idaho and Oregon and South Carolina. I have never hoped to be anything other than what I was to you then, and what I am to you now—the First Son, yours in actions and words. And I hope when Inauguration Day comes again in January, I will continue to be.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Henry is one talented bastard. A man of many hidden gifts, Alex muses half hysterically. A true prodigy. God save the queen.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Right, now hold it,' Henry says. 'Connect with the turkey...earn the turkey's trust...befriend the turkey...”
― Casey McQuinston

“calendar request from mom: 2pm, west wing first floor, international ethics & sexual identity debrief”
― Casey McQuinston

“Shut up, shut all the way up, oh my god' Alex hisses”
― Casey McQuinston

“make it look like your little slap-fight at the wedding was some homoerotic frat boy mishap, okay?”
― Casey McQuinston

“It's Henry's voice, sweet and posh and shaky and confused, and relief knocks the wind out of him.
'”
― Casey McQuiston

“This is it. October 2, 2020, and the whole world watched, and history remembered.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Love, Henry has found, has a way of growing backward. You fall in love with a person in the present, and then every person you’ve ever been gets to fall in love with every past version of them.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“something slots into place. He leans down and kisses him fiercely, and then he's grinning and gone.”
― Casey McQuinston

“A curious thing about grief is the way it takes your entire life, all those foundational years that made you who you are, and makes them so painful to look back upon because of the absence there, that suddenly they're inaccessible. You must invent an entirely new system.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“When they kiss, Alex can hear a half-remembered proverb from catechism, mixed up between translations of the book: “Come, hijo mío, de la miel, porque es buena, and the honeycomb, sweet to thy taste.” He wonders what Santa Chiara would think of them, a lost David and Jonathan, turning slowly on the spot.

He brings Henry’s hand to his mouth and kisses the little knob of his knuckle, the skin over the blue vein there, bloodlines, pulses, the old blood kept in perpetuity within these walls, and he thinks, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Love, Henry has found, has a way of growing backward. You fall in love with a person in the present, and then every person you've ever been gets to fall in love with every past version of them.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“He remembers when he was a kid, freckly and unafraid, when the world seemed like it was blissfully endless but everything still made perfect sense.”
― Casey McQuiston

“How do you do all the good you can do?”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Still waters, deep dicking.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“So, what? he asks. You want me to quit politics and go become a princess? That's not very feminist of you. That's not how feminism works, she says, rolling her eyes.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“For what it's worth, he says to Philip, that is the bravest son of a bitch I've ever met.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“Jesus tits.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“It's math, ' Nora says.
'Math has no authority here, ' June tells her
'Math is everywhere, June.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“There are fireflies winking around his head, landing in his hair. A crown. His dive is infuriatingly graceful.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

“What are you doing? '
'I'm taking a picture of a national gay landmark. ' Alex tells him 'and also a statue.”
― Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue