# Quote — John Knowles, A Separate Peace

> You had to be rude at least sometimes and edgy often to be credited with 'personality,' and without that accolade no one at Devon could be anyone. No one, with the exception of course of Phineas.

- Author: [John Knowles](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-knowles.md)
- Book: [A Separate Peace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-knowles/a-separate-peace.md)
- Page: 124
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Knowles#A_Separate_Peace_(1959)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-knowles/a-separate-peace/you-had-to-be-rude

## More from this book

> I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas.

p. 85 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-knowles/a-separate-peace/i-lost-part.md)

> Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence.

p. 14 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-knowles/a-separate-peace/nothing-endures-not.md)

> Naturally I don't believe books and I don't believe teachers, but I do believe-it's important for me to believe you [Gene]. Christ, I've got to believe you, at least. I know you better than anybody.

p. 163 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-knowles/a-separate-peace/naturally-i-dont.md)