"Courage is not absence of fear, but mastery of fear."
Jess has the misconception that in order to be an adult, he has to experience no fear and be brave in every situation. In fact, Jess becomes friends with Leslie because he considers her fearless and he admires her bravery. But when Jess asks Leslie to talk with Janice who was crying in the bathroom, Leslie tells him that she is afraid. In that moment, Jess realizes that Leslie is human just like him and that she experiences fear as well, but she chooses to confront her fears and to not let them control her life. Because of this mentality, Jess realizes that courage is not the absence of fear but rather a person’s the act of facing that fear and doing something even though a person may be scared.
"It's because we're all vile sinners God made Jesus die."
During Easter, Jess agrees to take Leslie with him and his family to Church with the occasion of the Easter Mass even though Jess in not able to understand why Leslie would want to attend an event which he finds boring and monotonous. Leslie asks Jess about some religious matters and he responds with the quote from above. This proves that for Jess, God is cruel and the idea that God is cruel is the result of the way in which God was portrayed by the Church. In fact, the writer criticizes the Church for focusing too little on God’s love and too much on Hell and on the idea that God will punish the sinners in the world with eternal pain. But Leslie refuses to be affected by Jess’s way of viewing the world and decides to perceive Christianity in a positive light.
"Leslie could not die any more than he himself could die."
Jess refused to believe that Leslie has died. For him, this was as impossible as it was the idea of him dying. This quote reveals a few things about Jess and about how children think in general. Jess chose to believe in an ideal world where he and Leslie will be friends forever. Even after Jess found about Leslie’s death, he continued to lie to himself and emerge in a daydreaming state where he would think about the things he and Leslie will do the next day and the games he will play in the land of Terabithia. Jess will eventually accept Leslie’s death; this acceptance will also mean that he no longer thought like a child.
