Quotes from Ann Bannon

Maybe I grew up too fast, maybe that's my trouble. I feel so lost out here...hung up between two worlds; half-kid and half-adult, half-boy and half-girl. And sometimes it seems like I get the dirty side of both.

It's not wrong, pal, he said to her back. You've been brought up to think so. Most of us have. But who are they hurting? Nobody. They're just making each other happy. And you want their heads to roll because it makes you feel funny.

For the first time in her life she was proud of her size, proud of her strength, even proud of her oddly boyish face. She could see interest, even admiration in the faces of many of the girls.

Does it ever happen that a nice girl is a Lesbian? she asked him shyly.

She didn't want to be an out-and-out character any more than she wanted to be one of the herd, so Beth beat herself a path between the two.

God. I couldn't have stood another minute of it. Straight people are so depressing.

I didn't think they liked women in a place like this." Jack guided her to a barstool. "Oh, they're friendly enough. They know you wouldn't be here if you weren't gay. They figure, you leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.

Marcie, you don't need to read books. It's just a dumb habit for introverts.

That wasn't love." "What was it, then?" "Just purely physical. Animal. Vulgar." "Love has a body, Laura. Eyes and lips, legs and sex. We humans can't help that.

Are pants really that important?" Laura said. She said it sarcastically because she was afraid of her tears.

I'm not beautiful either. But I've been loved. I know love and I can tell you, you don't have to be a beauty to feel passion. Sometimes it helps if you're not. I wonder if you know that already.

Beth had taught Laura to look within herself, and what she found was a revelation.

She could never be free from herself, but she could be free from her father, and at the moment that mattered most.