Quotes from Todd Strasser

More and more he'd begun to recognize the position of importance his students were unconsciously forcing upon him - the ultimate leader of The Wave.

What I mean is," Robert said nervously, "the whole idea of The Wave is that the people in it have to support it. If we're really a community, we all have to agree.

Trout Fishing in America.

Maybe they don't forget you, they just forget to remember you. I don't think people mean to forget.

His answer caught me by surprise. I'd never realized there was an age limit for spankings. This was the best news I'd heard in a long time.

Si yo no he dicho que no me horrorizara —se justificó David—. Lo que he dicho es que ya pasó. Hay que olvidarlo. Ocurrió una vez y el mundo aprendió la lección. Ya no volverá a ocurrir.

You have to try new things. You can hate failure, but you mustn't let the fear of it paralyze you.

Don't be afraid to try. Don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to color your hair. Try to understand where people are coming from. Don't forget that most people are really good at heart. And if you hate your name, change it.

You may be my closest friend, but that doesn't mean you know everything about me.' 'I know you better than you know yourself.' 'I hate you when you say things like that. I'll never be like you.' 'Too late. You already are.

A costume is the least convincing part of a role. It's the acting that makes or breaks you.

There's more to life then living, so hold on.

The story you are about to read is a work of fiction. Nothing - and everything - about it is real.

It's weird when you wake of from a bad dream and everything is still bad.

If you've never known someone your own age who's died, you can't imagine what it feels like. It's as if you were walking on a glass floor and it suddenly shatters and now you're falling and falling and there's broken glass in the air all around you and no bottom in sight.

Davy once asked me if I thought it was better to be a has-been than a never was, but maybe it doesn't make much of a difference. In the end, people are just people, and the only things that matter are whether they are good or bad, loving or unloving, loved or unloved.

cant get there from here

Some people get more of a chance to show who they are. Other people never get the chance.

Of course it would be great to sell lots and lots of copies of The Beast of Cretacea. But the bottom line for me is to sell enough copies to convince my publisher to let me do a sequel. I spent three years creating the world of Cretacea and the personalities of all the characters who inhabit it. All I want to do now is go back.

But then again, impossible never became rumour, did it?

This, then, is the story of what I learned. It is told in many voices, in words far more eloquent and raw than I could have thought on my own. It is a story of heartbreak and fear and regret. But mostly it is a warning. Violence comes in many forms- guns, fists, and words of hate and contempt. Unless we change the way we treat others in school and out, there will be more- and more horrible- tragedies.

Sometimes you know when someone is telling you the truth.

Was it a weakness of man that made him want to ignore the darker side of his fellow human beings?

Deadlines are like a drug for me. I hate and need them.

Well, screw you. Screw all of you. I hope this letter is like a knife in your hearts. You ruined my life. All I've done is pay you back in kind.