Quotes from Walter Dean Myers

Go on with your judas ginger self

We had tasted what it was like being dead. We had rolled it around in our mouths and swallowed it and now the stink from it was coming from us. We weren't all right. We would have to learn to be alive again.

Black soldiers found themselves in a dilemma. On the one hand they were being trained to risk their lives in defense of the country, while on the other hand they were being told to accept their role as inferior citizens.

Many of the other white military units on the base defended the black soldiers, refusing to join in with the local racists. Northern white soldiers often refused to patronize white stores that refused to serve black soldiers.

Actually, I liked the principal's office. It was interesting to see the teachers come and go, talking about what they would have for lunch or what they had done the night before just as if they were normal people. I

On December 27 land was sighted. They had reached France. The men were confined to the ship until New Year's Day but were happy to be the first black unit to reach Europe.

My friends, in these desperate times we must use every weapon we have...You must understand that patience can be a weapon.

My books. They were my only real friends growing up.

We all keep our delusions with us. Sometimes it's a person, sometimes an idea, sometimes even a dream that seems more real in memory than it ever did in life.

I think that if we can't go back, then we should try even harder to go forward.

Folks, there's not much on this table to eat, he said. When you give it to one person, you have a chance to make a friend. When you divide it between two people, you're liable to make two enemies...

I read a lot of comic books and any kind of thing I could find. One day, a teacher found me. She grabbed my comic book and tore it up. I was really upset, but then she brought in a pile of books from her own library. That was the best thing that ever happened to me.

The most difficult idea to reconcile in war is the notion that anything is going to be solved by killing a stranger, or in risking your life for a cause anchored in some distant political arena.

People still try to sell books that way - as 'books can take you to foreign lands.' We've given children this idea that reading and books are a nice option, if you want that kind of thing. I hope we can get over that idea.

We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.

So many organizations have a mentoring arm, but they don't really do it. Their idea of mentoring a kid is giving them general advice. But what they need to do is read with children.

I admired the work ethic of the cowboys I read about. The idea of these young people taking on this much responsibility was impressive. I would like modern readers to have an appreciation of this.

I had seen the ballet of 'Swan Lake' as a child but it was as an adult, when I saw a production featuring Erik Bruhn, that I first noticed how significant a part the ever-present threat of violence played. This juxtaposition of great beauty and grace with a backdrop of pure evil stayed with me for years.

My younger brother's death in Vietnam was both sobering and cause for reflection. In 'Fallen Angels' I wanted to dispel the notion of war as either romantic or simplistically heroic.

I talk to myself out loud at times, and feel embarrassed when people overhear me.

The idea of voluntary segregation went against every value I had been taught. What did being born black have to do with excellence?

Yeah, that's funny, huh?...Something hurts you real bad and you get used to it. Like being hurt becomes part of who you are.