Quotes from Laurie Halse Anderson

Wit is the most dangerous talent you can possess. It must be guarded with great discretion and good-nature, otherwise it will create you many enemies." —John Gregory A Father's Legacy to His Daughters , 1774

Has she received any letters from Lockton?' The question hit me like a bucket of cold water. 'You asking me to spy again?' 'Listen,' he started, 'Our freedom-' I did not let him continue. 'You are blind. They don't want us free. They just want liberty for themselves.

My good sense bitch-slapped my estrogen and told her to get a grip.

I can never tell with moments of silence. They're so... silent. Empty.

Gracie's father was an engineer, her mother an accountant. I couldn't picture either one of them yelling or throwing things or having affairs. I could see my dad doing stuff like that. Trish sure did. But Dad carried a war in his skull, and Trish was a drunk. Gracie's parents didn't have anything like that to deal with, but their daughter was falling apart on the bathroom floor.

I knew I wouldn't get an invitation. I would be lucky to get an invitation to my own funeral, with my reputation.

Before the suffragettes came along, women were treated like dogs... They were dolls, with no thoughts, or opinions, or voices of their own. Then the suffragettes marched in, full of loud, in-your-face ideas. They got arrested and thrown in jail, but nothing shut them up. They fought and fought until they earned the rights they should've had all along.

Sisters, drop everything. Walk away from the lake, leaning on each other's shoulders when you need the support. Feel the contradictions of another truth ready to be born: shame turned inside out is rage.

It doesn't matter where I go, I don't want to be there. And then I get to the next place, and I don't want to be there either.

The next time you work on your trees, don't think about trees. Think about love, or hate, or joy, or rage-- whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat or your toes curl.

Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green.

Sometimes being an adult means doing the right thing, even if it's not what you want.

God did not intend for Irish kids to play in the sun, according to my mother.

I wake up breathing dirt. I cough and spit out the pebbles in my mouth, but when I inhale again, wet clots of clay fill my lungs.

Like most blacks in Philadelphia, Eliza was free. She said Philadelphia was the best city for freed slaves or freeborn Africans.

A group of little creatures is coming up the walk. A pirate, a dinosaur, two fairies, and a bride. Why is it that you never see a kid dressed as a groom on Halloween?

What if a king made bad laws; laws so unnatural that a country broke them by declaring its freedom?" He threw his arms in the air. "Now you are spouting nonsense. Two slaves running away from their rightful master is not the same as America wanting to be free of England. Not the same at all." "How is it then that the British offer freedom to escaped slaves, but the Patriots don't?

too large," the mayor said. "If it breaks free of its chains

I don't know what I'm doing in the next five minutes and she has the next ten years figured out.

His Excellency today appealed to the Officers of this Army to consider themselves as a band of brothers cemented by the justice of a common cause. -General Orders of George Washington, Valley Forge

The cops say that thing:'anything you say will be used against you.' Self-incrimination. I looked it up. Three-point vocab word. So why does everyone make such a hairy deal about me not talking? Maybe I don't want to incriminate myself. Maybe I don't like the sound of my voice. Maybe I don't have anything to say.

Freedom would not be handed to us like a gift. Freedom had to be fought for and taken.

Nothing good ever happens at lunch. The cafeteria is a giant sound stage where they film daily segments of Teenage Humiliation Rituals. And it smells gross.

Why are you being so mean?" "Friends tell friends the truth." "Yeah, but not to hurt. To help.