Quotes from Laurie Halse Anderson

People who have to announce that they are trustworthy deserve to be lied to.

No, I am never setting foot in this house again it scares me and makes me sad and I wish you could be a mom whose eyes worked but I don't think you can.

You're the one who doesn't understand, I've been standing on the edge with you for years.

Too much sun after a Syracuse winter does strange things to your head, makes you feel strong, even if you aren't.

I can't do everything for you. You must walk alone to find your soul.

I am so sorry. I wish you knew even one tenth of one percent of how sorry I am. ...It was my fault. Can I kill myself here, or should I do it outside, so the mess on your carpet doesn't upset your mother?

I am not going to think about it. It was ugly, but it's over, and I'm not going to think about it.

Didn't help to ponder things that were forever gone. It only made a body restless and fill up with bees, all wanting to sting something.

I don't just use yarn from a store. I buy old sweaters from consignment shops. The older the better, and unravel them. There are countries of women in this scarf/shawl/blanket. Soon it will be big enough to keep me warm.

Eating plain toast will detonate her. I'll have some honey. When the bread is done I scrape on a microscopic layer of it and pour a cup of coffee, black. She pretends not to listen or watch as I crunch through my breakfast. I pretend that I don't notice her pretending.

Because I am still a little girl who believes in Santa and the tooth fairy and you.

The light beyond my eyes flashflashflashes with a hundred futures for me. Doctor. Ship's captain. Forest ranger. Librarian. Beloved of that man or that women or those children or those people who voted for me or who painted my picture. Poet. Acrobat. Engineer. Friend. Guardian. Avenging whirlwind. A million futures--not all pretty, not all long, but all of them mine. I do have a choice - p. 271

We should teach our girls that snapping is ok, instead of waiting for someone else to break them.

I wanted to pull down a book, open it proper, and gobble up page after page

If I run or breathe too deep, the cheap stitches holding me together will snap, and all the stickiness inside will pour out and burn through the concrete.

Killing people is easier than it should be." Dad put on his beret. "Staying alive is harder.

You must walk alone to find your soul.

There is no safer. There's not even safe, never has been.

I pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth. If I try hard enough, maybe I can gobble my whole self this way.... I didn't try hard enough to swallow myself.

I won the wintergirl trip over the border into dangerland.

I can see us, living in the woods, her wearing that A, me with a S maybe, S for silent, S for stupid, for scared. S for silly. For shame.

Having a friend made everything else suck less.

My first class is biology. I can't find it and get my first demerit for wandering the hall. It is 8:50 in the morning. Only 699 days and 7 class periods until graduation.

The world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don't need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and BAM! Perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by her parents forever.