Quotes from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

You don't have to be part of a couple to be happy, you know.

When you've found the right one - when you see him, when you're with him - you'll feel like you're coming home.

Why is life so complicated....?' I asked. 'To keep us from being bored,' he said.

If you are embarrassed about your sex, it must mean that you feel there is something demeaning or disgusting about being female. You are all wondrously made, girls. Remember that: wondrously made, and you should carry your sex proudly, a badge of honor.

Saying hello to something new means saying good-bye to something old and loved.

and I'm thinking how nothing is as simple as you guess-not right or wrong, not Judd Travers, not even me or this dog I got here. But the good part is I saved Shiloh and opened my eyes some. Now that ain't bad for eleven.

One way to tell if you're really comfortable with a person is if you can be quiet together sometimes and not feel awkward. If you don't feel obligated to say something brilliant or funny or surprising or cool. You can just be together. You can just be .

If Jesus ever comes back to earth again, I'm thinking, he'll come as a dog, because there isn't anything as humble or patient or loving or loyal as the dog I have in my arms right now.

Well, the man who first translated the bible into English was burned at the stake, and they've been at it ever since. Must be all that adultery, murder and incest. But not to worry. It's back on the shelves.

There were so many of these moments that could never be captured accurately, even in the camcorder, only in the heart.

Since no one really knows what or who God is, or whether God is at all, why can't God be hope?

It's what they say to do when you're depressed, you know. Walk in someone else's shoes for a while, and your own won't feel so tight.

The world is full of unrequited love,' I said finally. 'You and Patrick having problems?' Dad said, reaching around to get the butter out of the fridge. 'No, I was just wondering what you would say if I was a lesbian.' 'Come again?' said Lester. 'I'm having a hard time following this conversation.

how one lie leads to another and before you know it, your whole life can be a lie.

The Three Cs, I told myself. When you're not Comfortable with it, it's not a Compliment, it's Creepy.

If it doesn't sweat, jiggle, or pant, it's not alive.

Just that what happens today or next week or next year isn't necessarily the way things are always going to be. As soon as you settle into a routine, life throws you a curveball. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you don't.

We all have our own battles to fight, and sometimes we have to go it alone. I'm stronger than you think, you'd be surprised.

Sometimes the bad guys don't win.

I know, but if I feel this bad for Gramps, how am I going to feel when it's Dad?" Tyler told me. "You'll feel even worse, of course, but you'll carry on, because happiness has a way of creeping in again. It really does," I said.

Sexually active? Sexually active ? Patrick and I hadn't even learned the fine points of kissing yet! I marched on down. 'For your information,' I said from the doorway, as both Dad and Lester jerked to attention, 'I am about as sexually active as a bag of spinach, and if you want to keep me on the porch and not out in the park somewhere behind the bushes, you'll keep the stupid porch light off when I come home with a boy.

I hate that phrase: move on. Like no matter what happened or what you did, you just "move on," and that's supposed to make everything all right.

No one looks up. No one pauses. No one even questions. Easy as falling off a log. I

Happiness is wanting what you have.