Quotes from Melina Marchetta

What's the difference between a trip and a journey?" "Narnie, my love, when we get there, you'll understand.

One of Sir Topher's rules was to never indulge in sentimentality, never return for what was left behind.

Japan." Not about the Japanese, but about moments of perfection. Commit it to memory and make good use of it. Because if I come home and you're still pining over this little girl without having given her a chance, I will call you a chicken shit for the rest of your life.

I just don't trust people who have bodies that change with their moods. Well then you'll never trust the opposite sex again.

I hope you're not smoking in front of her,' Lucia says to him. 'Yeah, I lie in bed and puff in her face, Lucia,' he says, irritated.

Even five minutes of your time can make someone's day

Sometimes I feel like a junkie. One minute something happens in my life and I'm flying. Next minute I take a nose-dive and just as I'm about to hit the ground with full force something else will have me flying again.

I didn't realize until those few days how much a hug meant. To have someone hold you could be the greatest medicine of all.

Mercy', Finnikin said, grinning from ear to ear. 'We're going to have a bed full of children and I'll have to holler out to my wife, "Hello there! It's been a long time since we last spoke!

They either don't get it or don't want to. Maybe I'm just not selling it well.

And being that happy makes me feel guilty. Because I shouldn't be. Not while my mum is feeling the way she is. How I can dare to be happy is beyond me, and I hate my guts for it.

Josie, life is not a Mills and Boon book. People fall out of love. People disappoint other people and they find it very hard to forgive.

Our voices sound kinder in the skin of our own language.

Everyone had told him to be strong for her, but Finnikin didn't know how to be strong for himself.

This morning, my mother didn't get out of bed.

We have to make a human pyramid displaying the foundations of the Catholic Church and the most frightening aspect, according to Brother Louis, is that Thomas Mackee is holding up the pyramid which makes the whole future of the church incredibly shaky.

And if I could bottle the look on his face, I'd keep it by my bedside for the rest of my life.

You know what we call you? Bitch Spice, Burtch Spice, Slut Spice and Stupid Spice.' Thomas Mackee says this

I look over to the other side of the road and watch Griggs as he walks. It's a lazy walk but so full of confidence that you want to be standing behind him all the way.

What is it? A prize or something? No. It's not a prize and I'm not a prize. But it's mine. It belongs to me and I can only give it away once, and I want to be so sure when it happens. I don't want to say that the first time for me was bad or it didn't mean a thing.

You're the father of the person who is my life.

Everything's going to be fine. She'll be back at work soon. Let's just keep the house clean." Oh yeah, I want to say, because a clean house will result in peace in the Middle East as well.

Maybe that's why humans find it so hard getting over their love affairs. It's not the pain they're getting over, it's the love.

Don't you ever touch my car again," Santangelo says with the same fury he had on his face when Jonah Griggs made comments about his mother. Raffy touches the car with her finger in a very dramatic way. "You've just made our hit list," he says, getting a hanky out of his pocket and cleaning off some imaginary mark.