Quotes from Trenton Lee Stewart

Sometimes, Reynie, trouble itself is the key. - Mr. Benedict

After all he had accomplished, and considering how much he had learned and how far he had come, it is a curious fact—indeed, a remarkable one—that what Nicholas wanted now, more than anything, was to get started.

He'd been about to make a joke, but he kept it to himself.

The ocean was the greatest secret keeper of all. Some of its secrets, like the hidden shoals, could be discovered, but most would never be known. Thousands upon thousands might be revealed, yet there would always be more that remained hidden. The ocean was probably the most mysterious thing in the world, Reuben thought, except for a person.

It was clear Jackson was the sort of young man who considers himself rather smarter than he is, and who is naturally cruel but thinks himself a decent fellow.

Mr. Furrow jerked a thumb toward the mule in the back of the barn. "Rabbit'll kill anything comes near his carrot if he hasn't done with it. And he'll kick you if you make him go too fast in the field. I'd whip him, but he's so old a whipping might kill him, and he's our last and only mule. So we just keep away from his carrot and we keep it slow. That's the rules with Rabbit.

Nicholas lay with his hands on his chest, thinking how hollow it felt, like an empty gourd. He had never missed having a family, though he had wanted one all his life.

Mom" didn't feel quite right , Reynie decided. Why not use the Tamil word? He'd heard her refer to her own mother as "Amma," but whether this meant "mom" or "mother," he wasn't sure. Reynie felt a flutter of happy anticipation.

if nothing else comes of this, at least you're making friends. That's more than you had yesterday.

The third question, thankfully, was less emotional. It read: "What is wrong with this statement?" How funny, Reynie thought, and marking down his answer he felt somewhat cheered. "It isn't a statement at all," he wrote. "It's a question.

Things are much more pleasant when you stop being angry.

Nobody crossed the Directions, not even the police. Because the Directions worked for The Smoke. Reuben headed south, moving from alley to alley, keeping close to the buildings and ducking beneath windows.

You know what I like about buttons?" he said, taking the button from Constance and gazing at it admiringly. "They're very small things that hold bigger things together. Awfully important, buttons — little but strong.

It would be years before it was operating the way a proper city should - which is to say, messily, but more or less freely and honestly, with its citizens accountable to one another and to those they've chosen to represent them, rather than to entities, spectral or otherwise, whose own interests are not in the interest of the people.

Why does Mr. Harsch hate you?" Reuben asked, somewhat absently, for he was only partly listening. He'd never been in a motorboat and was preoccupied by the rumble of the engine, the smell of exhaust fumes now drifting astern, the lovely rush of water along the sides. "Or, I mean, pretend to hate you?" "Who can say?" Jack replied with a shrug. "Maybe because I keep borrowing his boat." They

Given the state of her room, it would have been no surprise to find her chest of drawers utterly empty;

Constance, meanwhile, was slipping a forkful of goopy casserole onto Sticky's plate. It was the third such forkful, and Sticky (who was just as distracted as Reynie) had yet to notice. He just kept glancing down at his plate with concealed dismay, continuing to eat what was in front of him.

The first time he'd crossed this plaza, years ago, he was walking into a new life. He could not help but wonder if he was doing the same thing yet again, this time walking in the opposite direction. His future had seemed so mysterious to him then. Now, after so much had changed, he found himself walking across the exact same plaza feeling almost exactly the same way. It seemed so strange. How many more plazas, Reynie wondered, would he cross in his life?

Boy finds treasure, plummets to his death. Great story. It

Jack just needed to play his cards right. What was it Penny had said? The Meyers would be incomparable poker players, if only they gambled. Well, Jack was gambling, all right. Reuben could only hope he was good enough.

a lie stands on one foot but the truth stands on 2.

Strange as it might seem, it made Reuben feel closer to his mom, and he was sure she felt the same way, though they'd never discussed it. Talking about it might ruin the effect.

When the time comes to face McCracken, I don't want you anywhere near." "I agree with Milligan!" Sticky whispered. Milligan winked at him and quickly ushered the children back to the double doors.

One painting was of an observatory, the other of a boy on a bluff. Both featured starry skies—and both, Mr. Benedict had told them, were the work of a childhood friend.