Adam Gidwitz Quotes & Sayings

The mind is like a muddy road. Two ruts run down its center, from all the carts that have passed that way. no matter how many carts try to roll alongside the ruts, to stay out of the mud, sooner or later, a turn here or a jolt there will send them down into the ruts for good. Just so is the mind. As hard as we try to keep our thoughts out of the old ways, the old patterns, the old ruts, any little jog or jerk will send them right back down into the mud." -The Chronicler — Adam Gidwitz

A tale dark and Grimm is my favorite book of all time because it gives me the chills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — Adam Gidwitz

Sometimes, it turns out, the most important decisions in life are made by your dog. — Adam Gidwitz

In Hebrew, satan means an advocate of the alternative, the one who makes the arguments you don't know how to refute." Michelangelo looked to the old Jew, still grinning wickedly in the corner. "That satan is my best friend. — Adam Gidwitz

Being the reader of a dark fairy tale is much like being the hero of one. Our lives are filled with pain, boredom, and fear. We want to venture into the dark wood, to see the oddities and the beauties it holds, and to test ourselves against them. So we pick up a book of fairy tales. The real ones. THe weird ones. The dark ones. We see oddities and beauties galore. We test our courage and our understanding. Finally, we put the book down and return to our lives. And hopefully, just like the hero of the fairy tale, we return stronger, richer, and wiser. In difficult times - of recession and violence and political bitterness - we long for a dark forest to which we can escape; and from which we can return, better than we were before. — Adam Gidwitz

It tastes like life."
"What?"
"Rotten and strange and rich and way, way too strong. — Adam Gidwitz

Well, don't eat my house!' the baker woman — Adam Gidwitz

For, in life, it is in the darkest zones one finds the brightest beauty and the most luminous wisdom. — Adam Gidwitz

Maybe I've been wanting the wrong things. — Adam Gidwitz

They were amazing, fierce, beautiful children. — Adam Gidwitz

He stopped at every village, every hamlet, every house and hovel he passed along the way to ask if they had seen or heard anything of his sister,, Gretel. But no one had.
"You mean Gretel, the old woman?"
"No, my sister."
"Gretel, my sister's baby?"
"No, my sister. And she's not a baby."
"I have a goat named Gretel."
"No! — Adam Gidwitz

And if this seems strange to you - that, under these difficult, frightening, and outlandish circumstances, children might be happy...well, then you don't know all that much about children. — Adam Gidwitz

When you do what you want, not what you wish ... ' said the first raven.
'When you no longer seek your reflection in others' eyes ... ' said the second.
'When you see yourselves face to face ... ' said the third.
'Then,' the ravens intoned in unison, 'you will have found what you truly seek. — Adam Gidwitz

There is a certain kind of pain that can change you. Even the strongest sword, when placed in a raging fire, will soften and bend and change its form ...
Trust me on this one. I know this from personal experience. I hope that you never will, but, since you're a person, and therefore prone to making horrible, soul-splitting mistakes, you probably will one day know what this kind of guilt and shame feels like. And when that time comes, I hope you have the strength ... to take advantage of the fire and reshape your own sword. — Adam Gidwitz

Because, you see, every triumph begins with failure. — Adam Gidwitz

You are like pomegranates split open. Even the emptiest among you are as full of good as a pomegranate is full of seed. — Adam Gidwitz

Inside her, great castles of comprehension, models of the world as she had understood it, shivered. She could not decide whether to let them crumble or to try desperately to save them. — Adam Gidwitz

How could he hate the Jews and yet feel sick when they were attacked? Louis hated peasants, too, apparently, and yet he had no problem sitting beside Jeanne - hoisting her in the air and dancing even. Jacob tried to turn this over in his head, around and around, like the cartwheels beneath him. But after a while, he gave up. People were too strange to understand, he decided. They were like life. And also that cheese. Too many things at once. — Adam Gidwitz

There is something embarrassing about someone else's grief. It is hard to know what to do around it. The right answer, always, is hugs. — Adam Gidwitz

But beware, dear reader. For we go out into the wide, wild world, looking to change, looking to grow, looking for wisdom. But wisdom is hard to come by, and once achieved, it is very easily lost. Especially when one is leaving the wide, wild world - and returning to the place you once fled. — Adam Gidwitz

Second of all, those fairy tales that you hear over and over and over again aren't even the REAL fairy tales. Has your teacher ever said to you, "Today, children, we're going to read a Cinderella story where the stepsisters cut off their toes and their heels with a butcher's knife! And then they get their eyes pecked out by birds! Ready? Is everyone sitting crisscross-applesauce? — Adam Gidwitz

There is this weird thing that happens, when you stop worrying so much about what other people think of you ... you suddenly start seeing what you think of you. — Adam Gidwitz

You see, Hansel and Gretel don't just show up at the end of this story.
They show up.
And then they get their heads cut off.
Just thought you'd like to know. — Adam Gidwitz

There is a wisdom in children, a kind of knowing, a kind of believing, that we, as adults, do not have. There is a time when a kingdom needs its children. — Adam Gidwitz

By the way, the next time you see a little girl who's excited for Halloween,and she says,"I want to be Cinderella! I want to be Cinderella!" you'll know that what she's actually saying is,"I want to be Toilet Cleaner! I want to be Toilet Cleaner!" But don't tell her that, because she'll cry. — Adam Gidwitz

You see, to find the brightest wisdom one must pass through the darkest zones. And through the darkest zones there can be no guide.
No guide, that is, but courage — Adam Gidwitz

Home is where you can be yourself. — Adam Gidwitz

Anger is a weed...It grows up through the soil, choking every other plant. You must stamp it out. Don't let it enter your garden. Stamp out your anger until it never comes back. — Adam Gidwitz

For a momente she [Gretel] stopped and considered following the rain's advice. But then she shook her head. "You're being foolish," Gretel told herself. "Rain can't talk."
No, of course it can't. The moon can eat children, and fingers can open doors, and people's heads can be put back on.
But rain? Talk? Don't be ridiculous.
Good thinking, Gretel dear. Good thinking. — Adam Gidwitz

So thirsty," Jack groaned.
"So worried,"said the frog. I hope we don't starve to death."
"Yes,"said Jill, "not starving to death would be nice."
"So would not thirsting to death," said Jack
"Thirsting isn't even a word," said Jill
"It isn't?"
"No."
"Then what's the word?"
"I dont know. You just can't."
"Oh."
This is, of course, the kind of inane conversation that occurs when people are slowly losing their minds. — Adam Gidwitz

Whether you go your separate ways or stay together, you will continue to witness--against ignorance, against cruelty, and on behalf of all that is beautiful about this strange and crooked world. — Adam Gidwitz

But Joringel had no chance to answer. For Jorinda ran at her brother and threw her arms around him and held him so tight he could not breathe.
Little Jorinda and little Joringel held each other for a long, long time. Neither said a word.
At last Joringel withdrew and looked at his sister. "If you won't leave me," he whispered, "I won't leave you — Adam Gidwitz

The oven became hotter and hotter, and Hansel began to sweat. Then a delicious smell wafted to his nostrils. Oh no! he thought. I'm cooking! He sniffed at the air. And I smell delicious! — Adam Gidwitz

A hug from a child! he exclaims. Perhaps God's greatest invention! — Adam Gidwitz

Once upon a time, fairy tales were AWESOME! — Adam Gidwitz

She looked up, over the bandage that was nestled under her chin, and saw that the big-belly man with the red beard was starting at her, shaking his head. He looked like he was crying.
"I got ya this time," he whispered, as if to himself. "This time, I got ya. — Adam Gidwitz

(T)hey at last understood that their problems would never have been solved by trying to cover them up or choke them back or pretend they didn't exist. By repression. No, their problems could only be solved by expression. By telling their tales, and by making up new ones, too. — Adam Gidwitz

I'd say all mirrors are magical, or can be.
They show you yourself after all.
Really seeing yourself, though, that's the hard part. — Adam Gidwitz

Wait!" the prince exclaimed. "After you kill it, can I ride it? — Adam Gidwitz

When you are very pretty, people tend to remark on your looks. They smile at you more easily. They are more permissive of your faults. Soon, you come to believe that your prettiness matters, and that you are better because you are pretty, and that all it takes to get through life is a batting of your eyelashes and a twisting of your hair around your little finger, and that you can scream and pout and shout and tease because everyone will still like you anyway because you are so unbelievably pretty. This is what many very pretty people think.
Beware, then, for this is how monsters are made. — Adam Gidwitz

Ale for a tale. That's the fairest trade I know. — Adam Gidwitz

Maybe you know something about young people, and maybe you don't. I, having been one myself once upon a time, know a few things about them. One thing I know is that if you don't want one to do something - for example, go into a room where there's a portrait of an unbearably beautiful princess- saying "It might cost you your life" is about the worst thing you can possibly say. Because then that's all that young person will want to do.
I mean, why didn't Johannes say something else? Like, "It's a broom closet. Why? you want to see a broom closet?" Or, "It's a fake door, silly. For decoration." Or even, "It's the ladies' bathroom, Your Majesty. Best not go poking your head in there. — Adam Gidwitz

...and William said, "O Lord God, we have tried to hear Your voice above the din of other voices. Above the heresy--and even above the orthodoxy. Above the abbots and the masters. Above the knights and even the kings. And though this world is confusing and strange, we believe we have heard Your voice and followed it--followed it here, to this place. Now please, God, hear us. Help us, watch over us, and protect us as we face the flames of hate. Please, God, please. And they all said, "Amen. — Adam Gidwitz

You see, my parents never cut off my head physically...But maybe emotionally...Most parents love their children and try to take care of them the best that they can. But parents mess up, all the time. — Adam Gidwitz