Jaclyn Moriarty Quotes & Sayings

I saw your name in lights last night. It's the middle of the night, and I can't sleep, thinking all my trumpeting thoughts, and I get out of bed, open the curtains, and look into the night full of stars, and you know what I saw? Your name. Like the stars joined up and spelled the word for me. Like a sign. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I am a student of love. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Bindy Mackenzie talks like a horse. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Early on, when they'd just started home schooling together, he'd written a note on the margin of her page: "What's your star sign?"
She'd turned to him, "What does my star sigh?" and he'd seen how much she'd liked the idea that she owned a star, and that it sighed; he'd seen in her eyes that her mind was rushing through the possible words that it could sigh.
It's true that his handwriting was bad: the "n" looked a lot like an "h."
But when he's crossed it out and written "sign," underlining the "n" three times, a vagueness had wandered onto her face, and she'd thought for a moment, then said, "Pisces," and smiled. — Jaclyn Moriarty

She left behind her giant M, she's not getting my cabinet
-Toby — Jaclyn Moriarty

What does it mean?" Emily said, in a low, panicked voice: "What does it mean if a rainbow comes before rain? — Jaclyn Moriarty

Well, this might sound stupid but I think he was my best friend. Like the other half of me. I'm so scared something might have happened to him when he went back. I miss him so much sometimes I look at windows and I want to just walk right through them -- like press myself through the glass. I want their sharp edges to fragment me. — Jaclyn Moriarty

And if we can change things that have already happened if those planes can fly in uneasy formation if that splinter moon can blow away the shadows then anything, anything at all. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Her parents were going to a conference for the weekend. The conference was called "Lawyers are Lovely, Great and Superb: so Why Does Everyone Think that They are Liars, Greedy and Scum?" and Mr Thomson was doing a speech called "Ten Tips to Make Lawyers as Popular as Doctors. — Jaclyn Moriarty

This is what I want you all to do. I want you to open a new document and type up a list of three problems in your life. Not the universe's life - your own. Underneath, type the solutions."
"If we know the solutions," said Belle, "they're not problems."
"Exactly," said Denny. "You do know the answers to most of your problems. Somewhere deep inside, you know. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I love her bare legs from a distance. When she's standing by a pool. When she's facing the water, thinking. Her legs are white as watermelon rind, veined blue from cold. There's that 'H' shape behind her knees. The H trembles softly with the swimming-water cold. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Her skin is pale as watermelon sucked free of its juices. — Jaclyn Moriarty

And then something happened. It was a fragment of time, a breath of time. It was like being in a car in pouring rain and driving under an overpass, and for just that second there is a profound, powerful sense of reprieve- the utter silence of non-rain. — Jaclyn Moriarty

The Irish people didn't get on that well with each other either. They hated the Catholics, was the main issue, as I see. You can't blame them for that. If I understand correctly, Catholics do not believe in contraception. So, you know, sex is not relaxing. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Distance is the journey. Displacement is the result. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Mrs. Cheerson, our old teacher? She gave us an essay to write over the holiday. It was on To Kill a Mockingbird, which I read and it was good, and I think it's stupid to spoil a good book by writing an essay on it. So I didn't do it. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I hope you feel better today. Please ring me at work if you are dead. — Jaclyn Moriarty

A choice had to be made when your husband said something unkind. Specifically: be cruel, be strong, or sulk. 'Be cruel' by saying an unkind thing back. 'Be strong' by choosing not to mind. But to do this, you have to use up a piece of your love. You have to shave off enough of the love to forgive. After a while, the piece might grow back, but sometimes not. And if you shave off all the soft curves, you'll be left with a sharp-edged love. 'Sulk' by sulking. Sulking is simply delaying the choice to be cruel or strong. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I'm screwed up, mixed up, messed around, dive-bombing, crashing and burning. — Jaclyn Moriarty

P.S. I will give you a clue about the person I'm interested in. She gets a very cute dimple in her right cheek when she's trying not to smile. She has a very cute way of pronouncing th, and she wears a cute hat on cold days, which is like a French beret. I once had an appointment with her to Gaze into the Girl's Eyes, which she went and cancelled on me, and I've been waiting all term for a chance to Kiss the Girl. — Jaclyn Moriarty

There was plenty of green light left in that orange light Em. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I think I know you absolutely. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Emily said ... Well, I read that it's important to sleep. While you sleep, the hippopotamus in your brain replays things that happend during the day, e.g. what you studied. So therefore it remembers it for you. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Brookfield High School. How may I direct your call? No, sir, this is not a waste- disposal unit, I'm afraid you have the wrong number. — Jaclyn Moriarty

As if Riley and Amelia were lions, and we were a menage a trois of lively, prancing deer. — Jaclyn Moriarty

If you're bored tonight why don't you write down everything that comes to mind when you hear the word toothpaste? — Jaclyn Moriarty

Sure and you've got to keep your own spitis up, for there's no one else will do that for you! — Jaclyn Moriarty

Here come the colours of Madeleine, thought Jack, and the colours went right through his bloodstream now, sailing on tiny boats - spinnakers fixed with little toothpicks. — Jaclyn Moriarty

How about we meet at midnight tomorrow and try this. I close my eyes, believe in you, and there you'll be. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Dear Complete and Utter Stranger,
The first thing that I have to say is that I hate oatmeal. I really hate it. And you know what? If you like oatmeal at all? I mean even the tiniest bit? I mean, say you were lost in the Himalayas, right, and you hadn't eaten anything except a Mars Bar for about seven years, right, and you're really cold and your fingers are all dropping off, right, and you look behind this rock, and there's this bowl of oatmeal?
Say you would even think about eating the oatmeal?
Well, JUST DON'T BOTHER WRITING TO ME, OKAY? — Jaclyn Moriarty

There was something in the moonlight tonight. It was stroking the stonework and spires, leaning into cracks between the cobblestones, caressing the stained-glass windows. She felt her heart lift with magic. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Ah, even sitting here on my front porch, looking out over the fields, there's a part of me aches to see him walking. To conjure him out of the sunlight in the distance. The shape of my dad, I can almost see it, crossing the field toward me. Come to put his arm around me, reach out an arm to my mother as well, and I'll close my eyes and just breathe. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Emily: YOU CAN'T SPEAK AND TYPE AT THE SAME TIME, BINDY!
Bindy: Watch me. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I hate those TV shows where characters talk about one thing, such as their patient on the operation table (let's say they're a doctor), then you realize they're actually talking about actually talking about themselves. The patient's open-heart surgery is nothing compared to their own messed-up heart or whatever. It's selfish. And means they're not concentrating, which is medical negligence. — Jaclyn Moriarty

The world is made of more than particles. It's made of things you can't hold in your hand, like fear, love, loss, hope, truth. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I am grateful to you for the rest of my life. And when I say "you," I mean every part of you, including your mind and your smile and your giggle and the mad look you get in your eyes sometimes. If you don't believe that your words have got into my soul, take a look at the painting which I took to the art show (it's called The Puppy and the Pyramid, which is what you might call a clue). But if I don't get to kiss you fairly soon, Lyd, I won't have a soul left to speak of. — Jaclyn Moriarty

You should have seen her this morning,' he said, smiling. 'She's got into the pantry and tipped a box of Cheerios all over the kitchen floor. I walk in and she's crawling around eating them as fast as she can. Mum's standing there, watching her - she got this embarrassed look when she saw me - she does, 'I know, I know, but I can't bring myself to stop her. She thinks she's hit the jackpot. — Jaclyn Moriarty

When she got back from taking Cassie to school Fancy knew that she ought to be working on her wilderness romance. She had promised thirty thousand words to her editor by tomorrow, and she had only written eleven. Specifically:
His rhinoceros smelled like a poppadom: sweaty, salty, strange and strong.
Her editor would cut that line. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Do you think there could be a universe next door? — Jaclyn Moriarty

It's a lot easier to be crazy or mad than to just get on with living. — Jaclyn Moriarty

P.P.S. AND YOU CAN TALK. "Just say the word." JUST SAY THE WORD? What kind of expression is that? WHAT WORD WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SAY ANYWAY? MORON?
Letter from Emily to Charles. — Jaclyn Moriarty

t was beautiful, being there with Elliott. It was like there was nothing except him and me. I remember his palms, his chest, his chin, but it was like we were more than just our bodies. As if our essence was there in the darkness. — Jaclyn Moriarty

And everywhere I turned: Riley and Amelia.
I suppose this could have been because I was always following them around. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Where are they now? she thought. Her iPod, her iPhone, her iPad, the I-ness of her life? Her mind stretched around in its memories, searching for her things: She saw her phone on the hotel bedside table in Paris; her iPad in her Louis Vuitton urban satchel; her iPod slipping from her pocket in the restaurant, the night before she ran away. — Jaclyn Moriarty

My mind is like the streets of Hong Kong. — Jaclyn Moriarty

My father, I never knew, except for this one time when he threw a ball and told me to go fetch it.
"Dad," I said. "Am I a dog?"
"Lydia," he said. "I apologize. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Where was she now, the girl with the thunderstorm heart? — Jaclyn Moriarty

3:12 pm
Secretly, I admit, I find many of my classmates annoying. I've often thought to myself, 'Good grief, these people are five-year-olds. Why must I spend my days among them?' But have I ever said such things aloud? No. I have been nothing but generous to them, and kept these thoughts to myself.
And how have they repaid me? Have they been grateful or kind? Ho NO! — Jaclyn Moriarty

Are you sure you want me to go after Christina? Lately I've kind of thought I might just give up on that. Plus, didn't you and I need to gaze into each other's eyes first? How will I know how to gaze at Christina? And my pebble kicking? Disaster. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Well, first you have to be very, very funny. I have realized that it is essential for a boy to be funny. Otherwise, what is the point in a boy? — Jaclyn Moriarty

I never saw anything like it. He was like the bit in the movie where Tom Cruise is a lawyer and he's decided he's really going to win this case, for the sake of justice and the American way, and that? And it's suddenly like bang-bang-bang - grabbing files off shelves and slamming them down on the desk and punching numbers in the telephone and shaking out the phone cord dramatically , and you know, snapping out instructions to all the assistants around the desk, like: "Get me all the phone records of the President of the United States for the last fifty years," and "Get me the names of every client who ever ate a banana," and "Let's get some Chinese take-out up here, on the double! — Jaclyn Moriarty

You've loved with intensity and passion, and have learned to hide your heartache, learned to press your handkerchief back into your pocket and pretend that you are okay. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I was just peeling some potatoes for dinner and they all looked like crisp white potatoes until I cut them in half. Every single one had a rotten, gray core. [ ... ] I feel like the whole world is black, rotting, and evil. Even when it looks crisp on the outside, that's a lie, because you can't trust anything - on the inside it's nothing like mold. [ ... ] So, see, nothing good is ever going to happen, and anyone who says it is, is lying to you. — Jaclyn Moriarty

I've been sniffing out the guys in my English class (to the extent that this is possible without getting my throat cut), but they smell the same way they always do: like feet and testicles. As opposed to freesias.
I don't want to keep sniffing them, Lyd.
- Letter from Seb to Lyd. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Who knows if all our brains are inventing the same thing? I mean, how do we know that the thing YOUR eyes see and call "red" is the same thing that I call "red"? — Jaclyn Moriarty

It's a vicious cycle. It's like a washing machine with the lid jammed down. -Christina Kratovac (pg 53)
— Jaclyn Moriarty

Madeleine Tully turned fourteen yesterday, but today she did not turn anything. Oh, wait. She turned a page. — Jaclyn Moriarty

There was one true thing. Madeleine. The relief was beautiful. He fell asleep imagining her hands in his hands, holding one another in the darkness. — Jaclyn Moriarty

She's always getting into trouble because she gets bored really really easily. [ ... ]
My mum says it's because Celia has an attention span the size of a sesame seed.
Celia's mum says it's because Celia's identity is unfurling itself slowly, like a tulip bud, and it's a breathtakingly beautiful thing to see. — Jaclyn Moriarty

And she looks at me with her eyes open wide and a face that says: Oh my God, I'm muckin' around in my sexy Jesus-boots, in my crazy dreamworld, and I've opened the door and let you in on my crazy dreamworld and that's so embarrassing but, actually, who cares? because it's funny. — Jaclyn Moriarty

People always tell me I shouldn't run so far because I'm too young and my bones will fall to pieces. But I do it anyway-mainly because I love the bit when you finish and get to stop running. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Having read several prize-winning novels, Fancy was confident that she now knew the recipe:
1. Write a simple narrative.
2. Make a long list.
3. Scatter the contents of your list throughout your narrative. — Jaclyn Moriarty

THERE IS A GAS LEAK IN THE BASEMENT OF THE SCHOOL. THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC. IT IS JUST A GAS LEAK WHICH MAY LEAD TO AN EXPLOSION AT ANY MOMENT. PLEASE ALL GO TO THE OVAL, AS PER THE FIRE DRILLS.
-Charlie on the P.A. — Jaclyn Moriarty

You're making me nervous by being so weird.
But your weirdness is what I like about you. — Jaclyn Moriarty