Julie Murphy Quotes & Sayings

Isn't that sad? It's like the whole world has to walk around with name tags on so we can all feel more comfortable? I guess things are less scary if you know what to call them. — Julie Murphy

Aha! I take my three keys on my ring (car, house, El's) and hold my hand in a fist so that each of the keys is peeking out from between my fingers. I remember seeing this on a self-denfense special of Maury. Television saves lives. — Julie Murphy

I was so scared that all the big things I wanted would never be anything more than wants. — Julie Murphy

She hated that book. El's not the type of person who can read something that's made her cry and think it was good because it touched her. No, books or movies that make Ellen cry infuriate her. Like, it's some kind of betrayal. — Julie Murphy

I guess the magic of being someone else is lost when you can never quite shed your own skin. — Julie Murphy

The idea that I'm someone's best friend fills my rib cage with summer. — Julie Murphy

I will survive, because I have survived. — Julie Murphy

I wish there were some kind of magic words that could bridge the cap between the person I am and the one I wish I could be. Because the whole fake it till you make it thing? It's not working for me. — Julie Murphy

You've never dated any guys?'
I shrug. 'Haven't even kissed one.' And then I add, 'Well, in recent years.'
'Then how do you know you don't like guys?'
'I don't know, Freddie,' I say, trying to hide my irritation. 'How many boys did you kiss before you realized you were straight? — Julie Murphy

Well, aren't you just having a come-apart? — Julie Murphy

I've wasted a lot of time in my life. I've thought too much about what people will say or what they're gonna think. And sometimes it's over silly things like going to the grocery store or going to the post office. But there have been times when I really stopped myself from doing something special. All because I was scared someone might look at me and decide I wasn't good enough. But you don't have to bother with that nonsense. I wasted all that time so you don't have to. — Julie Murphy

The older I got, the more aware I became of time and how I was wasting mine. — Julie Murphy

There's something about swimsuits that make you think you've got to earn the right to wear them. And that's wrong. Really, the criteria is simple. Do you have a body? Put a swimsuit on it. — Julie Murphy

What about having huge, bumpy thighs means that I need to apologize? — Julie Murphy

When it was for you," he said, his voice soft. "I enjoyed playing the piano when it was for you. — Julie Murphy

She had this way, when she wasn't talking about foreign politics or global warming, of making sense of all the complex things I never knew how to describe. — Julie Murphy

She'd call us her bee-utiful girls and take us for hot chocolate on Mondays, because Fridays didn't deserve all the attention. It was funny. I used to think of myself as a Monday and Ellen as a Friday. But Mondays and Fridays were just twenty-four-hour stretches of time with different names. — Julie Murphy

I knew how to die. It was the living that scared me. — Julie Murphy

I think maybe it's the things we don't want to talk about that are the things people most want to hear. — Julie Murphy

My whole body finally connected the dots, and I realized that even if we were never together, she'd ruined me and I'd never feel that way about anyone again. — Julie Murphy

But that's me. I'm fat. It's not a cuss word. It's not an insult. At least it's not when I say it. So I always figure why not get it out of the way? — Julie Murphy

I want more,' he says. 'I want more with you. I want to hold hands in public. I want to drive you home from work and give you a kiss good night. And talk on the phone so late we fall asleep. — Julie Murphy

I guess sometimes the perfection we perceive in others is made up of a whole bunch of tiny imperfections, because some days the damn dress just won't zip. — Julie Murphy

And I guess that's when I decided being good at something didn't mean you had to do it. Just 'cause something's easy doesn't make it right. — Julie Murphy

I suck in a breath. This is what it feels like when your life starts happening, I think. — Julie Murphy

I think you gotta be who you want to be until you feel like you are whoever it is you're trying to become. Sometimes half of doing something is pretending that you can. — Julie Murphy

Clover City is the type of place you leave. It's love that either sucks you in or pushes you away. There are only a few who really make it out and stay out, while the rest of us drink, procreate, and go to church, and that seems to be enough to keep us afloat. — Julie Murphy

When I can't fall asleep at night it's not because of work or school or Amber or Bekah. It's you. You're the one that drives me crazy."
I shake my head because it makes no sense. "Have you ever thought about what people will think? What they'll say when they see us together holding hands?"
"You never struck me as the type to give a shit what everyone else thinks." His jaw twitches for a moment before he lowers his voice and says, "I want to go everywhere with you. I want to show you off. I want to wear a cheap suit and be your escort for that ridiculous pageant. — Julie Murphy

I wish every day of my life could be this absurd. — Julie Murphy

It's okay. Suddenly, the pain is starting to fade."
"Yeah, revenge does that. — Julie Murphy

There were aches that couldn't be medicated. I guessed there were just some things that had to be felt. — Julie Murphy

There's some kind of peace that comes with knowing that for every person who is waiting to be found, there's someone out there searching. — Julie Murphy

I hate seeing fat girls on TV or in movies, because the only way the world seems to be okay with putting a fat person on camera is if they're miserable with themselves or if they're the jolly best friend. Well, I'm neither of those things. — Julie Murphy

And who the hell was that twiggy bitch?" As soon as it's out of my mouth I regret it. All my life I've had a body worth commenting on and if living in my skin has taught me anything it's that if it's not your body, it's not yours to comment on. Fat. Skinny. Short. Tall. It doesn't matter. But — Julie Murphy

Sometimes figuring out who you are means understanding that we are a mosaic of experiences. I'm Dumplin'. And Will and Willowdean. I'm fat. I'm happy. I'm insecure. I'm bold. — Julie Murphy

He meets me where I am, and because of the downward tilt of the driveway, we are toe to toe, nose to nose. "Willowdean Opal Dickson, you are beautiful. Fuck anyone who's ever made you feel anything less." His chest heaves. "When I close my eyes, I see you. I can talk to you. In a way I never have with anyone else. — Julie Murphy

Perfection is nothing more than a phantom shadow we're all chasing — Julie Murphy

there is no higher achievement for a southern woman than the ability to eat barbecue and walk away stain free. — Julie Murphy

All my life I've had a body worth commenting on and if living in my skin has taught me anything it's that if it's not your body, it's not yours to comment on. — Julie Murphy

This feeling that the world was so pleased to call love destroyed people every day and it would do that to me too. — Julie Murphy

Actually, at home, my parents simply referred to him as "bro. — Julie Murphy

Maybe 'cause you don't always have to win a pageant to wear a crown. — Julie Murphy

I don't know why people have to go on dates," Mitch says. "If we called it hanging out or something, there'd be so much less pressure. But a date, God, that's like some huge thing to live up to. — Julie Murphy

For as long as I could push air in and out of my chest, I would remember this moment that could never be measured. — Julie Murphy

But I wondered sometimes, the way your mind asks those big questions, like whether or not there's a god or how a girl can think she's ugly one day and pretty the next. — Julie Murphy

Plans were promises in disguise. — Julie Murphy

So this is creepy,' I say, motioning to the school with my non-key-shiv hand. — Julie Murphy

Her boyfriend, Camdon or Brandon or whatever his name is, tosses Callie his wallet and says, 'Gotta take a leak.' They exchange a kiss--- which, I mean, why? Is he going to drown in the toilet? — Julie Murphy

I don't really enjoy it, Mom."
"And you've always felt this way?"
"I don't know. I guess I want a break. — Julie Murphy

Good friendships are durable. They're meant to survive the gaps and the growing pains. — Julie Murphy

But the good news is that since this is the worst day ever, tomorrow can only be better. Even if it's by a little bit. — Julie Murphy

I am a total badass. A fat badass. — Julie Murphy

Marcus mumbles something about PMS and to my surprise, from the kitchen, Bo says, "Why can't she just be having a shitty day? You don't need to make up some bullshit reason why. — Julie Murphy

But now I felt trapped, like a homeless person who'd been given their dream home only to suffer from intense wanderlust because we always want something until we have it. — Julie Murphy

A male frigate bird blows up a wild red pouch on his neck. He can keep it puffed up for hours. It is his way of impressing the girls. — Julie Murphy

She was right. Karma was a bitch, but so was I. — Julie Murphy

There's nothing good about losing someone. But maybe Lucy wasn't supposed to be your compass forever. Maybe she was there for you just long enough so you could learn how to be your own compass and find your own way. The universe is a strange thing. — Julie Murphy

We did this grown-up thing. This really adult thing. But we were still ourselves. We still laughed and made jokes. I expected to feel like this whole new person, but really it was me--plain old me--making this decision that I can never unmake. — Julie Murphy

As it turned out, my greatest fear in life had become expectations. — Julie Murphy

I knew I would never travel through space or fly a plane, but sitting there with the girl I loved - there was no question about me loving her — Julie Murphy

Does love still exist if you can't say it? If you can't admit it? — Julie Murphy

I fell asleep, with her curled int my chest and my chin resting on top of her head, scared for tomorrow because this was too perfect to last. — Julie Murphy

My first kiss. It's the fastest thing that lasts forever. — Julie Murphy

This is me. Back me up or back the fuck out. — Julie Murphy

All my favorite things start as bad ideas. — Julie Murphy

Beautiful, he says. Fat, I think. But can't I be both at the same time? — Julie Murphy

Captain James Cook's ship, The Endeavour, hit a coral outcrop in the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. Cook and his crew camped in what is now called Cooktown for nearly two months while making repairs. Then they sailed south, where Cook claimed the east coast of Australia as British territory. — Julie Murphy

Maybe you only ever notice the distance when it's you who's being left behind. — Julie Murphy

Your life changes sometimes and it only takes a few words to bridge the gap between now and then. — Julie Murphy

High school did that to you, turned you into pieces of driftwood. and the parts of you that you tried to keep in one piece became the property of the wind and the water, sending those dear pieces everywhere you were not. — Julie Murphy

Nope," says Hannah. "I call bullshit. You don't deserve to win anything or be in any pageant until you make the effort and do the work. Maybe fat girls or girls with limps or girls with big teeth don't usually win beauty pageants. Maybe that's not the norm. But the only way to change that is to be present. We can't expect the same things these other girls do until we demand it. Because no one's lining up to give us shit, Will. — Julie Murphy

I hate phrases like that. "Jesus vocab," El would call them. Things you learn in church that are hammered into you until they're so normal that you expect everyone else who doesn't go to church to know what you mean. — Julie Murphy

Child, you don't need heels. You're fierce all on your own." She — Julie Murphy

I wanted nothing more than to feel something, but I didn't know how to deal with what came after the feeling. — Julie Murphy

En pointe she was a force, a tornado: safe to look at from a distance, but in close proximity, you risked being just another piece of her debris. Some days I thought I could only be so lucky. — Julie Murphy

Then he left, and with him he took the sun, the moon, the stars, and anything inside of me that might have been good. — Julie Murphy

But maybe Lucy wasn't supposed to be your compass forever. Maybe she was there for you just long enough so you could learn how to be your own compass and find your own way." She winks at me. "The universe is a strange thing. — Julie Murphy

I don't get it - how you can feel like there are no consequences for living with your feelings on your sleeve. — Julie Murphy

It wasn't just the look of Dolly that drew us in. It was the attitude that came with knowing how ridiculous people thought she looked, but never changing a thing because she felt good about herself. To us, she is...invincible. — Julie Murphy

I'm fat. I'm happy. I'm insecure. I'm bold. — Julie Murphy

You are what you eat. What would YOU like to be? — Julie Murphy

I don't even want to win, but I think there's this survival instinct inside all of us that clicks on when we see other people failing. It makes me feel gross and incredibly human. — Julie Murphy

To my mom, powdered iced tea is almost as bad as the possibility of being left behind in the wake of the rapture. "You — Julie Murphy

Not everyone who goes to private school is rich. Especially not the poor kids who can play basketball. — Julie Murphy

I hate that there's never anyting good on TV on Saturday afternoons. It's like even the networks are trying to get you off your ass and have a life. — Julie Murphy

Hannah shouldn't have to get braces. Maybe she can't afford them or maybe she's scared to get them. Either way, she shouldn't have to fill her mouth with metal so that some shitheads will leave her alone. — Julie Murphy

The fat kids, the skinny kids, the tall ones, the short ones, and everybody in between: I am so thankful that not a single one of us is the exact same. What a boring world that would be. — Julie Murphy

Find out who you are and do it on purpose. - Dolly Parton — Julie Murphy

My first thought isn't that I'm gay or that Freddie is a boy or that he's one of my best friends. His lips are lips. They're soft and they taste like pumpkin pie and whiskey. — Julie Murphy

I smile when I think of the past and get excited about the future. — Julie Murphy

Damn," I hiss. "I'm sorry to hear about your grandpa." There's so much more I want to say. But there's some invisible barrier there between us created by the years we've spent apart. He — Julie Murphy

I want to be with you," he says. "But I can't if you won't let me."
"Why?" I drop my bag in the driveway. "Why do you want to be with this?" I wave my arm up and down the length of my body. Immediately, I hate myself for this. The only person making this about my body is me.
"Because I like you. I think I might feel a lot more than that for you, Willowdean. How is that so hard to believe? — Julie Murphy

To appear effortless requires much effort. — Julie Murphy

You can't apologize for my feelings and expect things to be better." He paused. "Especially not when you're the reason for them. — Julie Murphy

I couldn't promise him the things he wanted because Harvey wanted forever. And that had been so much easier to give him when forever had an expiration date. — Julie Murphy

Y'all girls are different versions of the same story, — Julie Murphy

But if I told Harvey that, there would be no more secrets and he would move in even closer. And that couldn't happen. The closer he got, the more answers I owed him. — Julie Murphy

thanks to Harvey, the year I died had become the year I lived. I — Julie Murphy

It was the thing I planned out in my head in those moments between asleep and awake when my brain was unable to tell the difference between dreams and reality. — Julie Murphy

Sometimes love is so intense that it turns into this gray area that borders on hate. That's what happens when the people you love have that type of power over you. — Julie Murphy