Louis Sachar Quotes & Sayings

If only, if only, the moon speaks no reply;
Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by.
Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly.
Fly high, my baby bird,
My angel, my only — Louis Sachar

He's not my dad," Kaira said. "Just because he married my - As soon as I turn eighteen I'm firing his ass! Then I'll call you. — Louis Sachar

If Stanley and his father weren't always hopeful, then it wouldn't hurt so much every time their hopes were crushed — Louis Sachar

I don't listen to music when I write. I need silence. — Louis Sachar

School just speeds things up ... Without school it might take 70 years before you wake up and are able to count. — Louis Sachar

I never think of an entire book at once. I always just start with a very small idea. In 'Holes,' I just began with the setting; a juvenile correctional facility located in the Texas desert. Then I slowly make up the story, and rewrite it several times, and each time I rewrite it, I get new ideas, and change the old ideas around. — Louis Sachar

Life will deal me many different hands, some good, some bad (maybe they've already been dealt), but from here on in, I'll be turning my own cards.
- Alton Richard — Louis Sachar

Stanley spent more time pushing the wheelbarrow than digging, because he was such a slow digger. He carted away the excess dirt and dumped it into previously dug holes. He was careful not to dump any of it in the hole where the gold tube was actually found. — Louis Sachar

With 'Holes' I was troubled that there weren't very many female characters. I tried to put them in where I could. But the setting didn't lend itself to girls. — Louis Sachar

Zero wasnt worried, " When you spend your whole life living in a shole", he said, "the only way you can go is up. — Louis Sachar

Love is different from most things. If I gave my piece of chalk to someone, then I wouldn't have it anymore. But when I give my love to someone, I end up with more love than I started with. The more love you give away, the more you have left. — Louis Sachar

What scared Stanley the most about dying wasn't his actual death. He figured he could handle the pain. It wouldn't be much worse than what he felt now. In fact, maybe at the moment of his death he would be too weak to feel pain. Death would be a relief. What worried him the most was the thought of his parents not knowing what happened to him, not knowing whether he was dead or alive. He hated to imagine what it would be like for his mother and father, day after day, month after month, not knowing, living on false hope. For him, at least, it would be over. For his parents, the pain would never end. — Louis Sachar

I want kids to think that reading can be just as much fun and more so than TV or video games or whatever else they do. I think any other kind of message or morals that I might teach is secondary to first just enjoying a book. — Louis Sachar

What amazes me is that most days feel useless. I don't seem to accomplish anything-just a few pages, most of which don't seem very good. Yet, when I put all those wasted days together, I somehow end up with a book of which I'm very proud. — Louis Sachar

I may have ruined my life, but at least I got to eat some really good Chinese food. — Louis Sachar

It's funny how a person can be right all the time and still be wrong. — Louis Sachar

Rattlesnakes would be a lot more dangerous if they didn't have the rattle. — Louis Sachar

You may have done some bad things, but that doesn't mean you're a bad kid. — Louis Sachar

Warning: Do not read this story right after eating. In fact, don't read it right before eating either. In fact, just to be safe, don't read this story if you're ever planning to eat again. — Louis Sachar

Dana raised her hand. "I learned about exaggeration," she said. "It was all my teacher ever talked about. We had like ten thousand tests on it, and the teacher would kill you if you didn't spell it right." "That's very good, Dana!" said Mrs. Jewls. "You learned your lesson well. — Louis Sachar

You're a caring, thoughtful, considerate human being. Maybe that is a curse in this cold world we live in. You have the soul of a poet.
- Mrs. Bayfield, to David — Louis Sachar

I really began to love to read while in high school, and my favorite authors were my heroes: J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut. — Louis Sachar

It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward. — Louis Sachar

Sometimes people can learn a lot about each other just by sitting in silence. — Louis Sachar

Twenty-five Percent Slam — Louis Sachar

But don't forget who you really are. And I'm not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you. You know who you really are. When you're alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you ... Your muscles will toughen. So will your heart and soul. That's necessary for survival. But don't lose touch with that person deep inside you, or else you won't really have survived at all. — Louis Sachar

The media tends to portray the teenage world as one where drinking and sex is taken for granted. In fact, I think most teenagers don't drink, are unsure of themselves, and feel awkward around members of the opposite sex. — Louis Sachar

In a way, it made him sad. He couldn't help but think that a hundred times zero was still nothing. — Louis Sachar

I'm no good at describing my books. 'Holes' has been out now for seven years, and I still can't come up with a good answer when asked what that book is about. — Louis Sachar

Need help new member — Louis Sachar

Give me a dollar or I'll spit on you. — Louis Sachar

When I wrote 'Sideways Stories from Wayside School' I never expected it to be published. It was kind of a hobby. Now, it's a job, but it's a job I like very much. — Louis Sachar

Because if you fidget or wriggle or squirm or sass me or get an answer wrong, I'll wiggle my ears - (Wiggles her ears: they vibrate dramatically. MYRON and BEBE duck under their desks) MYRON and BEBE: NO! MRS. GORF: --stick out my tongue and turn you into apples! — Louis Sachar

Part of me becomes the characters I'm writing about. I think readers feel like they are there, the way I am, as a result. — Louis Sachar

Nothing in life is easy. — Louis Sachar

When the shoes first fell from the sky,he remembered thinking that destiny had struck him. Now he thought so again. It was more than a coincidence. It had to be destiny. — Louis Sachar

'The Cardturner,' while it has bridge in it, you certainly don't need to know how to play bridge to read it. It's basically a book about relationships - between Alton and his great-uncle, and Alton and his friends, and how it changes his life. — Louis Sachar

You have only one life, make the most of it — Louis Sachar

When I turned the corner, I saw Toni waving at me from the elevator. I think I've already told you how it made me feel to see her smile and wave at me. You can have your sunsets and waterfalls. If a piano were to suddenly fall on my head, that's the image I'd want forever engraved in my mind.
- Alton Richard — Louis Sachar

Each beat told him he was still alive, at least for one more second. — Louis Sachar

Now you be careful in the real world" said Armpit " Not everyone is as nice as us. — Louis Sachar

I hope I remember everything," said Toni.
"You won't," said Trapp. "That's how you learn. But after you make the same mistake one, or two, or five times, you'll eventually get it. And then you'll make new mistakes. — Louis Sachar

Holes BY LOUIS SACHAR
"Nearly everything in the room was broken; the TV, the pinball machine, the furniture. Even the people looked broken, with their worn out bodies sprawled over the various chairs and sofas." (p.43)
This is Stanley's view of the "wreck room" at Camp Green Lake. It is the one place the boys are allowed to relax somewhat and they have trashed it. The inhumanity of the camp has possessed the boys. Stanley sees this room as a reminder that the boys have the capacity for violence, and he does not want to mess with the other campers. — Louis Sachar

You make the decision: Whom did God punish? — Louis Sachar

The best morals kids get from any book is just the capacity to empathize with other people, to care about the characters and their feelings. So you don't have to write a preachy book to do that. You just have to make it a fun book with characters they care about, and they will become better people as a result. — Louis Sachar

I jog in the morning and then write for about two hours. There are times when I'm really excited and can't wait to get back to it. But there are days when I don't know what's coming next, and I really have to force it. — Louis Sachar

But I'm taking small steps 'Cause I don't know where I'm going I'm taking small steps And I don't know what to say. Small steps, Trying to pull myself together And maybe I'll discover A clue along the way! — Louis Sachar

I didn't become a good writer until I learned how to rewrite. And I don't just mean fixing spelling and adding a comma. I rewrite each of my books five or six times, and each time I change huge portions of the story. — Louis Sachar

The reader is probably asking: Why would anyone go to Camp Green Lake? Most campers weren't given a choice. Camp Green Lake is a camp for bad boys. If you — Louis Sachar

When I write a novel, every word is mine. I welcome suggestions from my editor, but in the end, I make all the final decisions. — Louis Sachar

I'm an avid bridge player. I usually go to the local bridge club three or four times a week. I've always been a game-player, and I think bridge is one of the greatest games ever invented. It's too bad that not many young people play it any more. — Louis Sachar

I prefer to use the names their parents gave them
the names that society will recognize them by when they return to become useful and hardworking members of society. — Louis Sachar

Dear Stanley, It was wonderful to hear from you Your letter made me feel like one of the other moms who can afford to send their kids to summer camp. I know it's not the same, but I am very proud of you for trying to make the best of a bad situation. Who knows? Maybe something good will come of this. Your father thinks he is real close to a breakthrough on his sneaker project. I hope so. The landlord is threatening to evict us because of the odor. I feel sorry for the little old lady who lived in a shoe. It must have smelled awful! — Louis Sachar

The bark on the tree was just a little softer. — Louis Sachar

And what would you like, Sharie?" asked Miss Mush.
"What do you have?" asked Sharie.
"Potato salad".
"What else is there?" asked Sharie.
"Nothing" said Miss Mush.
"Okay" said Sharie. "I'll have that."
"Potato salad?" asked Miss Mush.
"No,nothing." said Sharie. — Louis Sachar

And I can get my own phone," said Leslie, "with unlimited text messaging!" "And I can get my car fixed," I said. "Or maybe even a new car." "Or a new house that already has a swimming pool," said Leslie. "And a hot tub," I said. "And a game room, and a pool table," said Leslie. "And a giant TV with surround sound, and every kind of video game." And, and, and ... That's the trouble with money. — Louis Sachar

You can't let anybody else tell you what your choices are. Sometimes they won't give you the right choice. — Louis Sachar

Toni hears voices," said Trapp. "But who is this Dr. Ellsworth to tell her she's a schizophrenic? Maybe she just perceives better than the rest of us. Maybe the voices she hears are just uncommunicated ideas, floating free. — Louis Sachar

An idea doesn't die," said Trapp. "It exists somewhere, in its own dimension, waiting to be perceived. — Louis Sachar

The time you quit learning is the time to quit playing. — Louis Sachar

How can he be your friend if you don't like him? — Louis Sachar

I'm not stupid. I know everybody thinks I am. I just don't like answering their questions. — Louis Sachar

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. — Louis Sachar

We may be surrounded by some greater reality, to which we are oblivious. And even if we could somehow perceive it in some entirely new way, it is extremely doubtful we would be able to comprehend what we perceived. — Louis Sachar

I think of a book and a play, or a book and a movie, as two separate things - I don't think of it as my novel having a new life. — Louis Sachar

I'm not saying it's going to be easy. Nothing in life is easy. But that's no reason to give up. You'll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. After all, you only have one life, so you should try to make the most of it. — Louis Sachar

Whenever you give someone a present or sing a holiday song, you're helping Santa Claus. To me, that's what Christmas is all about. Helping Santa Claus! — Louis Sachar

It's - I write the books and let the market find who reads it. I guess a young adult is anywhere from ten to fifteen. — Louis Sachar

Nothing in life is easy. But that's no reason to give up. you'll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. — Louis Sachar

Left his great-grandfather to face the hot barren desert. The Warden had left Stanley to face Mr. Sir. Somehow his great-grandfather — Louis Sachar

A lot of people don't believe in curses.
A lot of people don't believe in yellow-spotted lizards either, but if one bites you, it doesn't make a difference whether you believe in it or not. — Louis Sachar

Friends always break even. — Louis Sachar

Stanley wondered if this was how a condemned man felt on his way to the electric chair - appreciating all of the good things in life for the last time. — Louis Sachar

Wayside school is falling down, falling down, falling down,
Wayside school is falling down my fair lady.
Kids go splat as they hit the ground, hit the ground, hit the ground,
Kids go splat as the hit the ground my fair lady
.
Broken bones and blood and gore, blood and gore, blood and gore,
Broken bones and blood and gore my fair lady.
We don't have to go to school no more, school no more, school no more,
We don't have to go to school no more my fair lady. — Louis Sachar

Offering you a hundred and eighty dollars, pure profit, and no worries. — Louis Sachar

I write in the mornings, two or three hours every day, and then at least four times a week I play in a duplicate game at a bridge club. I try to go to tournaments three, four, or five times a year. — Louis Sachar

My parents played bridge, and I remember being fascinated watching them. I sometimes got a chance to sit in on a hand, which I loved. But then I didn't actually play on my own for about 30 years. — Louis Sachar

He understood it when other kids were mean to him. It didn't bother him. He simply hated them. As long as he hated them, it didn't matter what they thought of him. — Louis Sachar

When you spend your whole life living in a hole, the only way you can go is up. (Zero/Hector Zeroni) — Louis Sachar

Not everyone is as nice as us. — Louis Sachar

I guess what led to me writing 'Holes' was having moved to Texas in 1991, and it was sort of my reaction to Texas. — Louis Sachar

Dana had four beautiful eyes. She wore glasses. But her eyes were so beautiful that the glasses only made her prettier. With two eyes she was pretty. With four eyes she was beautiful. With six eyes she would have been even more beautiful. And if she had a hundred eyes, all over her face and her arms and her feet, why, she would have been the most beautiful creature in the world. — Louis Sachar

My dog, Pugsy, was hit by a car, — Louis Sachar

It was all because of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather! — Louis Sachar

LOUIS SACHAR is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Holes, winner of the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Christopher Award. He is also the author of Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake; Small Steps, winner of the Schneider Family Book Award; and The Cardturner, a Publishers Weekly Best Book, a Parents' Choice Gold Award recipient, and an ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults book. His books for younger readers include There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, The Boy Who Lost His Face, Dogs Don't Tell Jokes, and the Marvin Redpost series, among many others. — Louis Sachar

You're not completely worthless. — Louis Sachar

Not counting 'Small Steps,' I think 'Holes' is my best book, in terms of plot, and setting, and the way the story revealed itself. It hasn't changed my life, other than that I have more money than I did before I wrote it. I'm still too close to 'Small Steps' to compare it to 'Holes.' — Louis Sachar

If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs,
"The bark on the tree was as soft as the skies."
While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely,
Crying to the moo-oo-oon,
"If only, If only. — Louis Sachar

I actually started an adult book, worked on it for about two years, and then decided it just wasn't coming together for me, and thought I'll go back to children's books, and almost immediately I started 'Holes,' and it just seemed to take off on me. — Louis Sachar

You're responsible for yourself. You messed up your life, and it's up to you to fix it. No one else is going to do it for you
for any of you. — Louis Sachar

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. (p. 3)
It immediately sets a mood of hardship and confusion and starts right in with the irony that permeates the novel. — Louis Sachar

Doesn't every kid want to dig a hold to China? Didn't you?
What about Chinese children? — Louis Sachar

Higher and higher he climbed. His strength came from somewhere deep inside himself and also seemed to come from the outside as well. After focusing on Big Thumb for so long, it was as if the rock had absorbed his energy and now acted like a kind of giant magnet pulling him toward it. After a while he became aware of a foul odor. At first he thought it came from Zero, but it seemed to be in the air, hanging heavy all around him. He also noticed that the ground wasn't as steep anymore. As the ground flattened, a huge stone precipice rose up ahead of him, just barely visible in the — Louis Sachar

Okay, you were probably taught there are five senses," he said. "We see, hear, touch, smell and taste. But how do we know those are the only five? What are the senses that we don't have? What are we failing to perceive? — Louis Sachar

He could hardly lift his spoon during breakfast, and then he was out on the lake, his spoon soon replaced by a shovel. — Louis Sachar

It's funny how you can go from hating a girl to maybe liking her, maybe liking her a lot, just because she shows a little interest in you. — Louis Sachar

Every time I start a new novel, it seems like an impossible undertaking. If I tried to do too much too quickly, I would get lost and feel overwhelmed. I have to go slow, and give things a chance to take form and grow. — Louis Sachar

There was something special about being in a strange place, all alone in a mass of people even if you had just screwed up your life, or perhaps especially if you had just screwed up your life. — Louis Sachar

Right before a person freezes to death, he suddenly feels nice and warm. — Louis Sachar

The impossible is more believable than the highly improbable. — Louis Sachar