Malorie Blackman Quotes & Sayings

When I was a teenager, reading for me was as normal, as unremarkable as eating or breathing. Reading gave flight to my imagination and strengthened my understanding of the world, the society I lived in, and myself. More importantly, reading was fun, a way to live more than one life as I immersed myself in each good book I read. — Malorie Blackman

I'm a voice for children's books and children's reading. — Malorie Blackman

Any anxieties publishers have about putting a child on the front cover of a book who isn't white is very old fashioned. — Malorie Blackman

Boys don't cry but real men do. — Malorie Blackman

I hadn't fully realized just how powerful words could be before this. Whoever came up with the saying 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' was talking out of his or her armpit. — Malorie Blackman

You have the same smile, the same shaped eyes, the same way of tilting your head to listen, the same stubborn streak, the same common sense. Lots of things about you and him are the same. — Malorie Blackman

There is a saying: 'The child is parent to the adult', which means whatever happens to you as a child or teenager affects the adult you become. You are forged in your history. And fiction is an incredibly important force in shaping children, and that's why fiction needs to be diverse. — Malorie Blackman

And round and round and round. Why couldn't I get past the letter? Like poison id had seeped into every image and every memory I kept of Callum, polluting them until I couldn't tell which was real and what was just wishful thinking any more. Until at last, I was forced to face the inescapable fact that, for whatever reason, Callum had written the letter. — Malorie Blackman

I personally, as a teenager, didn't like books I felt were trying to preach to me ... I did not believe in happy endings. I wanted to read books which reflected life as I thought I knew it. — Malorie Blackman

I wanted to have a body of work behind me before I wrote about racism. — Malorie Blackman

Dear God, please let him have heard me. Please.
Please.
If you're up there.
Somewhere. — Malorie Blackman

And just like that, I'd been assessed and judged. Nurse Fashoda didn't know the first thing about me but she'd taken one look at my face and now she reckoned she knew my whole life story
what had gone before and what was yet to come. — Malorie Blackman

The truth isn't going to bend itself to suit you. — Malorie Blackman

If a child wants to read 'Twilight' over Middlemarch, they should be encouraged - the important thing is to get them reading in the first place. — Malorie Blackman

To my fellow Crosses, keep the faith. — Malorie Blackman

I try to widen the horizons of every child I meet, and part of that is promoting diverse forms, be it graphic novels, stories told in a narrative voice, or more translated books, as well as more diverse writers and more diverse characters. — Malorie Blackman

I suppose it doesn't occur to you that I can think the system just as unjust as you do. — Malorie Blackman

Just remember, Callum when you're floating up and up in your bubble, that bubbles have a habit of bursting. The higher you climb, the further you have to fall. — Malorie Blackman

You remind me of a boy I used to know
Same Smile, same easy, laid-back style
And man, could he kiss
Blew my mind the very first time
His lips touched mine.
You remind me

You remind me of a boy I used to like.
Same eyes, strong arms, same open mind
And man, could he dance
Arms around me, lost in a trance
I'd hear his heart
You remind me

I'm scared of you
How did you find me?
Turn and walk away
'Cause you remind me

You remind me of a boy I used to love
Same laughter and tears, shared through the years
And man, how he felt

Made my bones more than melt
He touched my soul.
You remind me

I'm scared of you
How did you find me?
Turn and walk away
'Cause you remind me — Malorie Blackman

When I was a child, we used to look forward to the end of the day when we would hear another ten minutes of a story. — Malorie Blackman

Because my mum and dad brought me up to believe that people are different but equal. And that I should treat everyone, no matter who, with the same respect I'd like to be shown. — Malorie Blackman

You can have all the talent in the world, but without determination, you won't get very far. — Malorie Blackman

The point is, you have family and friends who love you. You have a world out there just waiting for you to conquer it. You have a life that will be anything you make it. That's the point. — Malorie Blackman

My rear end was blood-raw from my so called brilliant ideas rebounding on me. — Malorie Blackman

Life isn't about quantity, it's about quality. — Malorie Blackman

A film of my life would never happen! — Malorie Blackman

He was constantly surprising me like that. I had thought I didn't like surprises, but I found I did when they came from him. — Malorie Blackman

Mrs Bawden yanked me away from the table and dragged me across the food hall. I tried to twist away from her, but she had a grip like a python on steroids. — Malorie Blackman

Even if we had gone away together when I wanted us to, we would've been together for a year, maybe two. But sooner or later, other people would've found a way to wedge us apart. — Malorie Blackman

I wish ... I wish he wasn't quite so ashamed of me. And if he could stop feeling so ashamed of himself, then maybe we might stand a chance. — Malorie Blackman

Books and knowledge don't make for a safe world. Just the opposite. Books and knowledge are facets of the truth and the truth can be very dangerous. — Malorie Blackman

One of us ...
One of them ...
One of us ...
One of them ...
A rhythm playing like train wheels on a circular track
never ending but going nowhere. — Malorie Blackman

I pulled him closer to me, wrapping my arms around him, kissing him just as desperately as he was kissing me. Like if we could just love long enough and hard enough and deep enough, then the world outside would never, could never hurt us. — Malorie Blackman

I mean you're cute, but not that cute. Would Rhea really risk life in a maximum security detention unit just so that she could press herself against your manly body? — Malorie Blackman

Children find prescriptive reading lists daunting, and they are a dangerous thing to have in schools. — Malorie Blackman

I have encountered those who feel that libraries have served their purpose and are no longer needed. There are those who consider them a soft target when it comes to local authority budget cuts. In certain political quarters, there is a refusal to see that our public library service needs active protection. — Malorie Blackman

He loved to draw. Animals pouncing mostly. And trees. Always lone trees in black landscapes. — Malorie Blackman

Love was like an avalanche, with Sephy and I hand-in-hand racing like hell to get out of it's way-only, instead of running away from it, we kept running straight towards it. — Malorie Blackman

I think what we need, especially in publishing, is more commissioning editors and editors who are people of colour. — Malorie Blackman

I subscribe to the online Urban Dictionary's definition of nerd: 'one whose IQ exceeds his weight'. I'm also keen on the same Urban Dictionary's definition of geek: 'the person you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult'. I happily proclaim myself a book nerd/reading geek and proud of it. — Malorie Blackman

Jude's fourth law: Caring equals vulnerability. Never show either. — Malorie Blackman

I'm one of the few adults lucky enough to love their job. And when you've got bills to pay, you get on with it! I like challenges. — Malorie Blackman

Don't hate me for wanting to change the way things are. I believe in you, Callum. You can change the world, I know you can. But not like this, I'm not trying to be magnanimous or patronizing. I genuinely want to help but ... — Malorie Blackman

I used to comfort myself with the belief that it was only certain individuals and their peculiar notions that spoilt things for the rest of us. But how many individuals does it take before it's not the individuals who are prejudiced but society itself? — Malorie Blackman

You're not fifteen any more. You're not the idealistic kid who thought that, deep down, somewhere, somehow, in some way, life had to be fair.
- Callum McGregor — Malorie Blackman

No-one understood. No-one. Least of all - me. — Malorie Blackman

I would like to use stories as a springboard for children to make their own creative responses. I would like to encourage them to express themselves using music, art, film or whatever, and upload it to a website having been inspired by particular stories. — Malorie Blackman

It was because I was scared. Scared of standing out, scared of being invisible. Scared of seeming too big, scared of being too small. — Malorie Blackman

People are people. We'll always find a way to mess up, doesn't matter who's in charge. — Malorie Blackman

I can't stop thinking about what might have been ... I can't stop imagining the two of us together. My body burns at the thought of it. Sephy and I might've been together for ever.
- Callum McGregor — Malorie Blackman

Part of my job as Children's Laureate is to visit schools and talk about my love of books and stories and encourage them all to do it as well - to read, to write, to never be afraid of their own voice. Because we all have something to say. — Malorie Blackman

What I'm trying to do is to write a story. If you take something from it, that's wonderful; if you don't, that's wonderful as well. — Malorie Blackman

We were comfort kissing, that's all. We wrapped our arms around each other for solace. Bear hugging. Squeezing the life out of each other as if we were trying to merge together. When at last we loosened our grip, in a strange way we were both more calm. Physically, at least. Not mentally. — Malorie Blackman

He thought astrology was a load of bosh! Didn't believe in stars and planets telling his fortune or anyone else's. — Malorie Blackman

The worst thing about being the laureate has been the attitude of a tiny minority of adults who haven't liked some of the things I'm supposed to have said and who have used it as an opportunity to be verbally abusive and nasty, but I haven't let it rule my world! — Malorie Blackman

So why did you want to kiss me?"
"We're friends aren't we?" Callum shrugged.
I relaxed into a smile. "Of course we are."
"And if you can't kiss your friends who can you kiss?" Callum smiled. — Malorie Blackman

There are no such things as friends. Just acquaintances who haven't let you down yet. — Malorie Blackman

But the Good Book said a lot of things. Like 'love thy neighbor' and ' do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. If nothing else, wasn't the message of the Good Book to live and let live? So how could the Crosses call themselves 'God's chosen' and still treat us the way they did? — Malorie Blackman

And things go unsaid soon get forgotten — Malorie Blackman

In a television interview, I said that diversity in our children's books should include the adventures of disabled children, travellers and gipsies, LGBT teens, different cultures, classes, colours, religions. It shouldn't be a token gesture, nor do such stories need to be 'issue-based'. — Malorie Blackman

Don't you know that boys don't cry?' Adam grinned.
'Shall I tell you something I've only recently discovered,' I replied, not attempting to hide the tears rolling down my face and not the least bit ashamed of them. 'Boys don't cry, but real men do. — Malorie Blackman

He wrapped his arms around me. We were cuddled up like a couple of spoons in a cutlery drawer. — Malorie Blackman

When I wrote 'Noughts and Crosses', I was halfway through it when I realised this was very like 'Romeo and Juliet' ... as long as you make it your own, and put your own spin on it, I think it's brilliant to use other great work to find your own voice. — Malorie Blackman

I believe each individual can have a say and make a difference. — Malorie Blackman

A yawning hole deep inside me was begging to be filled up with words and thoughts and ideas and facts and fictions.
Callum McGregor — Malorie Blackman

A backup plan means somewhere in my head, I think I might fail and that word is not in my vocabulary. Plus I'm too talented to fail. — Malorie Blackman

Like a window had been thrown open inside my head and my heart, where there had been closed shutters before. — Malorie Blackman

I loved reading when I grew up but did feel totally invisible because I couldn't see myself and my life reflected in the books I was reading. — Malorie Blackman

Who did it, Sephy?' She repeated. 'Who beat you up? 'Cause whoever it was, I'll kill them. — Malorie Blackman

I remember being in a history lesson and saying to my teacher, 'How come you never talk about black scientists and inventors and pioneers?' And she looked at me and said, 'Because there aren't any.' — Malorie Blackman

Did you love Melanie?" asked Adam unexpectedly.
There was no pause before I shook my head.
"That's a shame," said Adam.
"Why?"
"Well, someone as special as your daughter should've been ... made with love. — Malorie Blackman

When did we stop being people, being human? — Malorie Blackman

Sometimes the things you're convinced you don't want turn out to be the thing you need the most in this world. — Malorie Blackman

You're a Nought and I'm a Cross and there's nowhere for us to be, nowhere for us to go where we'd be left in peace ... That's why I started crying. That's why I couldn't stop. For all the things we might've had and all the things we're never going to have. — Malorie Blackman

Never, ever allow yourself to feel. Feelings kill. — Malorie Blackman

I didn't even enter a bookshop until I was 14 because I couldn't afford books until I got my first Saturday job, but by the time I was six or seven, I spent practically every Saturday down my local library reading as much as I could and getting out as many books as I could. — Malorie Blackman

Five years off my life ...
I wondered with a wry smile, would people be immortal if they didn't have kids? — Malorie Blackman

When a chance for real happiness comes by, grab it with both hands and devour it. If it lasts five minutes or five lifetimes, it's still worth it. — Malorie Blackman

Children will go with any story as long as it's good, but white adults sometimes think that if a black child's on the cover, it is perhaps not for them. — Malorie Blackman

I would like to champion diverse forms like graphic novels and works told in verse and diverse writers and illustrators and diverse authors as well. — Malorie Blackman

Was that all love did for you? Made you give up and give in? Left you open to pain and hurt? — Malorie Blackman

Boys don't cry, but men do. — Malorie Blackman

What I wanted to do was use literature and different kinds of stories and poems as a springboard, tapping into the creativity of our teens - I wanted teenagers to come up with their own creative responses to literature - using books themselves as a starting point. — Malorie Blackman

But faith is so easy to hold onto when you don't need it. And so hard to find when you do. — Malorie Blackman

That just the way it is. Some things will never change. That's just the way it is. But don't you believe them. — Malorie Blackman

I read a lot of highly unsuitable books for an 11-year-old. I was desperate to read as widely as possible. I thought, 'There are so many places I am never going to get the chance to visit, but I can if I read them.' And I did. I could go anywhere in the world - and off it - by reading. — Malorie Blackman

Teenagers are some of the most passionate, dynamic and creative people I know. Yet, too often, this creative spark is left to flicker precariously and sometimes fade entirely. — Malorie Blackman

I remember, when I was at school, we would have a 10-minute storytelling session where we'd all sit on the floor cross-legged, and the teacher would read. It became something we all really looked forward to. That was part of the reason I grew to love stories. — Malorie Blackman

Book sales and teens reading is always a fantastic thing, but we should also be celebrating and consuming the huge wealth of U.K. and U.K.-based writing and illustrating talent. Authors such as Charlie Higson, Darren Shan, Holly Smale, Tanya Byrne, Catherine Johnson, Sophie Mckenzie, to name but a few. — Malorie Blackman

A good book is a good book. End of story. — Malorie Blackman

He pulls the hood over my head. I try to pull back. I'm not trying to run away. I just want to see her ... One last time ... — Malorie Blackman

We need more people working in the publishing industry itself who are people of colour. — Malorie Blackman

She stays lost in the middle of her own world somewhere. We can't get in and she doesn't come out. Not often anyway, and certainly not for any length of time. But her mind takes her to somewhere kind, I think, to judge by the peaceful, serene look on her face most of the time. — Malorie Blackman

I think fan fiction is the way most writers start, and the same goes for music and design. — Malorie Blackman

I suppose I've always lived in my own head. I didn't discover boys till sixth form. Then suddenly it was, 'Oh! Boys!' — Malorie Blackman

I lay on her bed with my arms wrapped around her, wondering how on earth we'd managed to end up like this. I'm not sure what'd been on my mind when I came to see her, but this wasn't it! Strange the way things turn out. When I'd come into her room I'd been burning up with desire to smash her and everything around her. And yet here she was, asleep and still holding on to my arms like I was a life-raft or something. There's not a single millimetre between her body and mine. I could move my hands and, and, anything I liked. Caress or strangle. Kill or cure. Her or me. Me or her. — Malorie Blackman

Shakespeare's 'Othello' was inspired by Cinthio's 'A Moorish Captain'; his 'Hamlet' came from Saxo Grammaticus's 'Amleth.' — Malorie Blackman

We had a few non-fiction books at home, but my dad was of the opinion that fiction was a complete and utter waste of time because it wasn't real - so what was the point of reading it? — Malorie Blackman

Being the Children's Laureate has been educational, sometimes hectic, but most of all, great fun. — Malorie Blackman

A love of books has opened so many doors for me. Stories have inspired me and taught me to aspire. — Malorie Blackman