S.E. Hinton Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by S.E. Hinton.
Famous Quotes By S.E. Hinton
I had it then. Soda fought for fun, Steve for hatred, Darry for pride, and Two-Bit for conformity. Why do I fight? I thought, and couldn't think of any real good reason. There isn't any real good reason for fighting except self-defense. — S.E. Hinton
It was too vast a problem to be just a personal thing. There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then, and wouldn't be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore. — S.E. Hinton
I advise writing to oneself. If you don't want to read it, nobody else is going to read it. — S.E. Hinton
Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold . . . The pillow seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died. You read about people looking — S.E. Hinton
That's why we're separated,'I said. 'It's not money, it's feeling- you don't feel anything, and we feel too violently. — S.E. Hinton
It was too late to tell Dally. Would he have listened? I doubted it. Suddenly it wasn't only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better. I could see boys going under street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was still good in it, and they wouldn't believe you if you did. It was too much of a problem to be just a personal thing. — S.E. Hinton
You read a lot, don't you, Ponyboy?"
I was startled. "Yeah, why?"
"I could just tell. I'll bet you watch sunsets, too. — S.E. Hinton
Pg.1- "I have light brown, almost red hair and greenish-grey eyes. I wish they were more grey, because I hate most guys that have green eyes, but I have to be content with what I have."
pg ?- "Can you see the sunset real good from the west side?" She blinked, startled, then smiled. "Real good."
"You can see it from the east side, too," I said quietly.
"Thanks, Ponyboy." She smiled through her tears. "You dig okay."
She had green eyes. I went on, walking home slowly. — S.E. Hinton
You oughta see Kathy's brother. Now there's a hood. He's so greasy he glides when he walks. He goes to the barber for an oil change, not a haircut. — S.E. Hinton
Nothing Stay Forever"
"Nature's first green is gold,
"Her hardest hue to hold.
"Her early leaf's a flower;
"But only so an hour.
"Then leaf subsides to leaf.
"So Eden sank to grief,
"So dawn goes down today.
"Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost — S.E. Hinton
Race you, I challenged, leaping up. It was a real nice night for a race. The air was clear and cold and so clean it almost sparkled. The moon wasn't out but the stars lit up everything. It was quiet except for the sound of our feet on the cement and the dry, scraping sound of leaves blowing across the street. It was a real nice night. I guess I was still out of shape, because we all thee tied. No. I guess we all just wanted to stay together. — S.E. Hinton
I am a greaser," Sodapop chanted. "I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man, do I have fun!"
"Greaser ... greaser ... greaser ... "Steve singsonged. "O, victim of enviornment, underprivelaged, rotton no-count hood!"
Juvenile delinquent, you're no good!" Darry shouted.
Get thee hence, white trash," Two-Bit said in asnobbish voice. "I am a Soc. I am the privelaged and the well-dressed. I throw beer blasts, drive fancy cars, break windows at fancy parties."
And what do you do for fun?" I inquired in a serious, awed voice.
I jump greasers!" Two-Bit screamed, and did a cartwheel. — S.E. Hinton
Can you see the sunset real good on the West side? You can see it on the East side too. — S.E. Hinton
My mother was physically and emotionally abusive. My father was an extremely cold man. — S.E. Hinton
I didn't think much about that statement then. But later I would-I still do. I think about it and think about it until I think I'm going crazy. — S.E. Hinton
I mean, most parents would be proud of a kid like that - good-lookin' and smart and everything, but they gave in to him all the time. He kept trying to make someone say 'No' and they never did. They never did. That was what he wanted. For somebody to tell him 'No.' To have somebody lay down the law, set the limits, give him something solid to stand on. That's what we all want, really. — S.E. Hinton
Movies can't ruin books. They can only ruin movies. — S.E. Hinton
They shouldn't hate each other ... I don't hate the Socs any more ... they shouldn't hate ... — S.E. Hinton
In our neighborhood it's rare to find a kid who doesn't drink once in a while. But Soda never touches a drop - he doesn't need to. He gets drunk on just plain living. — S.E. Hinton
Stay gold Ponyboy. Stay gold.
--Johnny quoting Robert Frost — S.E. Hinton
Soda was glaring at him. Leave my kid brother alone, you hear? It ain't his fault he likes to go to the movies, and it ain't his fault the Socs like to jump us, and if he had been carrying a blade it would have been a good excuse to cut him to ribbons. — S.E. Hinton
I liked my books and clouds and sunsets. — S.E. Hinton
you don't just stop living because you lose someone. You don't quit! — S.E. Hinton
I used to be sure of things. Me, once i had all the answers. I wish i was a kid again, when i had all the answers — S.E. Hinton
Darry took a step toward me, but I backed away. "Don't touch me," I said. My heart was pounding in slow thumps, throbbing at the side of my head, and I wondered if everyone else could hear it. Maybe that's why they're all looking at me, I thought, they can hear my heart beating ... — S.E. Hinton
When I was in high school, the genders were so separate from each other. If you weren't 'dating' somebody, you couldn't just be friends with somebody. — S.E. Hinton
The shade of difference that separates a greaser from a hood wasn't present in Dally. — S.E. Hinton
I made up my mind that I'd get out of that place and I did ... I learned that if you want to get somewhere, you just make up your mind and work like hell til you get there. If you want to go somewhere in life, you just have to work till you make it. — S.E. Hinton
Sometimes, I feel like I spent the first part of my life wishing to be a teen-age boy, and the second part condemned to being one. — S.E. Hinton
That's why people don't ever think to blame the Socs and are always ready to jump on us. We look hoody and they look decent. It could be just the other way around - half of the hoods I know are pretty decent guys underneath all that grease, and from what I've heard, a lot of Socs are just cold-blooded mean - but people usually go by looks. — S.E. Hinton
Any writer who gives a reader a pleasurable experience is doing every other writer a favor because it will make the reader want to read other books. I am all for it. — S.E. Hinton
Mace, you never read Smoky the Cowhorse,did you?
No.
Well,ol' Smoky, he had somebad things happen to him,had the heart knocked clean out of him.But he hung on and came out of it okay.I've been bashed up pretty good,Mason, but I'm going to make it. — S.E. Hinton
Well, you're real brave, real stupid, or real lucky. — S.E. Hinton
Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too. — S.E. Hinton
Suddenly it wasn't only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better. I could see boys going down under street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was still good in it, and they wouldn't believe you if you did. — S.E. Hinton
You know a guy a longtime, and I mean really know him, you don't get used to the idea that he's dead just overnight. — S.E. Hinton
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home ... — S.E. Hinton
Ponyboy, listen, don't get tough. You're not like the rest of us and don't try to be ... "
What was the matter with Two-Bit? I knew as well as he did that if you got tough you didn't get hurt. Get smart and nothing can touch you ...
"What in the world are you doing?" Two-Bit's voice broke into my thoughts.
I looked up at him. "Picking up the glass."
He stared at me for a second, then grinned. "You little sonofagun," he said in a relieved voice. I didn't know what he was talking about, so I just went on picking up the glass from the bottle end and put it in a trash can. I didn't want anyone to get a flat tire. — S.E. Hinton
I like having a private name and a public name. It helps keep things straight. — S.E. Hinton
the person in this picture is really me. — S.E. Hinton
You get tough like me and you don't get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin' can touch you ... — S.E. Hinton
If people want to find me, they can. They'll see a middle-aged woman wandering around the grocery store, looking to see what to buy for dinner. — S.E. Hinton
My husband and I get along great. We're both introverts, and it's hard to make new friends. — S.E. Hinton
I find it to be easier to write from a man's point of view. — S.E. Hinton
All my life I wanted somebody who knew more than I did to tell me the truth. — S.E. Hinton
I never base a character on someone I know. You can get ideas from real life, but every character you write is some aspect of yourself. — S.E. Hinton
All of a sudden it felt like people were peering over my shoulder, wondering what I would write next. I was blocked for four years. — S.E. Hinton
Hey, I didn't know you didn't like baloney."
I went cold. "I don't like it. I never liked it."
Soda just looked at me. "You used to eat it. That's why you wouldn't eat anything while you were sick. You kept saying you didn't like baloney, no matter what it was we were trying to get you to eat."
"I don't like it," I repeated. — S.E. Hinton
Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the things you want to see. — S.E. Hinton
I was a tomboy and most of my close friends were male. — S.E. Hinton
We had played a kid's version of gang fighting called "Civil War," and then later we had got in on the real thing, we fought with chains and we fought barefisted and we fought Socs and we fought other grease gangs. It was a normal childhood. — S.E. Hinton
We're almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well. — S.E. Hinton
Oh, glory," I said with a groan, "this is all I need to top off a perfect night" I took one last drag on my weed and ground the stub under my heel — S.E. Hinton
Some are going, some are staying....i'm in between. — S.E. Hinton
I have no idea why I write. The old standards are: I like to express my feelings, stretch my imagination, earn money. — S.E. Hinton
I am a greaser. I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man do I have fun! — S.E. Hinton
Yeah," I said. "And I'm gonna look just like him."
The black cat paused and looked me over.
"No you ain't baby. That cat is a prince, man. He is royalty in exile. You ain't never gonna look like that. — S.E. Hinton
But we can't be everything we read. — S.E. Hinton
I think that 'The Outsiders' was meant to be written, and I was just picked to write it. — S.E. Hinton
Rat race is the perfect name for it,' she said. 'We're always going and going and going, and never asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that you couldn't want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? It seems like we're always searching for something to satisfy is, and never finding it. Maybe if we could lose our cool we would. — S.E. Hinton
But if you used to walls all that air can give you the creeps — S.E. Hinton
Things are rough all over. — S.E. Hinton
Okay greasers,you've had it. — S.E. Hinton
I don't know why I go to school unless for kicks, oh well might as well do dissect a frog. — S.E. Hinton
I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me. — S.E. Hinton
You are in love with Sandy?" What's it like?"
"Hhhmmm." He sighed happily. "It's real nice. — S.E. Hinton
You can't say, 'This is just a stage' when its important to people what they're feeling. Maybe he'll outgrow it someday but right now it's important. — S.E. Hinton
I'm not saying that either Socs or greasers are better; that's just the way things are. — S.E. Hinton
Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs. Sometimes I think it's the ones in the middle that are really the lucky stiffs. — S.E. Hinton
I always try to write the best I can. — S.E. Hinton
If you enjoy reading something, read it. — S.E. Hinton
The thing is, the Tulsa experience that I wrote about in 'The Outsiders' is closer to the universal experience than it would be if I wrote it from L.A. or New York. It's an everyman story. — S.E. Hinton
What's the safest thing to be when one is met by a gang of social outcasts in an alley? ... No, another social outcast! — S.E. Hinton
Y'all were heroes from the beginning. You just didn't 'turn' all of a sudden — S.E. Hinton
Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold. — S.E. Hinton
I grew up with my cousins, who were as close as brothers, and frankly, I didn't like what girls were expected to do. I liked horseback riding, playing football, going to rodeos. I wanted to be in jeans all the time, and I couldn't figure out why I was supposed to conform to a certain standard, so I didn't. — S.E. Hinton
California is like a beautiful wild kid on heroin, high as a kite and thinking she's on top of the world, not knowing she's dying, not believing it even if you show her the marks. — S.E. Hinton
If you want to be a writer, I have two pieces of advice. One is to be a reader. I think that's one of the most important parts of learning to write. The other piece of advice is 'Just do it!' Don't think about it, don't agonize, sit down and write. — S.E. Hinton
I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted. — S.E. Hinton
They grew up on the outside of society. They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to belong. — S.E. Hinton
I really couldn't see what the Socs would have to sweat about - good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs - Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I'd consider myself lucky.
I know better now. — S.E. Hinton
It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset. — S.E. Hinton
You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There's still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don't think he knows. — S.E. Hinton
Even the most primite societies have an innate resepect for the insane. — S.E. Hinton