Susan Beth Pfeffer Quotes & Sayings

I feel myself shriveling along with my world, getting smaller and harder. I'm turning into a rock, and in some ways that's good, because rocks last forever.
But if this is how I'm going to last forever, then I don't want to. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

They say asteroids hit the moon pretty often, which is how the moon gets its crater, but this one is going to be the biggest asteroid ever to hit it and on a clear night you should be able to see the impact when it happens, maybe even with the naked eye but certainly with binoculars. They made it sound pretty dramatic, but I still don't think it's worth three homework assignments. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

But I don't want to have to stop feeling. I really think I'd rather die than stop feeling. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

We're all alive. We're all healthy. These are the good times. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Peter always brings death with him, along with spinach or nuts. He said he'd seen 20 cases of West Nile during the week and five deaths from it. He also said two people had died from food allergies.
"They're so hungry they're taking their chances eating foods they're seriously allergic to," he said. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

There's a difference between charity and love," I said. "What we're offering is love. Love lasts forever. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

The last living boy in America drops into my bedroom only he wants to be a monk. I think that pretty much sums up my life. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

We're all alive. We're all health. These are the good times. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

My existence is the only gift I have left to give, but it will have to do. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I have no privacy. But I feel so alone. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

One of the more gratifying things about guilt is that it makes us feel important. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Even in good times we didn't socialize with most of our neighbors. Mom says when she was growing up she did, but so many of the old families have moved out and new people moved in and neighborliness has changed. Now being a good neighbor means minding your own business. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

We can't accept that things will always be bad. If we do, we won't fight to make things better. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Matt looked up kids from his high school class. Only three were listed as dead, but a bunch were listed as missing/presumed dead. As a test, he looked us up, but none of our names were on any of the lists. And that's how we know we're alive this Memorial Day. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Do people ever realize how precious life is? I know I never did before. There was always time. There was always a future. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

If God wanted a world filled with saints, He never would have created adolescence. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Every day we're one day closer to death. But there's no reason to rush into it. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Back in the time when life was easy, the Internet would have told me what I needed to know. The great thing about the Internet was it didn't care why you were asking. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

This past year I grew up to know hunger, grief, darkness, fear. I began to understand how lonely you can feel even when all you want is to be alone. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Like knows like. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

So what if I don't learn algebra?'
'Someday schools will be open again,' Mom said. 'Things will be normal. You need to do your work now for when that happens.'
'That's never going to happen,' Jon said. 'And even if schools do open up somewhere, they're not going to open up here. There aren't enough people left.'
'We don't know how many people are like us, holed up, making do until times get better.'
'I bet whoever they are, they aren't studying algebra,' Jon said. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Which means every tomorrow is going to be worse than every today. Why feel sorry for myself today when tomorrow's bound to be worse? — Susan Beth Pfeffer

The electricity came on for the second time today wile we were eating.
This may be a fool's paradise, but it's a paradise nonetheless. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Great, the worlds coming to an end and we're fixing it with Band-Aids — Susan Beth Pfeffer

It was easier to agree than to tell the truth. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

The darkest sky is filled with stars, that the sun casts its warmth on the coldest day. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Their eyes were usually open, and they stared up at the moon that had killed them. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

He walked out of the office to find Kevin Daley standing there. 'I like your style,' Kevin said.
Thank you,' Alex said. 'I like it, too. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

So we each had a piece of chocolate for dessert. I'd almost forgotten how much I love chocolate, how there's something about it that makes life a little more wonderful. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Woman must not depend on the protection of man, but must learn to protect herself — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Sometimes the rules don't work. Sometimes the rules cause the anarchy. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Even the rats are drowning,' Alex said.
Nah,' Kevin said. 'They've been taking swimming lessons at the Y. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

It wouldn't be New Year's without a resolution. I've resolved to take a moment every day for the rest of my life to appreciate what I have. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I wonder if I'll ever have to decide which is worse, life as we're living or no life at all. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

You have to fight for happiness. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Nothing good happened to Romeo or Juliet. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Christmas after Mom & Dad split up, they both went crazy buying us presents. Matt, Jonny, and I were showered with gifts at home and at Dads apartment. I thought that was great. I was all in favor of my love being paid for with presents.
This year all I got was a diary and a secondhand watch.
Okay, I know this is corny, but this really is what Christmas is all about. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I never really thought about how when I look at the moon, it's the same moon as Shakespeare and Marie Antoinette and George Washington and Cleopatra looked at. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

So we baked and sweated together. I like punching the dough. I told myself it was the moon and punched it senseless. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

What about desserts?" I asked. "If the world comes to an end, I'm going to want cookies. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

But she's wrong about hell. You don't have to wait until you're dead to get there. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Lisa's baby was due about now. I've decided she had it and it was a girl. I've named her Rachel. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I have scars. No one alive today doesn't. But Alex's scars have to be much deeper than mine. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Mom, is the world coming to an end?" Jonny asked, picking up the plate of cookies and ramming one into his mouth.
"No, it isn'T," Mom said, folding her lawn chair and carrying it to the front of the house. "And yes, you do have to go to school tomorrow. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Todays the first anniversary of the asteroid hitting the moon. A year ago i was sixteen years old, a sophomore in high school. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Maybe I'm wrong," Mom said. "Maybe the world really is coming to an end."
"Should I try Fox News?" I asked.
Mom shuddered. "We're not that desperate," she said. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

All my life I've been well behaved," she said. "It's about time I got to push people around and not apologize. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I'm the one not caring. I'm the one pretending the Earth isn't shattering all around me because I don't want it to be. I don't want to know there was an earthquake in Missouri. I don't want to know the Midwest can die, also, that what's going on isn't just tides and tsunamis. I don't want to have any more to be afraid of.
I didn't start this diary for it to be a record of death. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I'm turning into a rock, and in some ways that's good, because rocks last forever. But — Susan Beth Pfeffer

This morning the electricity came on for a few minutes, and when it did, Jonny said, "Hey, it's a black-on." This is what passes for humor around here. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Every day when I go to sleep I think what a jerk I was to have felt sorry for myself the day before. My Wednesdays are worse than my Tuesdays, my Tuesdays way worse than my Tuesday of a week before. Which means every tomorrow is going to be worse than every today. Why feel sorry for myself today when tomorrow's bound to be worse?
It's a hell of a philosophy, but it's all I've got. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Just in case the world ends tomorrow," she said. "We might as well enjoy today. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I wondered how many people had sung By the dawn's early light' yesterday and were dead today. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I live about 60 miles northwest of New York City, and whenever there's news of a big snowstorm coming, everyone runs for the store. The perishable items are usually the first things to go, which doesn't make sense because they perish. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

What's the point of God making us human if He doesn't want us to act like we're human?' 'To see if we can rise above our natures,'Megan said. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Here's the funny thing about the world coming to an end. Once it gets going, it doesn't seem to stop. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald's would still be open. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Trust in tomorrow ... Every day of your life, there's been a tomorrow. I promise you, there'll be a tomorrow. - Alex Morales to Miranda Evans — Susan Beth Pfeffer

But today when I am 17 and warm and well fed, I'm keeping this journal for myself so I can always remember life as we knew it, life as we know it, for a time when I am no longer in the sunroom. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I had finished the first draft of 'Life As We Knew It' before Katrina hit, and it was startling to see things I wrote about actually happening in the real world. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

What interests me more than dramatic heroics are the domestic things: How do people do laundry and find food when the world is about to end? — Susan Beth Pfeffer

That's the function of big brothers ... to help their little sisters when their worlds are collapsing. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Carlos was probably somewhere warm, eating three meals a day, and sleeping in a real bed. That was the life — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Bad times made for big secrets. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Librarians! Librarians always know how to find out things. That was their job even before the Internet. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Well, no one says you can be happy about everything," I said. "I know I should be glad for you, Megan, but frankly I think you're crazy. And if Reverend Marshall is making you this way, I think he's evil. This life, this everyday existence, is the one gift we're given. To throw it away, to want to be dead, to me that's the sin. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Survivors have responsibilities. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

We may not have a future, but you can't deny we have a past. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

But it's our curse and our blessing to remember the past and to know there's a future.
- Charlie — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life's sloppy ... You think you know how tomorrow's going to be, you've made your plans, everything is set in place, and then the unimaginable happens. Life catches you by surprise. It always does. But there's good mixed in with the bad. It's there. You just have to recognize it. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Maybe we lost the things we loved then so we could survive losing every thing else. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Don't stop believing in miracles. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I thought about the earth then, really thought about it, the tsunami's and earthquakes and volcanoes, all the horrors I haven't witnessed but have changed my life, the lives of everyone I know, all the people I'll never know. I thought about life without the sun, the moon, stars, without flowers and warm days in May. I thought about a year ago and all the good things I'd taken for granted and all the unbearable things that had replaced those simple blessings. And even though I hated the thought of crying in from of Syl, tears streamed down my face. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

A lot of my YA novels are about family problems. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

tears are better if you shed them alone. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

We could never truly understand God's will. We have to trust God, have faith in Him, and follow the rules He gave us without ever understanding Him. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I hate the moon. I hate tides and earthquakes and volcanoes. I hate a world where things that have absolutely nothing to do with me can destroy my life and the lives of people I love. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

When I'm in the water I feel as though nothing bad has happened. I think about the fish, how they don't know what's going on. Their world is unchanged. Actually it's probably better now to be a tuna or a sardine or a salmon. Less chance of ending up as somebody's lunch. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

About 10 minutes ago, we all woke up because of this strange roaring sound. We all raced toward the sound, which turned out to be the washing machine going back on.
Who knew the rinse cycle could be so scary? — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I wonder if I cry whether my tears would be gray. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

When I came back, I found Mom sobbing at the kitchen table ... Then I asked her what had happened.
'Nothing,'she said. 'I was thinking about that man ... I started thinking about ... if he and his wife and their other child are okay, and I don't know. It just got to me.'
'I know,' I said, because I did know. Sometimes it's safer to cry about people you don't know than to think about people you really love. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I'm 16 years old. Let me get my learner's permit first. then I'll worry about lifetime commitments — Susan Beth Pfeffer

Because if I let myself feel the pain and the anger, I think it might kill me. Or I might kill someone else. I know it's wrong to feel that way about God and I know its's wrong to not feel anything. I hate it. I don't hate God. I hate not loving Him. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

He taught me to trust in tomorrow. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

I thought about how unlikely it was I would ever meet any guy,fall in love, get married, have babies. Especially since I was going to spend the rest of my life in the cellar, where, in the not too distant future, I'd turn into a toadstool. I hoped I'd be the poisonous variety. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

The only way you can be the best at something is to be the best you can be. — Susan Beth Pfeffer

What we were concerned about - what seems to be happening now - is volcanoes, — Susan Beth Pfeffer