Best Ellen Hopkins Quotes & Sayings

Eventually, it becomes a matter of scale. When the good outweighs the bad, you stay. When the bad is the only thing you notice anymore, you think about your future, or what's left of it, consider options. — Ellen Hopkins

In control. Out of control. Sometimes they're the same thing. The trick is knowing that, realizing it's okay to feel out of control once in a while, as long as you're sure you can regain the upper hand when you absolutely need to. — Ellen Hopkins

Love can complete you. It can also destroy you. — Ellen Hopkins

Not Exactly True That skin hate is dead. There will never be color blindness in a culture of fear. But when you live afraid of your neighbor, the monster you should most walk in terror of thrives. It starts as a little thing, small enough to burrow into your pores, take up excruciating residence in the dark recesses of your brain. Its name is paranoia, and it spreads like an oil spill, there in the shadows, chokes your humanity. Threatens your soul. — Ellen Hopkins

Even good girls have secrets, ones even their best friends must guess. — Ellen Hopkins

This time when we kiss, I feel it in the pit of my stomach, I feel it in my heart. And I realize love isn't about sex. It's about connection. — Ellen Hopkins

Fear is a better friend than you, who feel nothing, beneath the weight of my pain. — Ellen Hopkins

I never actually plan sequels. They demand to be done. — Ellen Hopkins

Despite whoever created it, it's my world, & the only one I've got. Might as well make the best of it, right? Might as well have a little fun while I'm here. Or a lot of fun. Might be dead tomorrow. — Ellen Hopkins

I was about six years old, still Daddy's little girl, even though Daddy couldn't care less about me.
How could I expect any man every would? — Ellen Hopkins

life before the monster — Ellen Hopkins

I take four or five heavy steps beyond the front door and Mom comes rushing down the hallway. "Shane! What in the hell-" Now she sees me, in all my dignified glory. I tell her I'm fine. Swear I stuck up for my sister, not an alien but an angel. By the time I get to, "I think I might need stitches," Mom is my mommy. She may have forgotten my birthday. But today she remembers me. (154) — Ellen Hopkins

At Last It's a perfect winter day. No wind. No Arctic freeze. Cloudless azure sky. A day to fly. Snow drapes the mountain like ermine, fabulous feather- light powder coaxing me to flee the confines of my room, brave the mostly plowed road up to the closest ski resort. To run from the cloying silence connected Mom and Dad, into encompassing stillness far away from city dirt and noise Far above suburban gridlock. Far beyond the grasp of home. — Ellen Hopkins

If you acquaint yourself with yourself, you don't always like the person you find inside. — Ellen Hopkins

Not slumber, but sleep just this side of waking, where dreams fuse with reality. — Ellen Hopkins

Hurt. Enough to want to make someone else hurt too. — Ellen Hopkins

Can 'love and obey' possibly go together? — Ellen Hopkins

I wasn't an alcoholic. I didn't drink every day, didn't often drink to excess or binge. And could leave it alone completely for large swaths of time. But I did drink to be social. To have fun with friends. Sometimes, to sleep. Sometimes, to forget. — Ellen Hopkins

So you try to think
of someone else you're
mad at, and the unavoidable
answer pops into your
warped little brain: everyone. — Ellen Hopkins

You're a gift, one I'll always treasure. You're a dream I never want to wake up from. You open my eyes to things I'll never really see. You're the best thing that will ever happen to me. Be safe. Be smart. Stay you. — Ellen Hopkins

Communication
Was never big in my house.
We sat together over
dinner, but the only sound
you'd hear was crunching
and chewing and the little
ones asking for more, please.
We lived, all boxed up in
invisible containers. We
hardly knew the people
we called sister or father.
Jackie and I were the
exceptions to that rule. — Ellen Hopkins

You were a summer gift, one I'll always treasure. You were a dream I never wanted to wake up from. You opened my eyes to things I'll never really see. You're the best thing that will ever happen to me. — Ellen Hopkins

Not sure there's been a single day of my life when everything was totally fine. And now? The best I can say is once in a while I'm not somersaulting in chaos. — Ellen Hopkins

A whole big, giant world full of men. Men with blue eyes. Brown eyes. Green eyes. And indescribable shades in between. Tall men. Short men. Skinny men. Built men. And all combinations thereof. Nice men (so I've heard, but never really seen). Mean men. Decent men, indecent. And who knows which is the best kind to have, to hold, to love? I'd say, with so many men in the world, it would pay to sample a few. Scratch that. More than a few. Lots and lots. And then a few more. And maybe, after years of research, you might find one worth not throwing back. But hey, the fun is in the fishing. — Ellen Hopkins

Falling in love can happen to complete strangers. Staying in love requires being best friends and that means accepting the person beneath the veneer. — Ellen Hopkins

It wasn't my first kiss, maybe it wasn't my best kiss, but it was pretty fine, and the fact that he had asked will forever make that kiss stand out in my mind, touch my heart, make me remember a kiss so tender it made me cry. — Ellen Hopkins

When you've only got one little shimmer of sunshine, you capture it best you can. — Ellen Hopkins

The best thing about my mom being such
a bitch is not worrying
about trying to make her
proud of me. — Ellen Hopkins

Forgiveness isn't my best thing.
Easier staying pissed. But I'm
tired of being pissed all the time.
Tired of feeling hurt by stuff that
can never be fixed because it is
an indelible part of the past. — Ellen Hopkins

For short term relaxation, I take a hot tub. It's my best way to unblock writers' block, too. For a bit longer relaxation, I enjoy camping. Just being in the wilderness, with no phones or computers or anything I have to do really refreshes my spirit. — Ellen Hopkins

But then, my entire life is bullshit. The best things in it have vanished, ghosts. Ghosts I'll admit I created. — Ellen Hopkins

You know how they say revenge is best served up cold? I'd say it's best not served up at all. Revenge is a great motivator, but it doesn't help achieve the desired results. I've seen guys lose buddies, then go off half-cocked, piss fuel running through their veins. Things never turned out well. — Ellen Hopkins

A best friend is your voice when you can't find it. — Ellen Hopkins

I write books for young adults because I truly connect with them on some very deep level. They are our hope, our future, and inspiring them to be the best they can be is very important to me. — Ellen Hopkins

I write poetry anyway and have for years and years. For me, putting fiction and poetry together is like the best of both worlds. — Ellen Hopkins

I mean, who wants to trudge through life, doing
everything just right? Taking no chances means
wasting your dreams. — Ellen Hopkins

I think it's better to be obsessed than to be depressed ... I think pushing to get what you want can't be so awful. I think it's key to success. — Ellen Hopkins

male/female, male/male,
female/female. Love. — Ellen Hopkins

He did seem like a nice boy. Seeming and being are two different things. — Ellen Hopkins

Secrets.
We keep them to protect ourselves.
We keep them to protect others.
We keep them out of shame.
We keep them out of fear.
We keep them... wait... do we keep them for do they keep us? — Ellen Hopkins

I love the way she feels in
the curve of my arm. I love
her unpretentious beauty,
her intelligence, her nerve.
But could I ever love her?
The concept of falling in love
is completely foreign, something
I can't bring myself to accept.
Her hair pillows my cheek and
her hand on my leg is warm.
I care about you, Conner,
and I hate to see you hurting.
I want to respond but can't
find the pretty words I need. — Ellen Hopkins

I don't believe in God, don't believe in the devil. Unless you want to count my mother. She might be Satan's sister, I suppose. — Ellen Hopkins

Be true to who you are -- no matter who are you. — Ellen Hopkins

HAPPY EVER AFTER is a concept I'll never believe in. I would be content to sample some little taste of happiness today, tonight, right now. Though I know without a doubt that tomorrow will come saturated with pain. Life is like that. At least my life. And honestly, I cant think of anyone whose life is any different. The price tag for joy is misery. [ ... ] — Ellen Hopkins

If I come back to you now, can we be what we were before life's uncertain rhythms tore us so far apart? If I return today, will your arms gather me in, or will I be wrenched away, snatched by riptide I have no power to resist? If I find my way to you, one man standing in a crowd, will I even know who you are? — Ellen Hopkins

Love Is a curious thing. Sometimes it barrels into you, leaves you breathless. Other times, it comes in- to your life, a tentative beam of morning sun sneaking through the blinds, and you think this light isn't possible. The shutters are drawn. Night should linger on. I don't feel like waking. Yet the room comes slowly lit. Sleep slithers away, and at last you can no longer deny the dawning. — Ellen Hopkins

Don't you know? We're connected by an invisible chain. It's very long, very light. But also very strong. It can't rust. Can't break. And the only thing that can sever it is if you ever stop loving me. — Ellen Hopkins

Forgiveness is easy. Trust is much more difficult, and should never be given lightly. — Ellen Hopkins

It pays to be the better predator. — Ellen Hopkins

Words have power. The power to soothe. The power to skewer someone through the heart. The power to render someone speechless. — Ellen Hopkins

With you, I am Adam. & you are my beautiful Eve. Let's run away, find our garden, live there together, help. — Ellen Hopkins

I do have friends, but they don't know me, only someone I've created to take my place. Someone sculpted from ice. I keep the melted me bottled up inside. Where no one can touch her, until, unbidden, she comes pouring out. — Ellen Hopkins

Good thing loving someone doesn't require caring about their parents. — Ellen Hopkins

Don't bother

Me with promises. Vows
are cheaply manufactured,
come with no guarantees.
Don't bother to say you

love

me. The word is indefinable.
Joy to some, heartbreak
to others, depending on
circumstance. There

is

evidence that the emotion
can make a person live longer,
evidence it can kill you early.
I think it's akin to

a deadly

disease. Or at least some
exotic fever. Catch it, and
you'd better, quick, swallow
some medication to use as a

weapon

against the fire ravaging
body and soul. — Ellen Hopkins

Learning by example is valid, but when you have the information to know that turning in a certain direction can lead you to a very wrong place, most of the "blame" is on the individual. — Ellen Hopkins

I think if love is real, and headed toward the altar, the sex part-within reason-can wait. — Ellen Hopkins

Life was radical right after I met the monster.
Later, life became harder, complicated.
Ultimately, a living hell, like swimming against a riptide,
Walking the wrong direction in the fast lane of the freeway,
Waking from sweetest dreams to find yourself in the middle of a nightmare. — Ellen Hopkins

I'm in love. And I like how that feels. And I hate how that feels. Because love is an invention of fiction writers. — Ellen Hopkins

But, though I was very much in lust with him, I knew from the start we were nothing like "forever." Maybe because forever is such a scary place. — Ellen Hopkins

And the thought of that makes me want to open a vein, experience pain, know I'm alive, despite this living death. — Ellen Hopkins

Would I ever find forever love? Do I really want to, when forever was a word without meaning? — Ellen Hopkins

Only by confronting your demons can you ever hope to conquer them. — Ellen Hopkins

I want him to be my Edward -- taking care of me, always. Watching over me, day or night, unsleeping. Keeping me safe, by his side. Caring for me with a passion so pure it can't be corrupted by time or distance or seduction. I know Edward is only fiction. But that doesn't have to mean love like his can only be found in books and movies or rooted in the misty world of dreams. — Ellen Hopkins

Something stirred beneath my skin, some being inside I'd only suspected existed, demon or angel, I couldn't say. — Ellen Hopkins