Best Lois Lowry Quotes & Sayings

But there was nothing left to do but continue — Lois Lowry

She was willing to give you everything she had. And you took it from her. You took her youth, and her beauty, and her energy and her health-" For a moment, think of his mother, Gabe couldn't continue speaking. He fell silent and choked back tears. Then he took a deep breath and went on, "- and it didn't matter. We found each other. None of it mattered but that. You won't ever know what that's like, to love someone. In a way, I pity you. But I hope you starve. — Lois Lowry

Over and over. They be making me remember everythings. Me old songs, they just be natural. But now they be stuffing new things into me and this poor head hurts horrid. — Lois Lowry

Do you love me?"
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle. "Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!"
"What do you mean?" Jonas asked. Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.
"Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete," his mother explained carefully.
Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He had never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.
"And of course our community can't function smoothly if people don't use precise language. You could ask, 'Do you enjoy me?' The answer is 'Yes,'" his mother said.
"Or," his father suggested, "'Do you take pride in my accomplishments?' And the answer is wholeheartedly 'Yes.'"
"Do you understand why it's inappropriate to use a word like 'love'?" Mother asked.
Jonas nodded. "Yes, thank you, I do," he replied slowly.
It was his first lie to his parents. — Lois Lowry

I think of every book as a single entity, and some have later gone on to become a series, often at the request of readers. — Lois Lowry

Matt, he say that a giftie makes a person like you best of all." Kira sighed in exasperation. "No, that's not the way it is. A gift - " She gave up. "Never mind. Tell us where he went." "He be getting you some blue!" "Blue? What do you mean?" "Dunno, miss. But Matt, he said it. He be saying they got blue yonder, and he be getting you some. — Lois Lowry

Always better, less rude, to talk about things that were the same. — Lois Lowry

Dying is a very solitary thing. The only thing we can do it be there when she wants us there. — Lois Lowry

Some of those who had been among the most industrious, the kindest, and the most stalwart citizens of Village now went to the platform and shouted their wish that the border be closed so that 'we' (Matty shuddered at the use of 'we') would not have to share the resources anymore.
'We need all the fish for ourselves.
Our school is not big enough to teach their children, too; only our own.
They can't even speak right.
We can't understand them.
They have too many needs.
We don't want to tale care of them.'
And finally: 'We've done it long enough. — Lois Lowry

The whole world had changed. Only the fairy tales remained the same. And they lived happily ever after, — Lois Lowry

The community of the Giver had achieved at such great price. A community without danger or pain. But also, a community without music, color or art. And books. — Lois Lowry

I'm not terribly conversant with children's literature in general. I tend to read books for adults, being an adult. — Lois Lowry

I never, as a reader, have been particularly interested in dystopian literature or science fiction or, in fact, fantasy. — Lois Lowry

My best friend - her name was Helena - lived in that house. Sometimes I used to spend the night with her. But more often she came to my house, on weekends. It was more fun to be in the country. — Lois Lowry

And I could test myself - my own courage - with it, too, because when the doors at either end of the secret staircase were closed, it was impenetrably dark. I hid in the staircase, shivering with terror, telling the narrative: The little girl was in a dark, dark place but she was very brave ... Sometimes the door at the bottom opened, and a wedge of light sliced up the stairs; a maid, her arms filled with folded laundry, would find me and ask in amazement what I was doing there.
And though I answered lightheartedly that I was playing, the truth is that I was not entirely certain what I was doing there, crouched and frightened in the darkness. Only now, sixty years later, do I see that I was arming myself, rehearsing panic, loss, and helplessness; assessing my own cowardice and courage, and and the same time reassuring myself that the door would always open, that the light would always find its way in. — Lois Lowry

'Gathering Blue' was a separate book. I wanted to explore what a society might become after a catastrophic world event. Only at the end did I realize I could make it connect to 'The Giver.' — Lois Lowry

Sometimes he awoke with a feeling of fragments afloat in his sleep, but he couldn't seem to grasp them and put them together into something worthy of telling at the ritual. — Lois Lowry

When I was a kid in the '50s, during the Eisenhower years, everything seemed to be working fine. I don't recall as a teenager ever worrying about the state of the future world. — Lois Lowry

It is so good to have friends who understand how there is a time for crying and a time for laughing, and that sometimes the two are very close together. — Lois Lowry

Time goes on, and your life is still there, and you have to live it. After a while you remember the good things more often than the bad. Then, gradually, the empty silent parts of you fill up with sounds of talking and laughter again, and the jagged edges of sadness are softened by memories. — Lois Lowry

The children all received their bicycles at Nine; they were not allowed to ride bicycles before then. — Lois Lowry

Outside, she knew, the sky was speckled with stars. How could anyone number them one by one, as the psalm said? There were too many. The sky was too big. — Lois Lowry

We thank you for your childhood. — Lois Lowry

It wasn't the same. I'm pretty good at making the best of things, but it wasn't the same. — Lois Lowry

Somehow the first little Caleb had wandered away unnoticed, — Lois Lowry

So, Henrik, is the weather good for fishing?" Papa asked cheerfully, and listened briefly. Then he continued, "I'm sending Inge to you today with the children, and she will be bringing you a carton of cigarettes. "Yes, just one," he said, after a moment. Annemarie couldn't hear Uncle Henrik's words. "But there are a lot of cigarettes available in Copenhagen now, if you know where to look," he went on, "and so there will be others coming to you as well, I'm sure." But it wasn't true. Annemarie was quite certain it wasn't true. Cigarettes were the thing that Papa missed, the way Mama missed coffee. He complained often - he had complained only yesterday - that there were no cigarettes in the stores. — Lois Lowry

And it was lonely, to yearn, all alone. — Lois Lowry

The history of Denmark has much to teach us all. — Lois Lowry

You will fail. Then they will kill you. - Vandara to Kira, following Kira's trial. — Lois Lowry

How could you describe a hill and snow to someone who had never felt height or wind or that feathery, magical cold? — Lois Lowry

It was terrifying, almost unbelievable, the casualness of the cruelty. — Lois Lowry

My job is to transmit to you all the memories I have within me. Memories of the past. — Lois Lowry

Many of the books I loved as a kid, that even my mother read as a child, are very slow going. Today's children are not as patient. The best example of this is 'The Secret Garden,' which I adored as a child. — Lois Lowry

He floated above, weightless, watching his human self labor and writhe. He gave himself to it willingly, traded himself for all that he loved and valued, and felt free. — Lois Lowry

The class stared at the new girl with admiration. They had never met anyone like Gooney Bird Greene. She was a good student. She sat down at the desk Mrs. Pidgeon provided, right smack in the middle of everything, and began doing second grade spelling. — Lois Lowry

Actually," the chief guardian said in a calm voice, "you have no rights at all. But I am going to tell you the decision so that there will be no misunderstanding. "The orphan girl Kira will stay. She will have a new role." He gestured toward the Singer's robe, still spread out on the table. "Kira," he said, looking at her, "you will continue your mother's work. You will go beyond her work, actually, since your skill is far greater than hers was. First, you will repair the robe, as your mother always did. Next, you will restore it. Then your true work will begin. You will complete the robe. — Lois Lowry

She felt a small shudder of fear. Fear was always a part of life for the people. Because of fear, they made shelter and found food and grew things. For the same reason, weapons were stored, waiting. There was fear of cold, of sickness and hunger. There was fear of beasts. — Lois Lowry

I turn to books for a feeling of companionship: for somebody knowing what I have known. — Lois Lowry

It is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything. — Lois Lowry

Go, " he said. "This is your journey, your battle. Be brave. Find your gift. Use it to save what you love. — Lois Lowry