Halse Quotes & Sayings

It's an antique mirror with little waves on the surface of it. Sometimes it can make you look like an elegant princess trapped in time. Other times, it makes you look like a pig. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Set foot on the campus and it changes you forever. It's ... "
He paused like he was searching for the right word, something I'd never seen him do before."
"It's Nerdvana!" he finally declared. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I'm not wearing this!" I shouted.
"Wear it or die," Mom shouted back. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Be careful what you wish for. There's always a catch. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I don't just use yarn from a store. I buy old sweaters from consignment shops. The older the better, and unravel them. There are countries of women in this scarf/shawl/blanket. Soon it will be big enough to keep me warm. — Laurie Halse Anderson

The guidance counselor convinces them I need a reward-a chew toy or something. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Odysseus had twenty years to shed his battle skin. My grandfather left the battlefield in France and rode home in a ship that crawled across the ocean slowly so he could catch his breath. I get on a plane in hell and get off, hours later, at home. — Laurie Halse Anderson

There was a loud shuffling above. A line of redcoats took their position at the edge of the ravine and aimed down at the rebels.
"Present!" the British officer screamed to his men.
"Present!" yelled the American officer. His men brought the butts of their muskets up to their shoulders and sighted down the long barrels, ready to shoot and kill.
I pressed my face into the earth, unable to plan a course of escape. My mind would not be mastered and thought only of the wretched, lying, foul, silly girl who was the cause of everything.
I thought of Isabel and I missed her.
"FIRE! — Laurie Halse Anderson

How plants grow: Quickly. Most plants grow fast and die young. People get seventy years, a bean plant gets four months, maybe five. Once the itty-bitty baby plant peeks out of the ground, it sprouts leaves, so it can absorb more sun. Then it sleeps, eats, and sunbathes until it's ready to flower - a teenage plant. This is a bad time to be a rose or a zinnia or a marigold, because people attack with scissors and cut off what's pretty. But plants are cool. If the rose is picked, the plant grows another one. It needs to bloom to produce more seeds. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Can't escape pain, kiddo. Battle through it and you get stronger. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Do they choose to be so dense? Were they born that way? I have no friends. I have nothing. I say nothing. I am nothing. — Laurie Halse Anderson

But that's the wrong question. Ask why everyone else is so pathetically stupid and why they're always whining about detention, I should get a medal for not slapping people in the face every day. — Laurie Halse Anderson

be aggressive, BE-BE Aggressive! B-E
A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E — Laurie Halse Anderson

It's Nathaniel Hawthorne Month in English. Poor Nathaniel. Does he know what they've done to him? We're reading The Scarlet Letter one sentence at a time, tearing it up and chewing on its bones.
It's all about SYMBOLISM, says Hairwoman. Every word chosen by Nathaniel, every comma, every paragraph break
these were all done on purpose. To get a decent grade in her class, we have to figure out what he was really trying to say. Why couldn't he just say what he meant? Would they pin scarlet letters on his chest? B for blunt, S for straightforward? — Laurie Halse Anderson

You hurt her by starving yourself, you hurt her with your lies, and by fighting everybody who tries to help you. Emma can only sleep a couple of hours a night now. She's haunted by nightmares of monsters that eat our whole family. They eat us slowly, she says, so we can feel their sharp teeth. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Dr. Parker and all my parents live in a paper-mache world. They just patch up problems with strips of newspaper and a little glue. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I look at my homely sketch. It doesn't need anything. Even through the river in my eyes I can see that. It isn't perfect and that makes it just right. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Look in a mirror and find a ghost. Hear every heartbeat scream that everysinglething is wrong with you. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I think about lying down. No, that would not do. I crouch by the trunk, my fingers stroking the bark, seeking a Braille code, a clue, a message on how to come back to life after my long undersnow dormancy. I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears? I dig my fingers into the dirt and squeeze. A small, clean part of me waits to warm and burst through the surface. Some quiet Melindagirl I haven't seen in months. That is the seed I will care for. — Laurie Halse Anderson

We had eight inches of snow last night. In any other part of the country, that would mean a snow day. Not in Syracuse. We never get snow days. It snows an inch in South Carolina, everything shuts down and they get on the six o'clock news. In our district, they plow early and often and put chains on the bus tires. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Precalculus was taught in dog whistle, a pitch too high to hear. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I'm angry that I starved my brain and that I sat shivering in my bed at night instead of dancing or reading poetry or eating icecream or kissing a boy or maybe a girl ... — Laurie Halse Anderson

It was a prom dress.It was pink.It was originally seventy percent off,but Ma got it down to eighty-five percent off by screaming "My water broke!" while we were checking out — Laurie Halse Anderson

A teacher (a good teacher) is composed of molecules of education and intelligence, bonded together by patience and passion. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I am almost a real girl the entire drive home. I went to a diner. I drank hot chocolate and ate french fries. Talked to a guy for a while. Laughed a couple of times. A little like ice-skating for the first time, wobbly, but I did it. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I need to finish this scarf/shawl/blanket thing so I can start something for Emma- a hat, maybe, or a sweater for her stuffed elephant. — Laurie Halse Anderson

The same boys who got detention in elementary school for beating the crap out of people are now rewarded for it. They call it football. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Why not spend that time on art: painting, sculpting, charcoal, pastel, oils? Are words or numbers more important than images? Who decides this? Does algebra move you to tears? Can plural possessives express the feelings in your heart? If you don't learn art now, you will never learn to breathe! — Laurie Halse Anderson

Why not draw naked guys, just to be fair? Naked women is art, naked guys a no-no, I bet. Probably because most painters are men. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I understood what triggered her earthquakes, most of them. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Leaning against my father, the sadness finally broke open inside me, hollowing out my heart and leaving me bleeding. My feet felt rooted in the dirt. There were more than two bodies buried here. Pieces of me that I didn't even know were under the ground. Pieces of dad, too. — Laurie Halse Anderson

The books I'd checked out of the library earlier in the week were still stacked on my bureau, whispering my name and begging to be read. — Laurie Halse Anderson

She laid land mines in my skill that detonated weeks later. — Laurie Halse Anderson

We have to acknowledge that adolescence is that time of transition where we begin to introduce to children that life isn't pretty, that there are difficult things, there are hard situations, it's not fair. Bad things happen to good people. — Laurie Halse Anderson

That fellow was like all of us: descended from good people who were stolen from their families and country, sailed over the sea, and forced into slavery. 'We don't let them steal our dignity,' that preacher said. Richard, his name was. He said they cannot steal our honor, our strength, or our love." "True words," I said. "Do you know what he said about this America?" Henry asked. I shook my head. "Remember, lads?" Henry asked his mates. "Join with me. He said, 'This land . . .'" A half dozen voices spoke with Henry, strong black men sharing the preacher's words like a hymn or a prayer. "'Which we have watered with our tears and our blood, is now our mother country.'" The words drifted up to the stars with the sparks from the fire. "We go to war, Missus Isabel," Henry added, "in order to make our mother country, this land, free for everyone. — Laurie Halse Anderson

You're not dead, but you're not alive, either. You're a wintergirl, Lia-Lia, caught in between the worlds. You're a ghost with a beating heart. Soon you'll cross the border and be with me. I'm so stoked. I miss you wicked. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Does being forced to sit in time-out ever make little kids stop putting cats in the dishwasher or drawing on white walls with purple marker? Of course not. It teaches them to be sneaky and guarantees that when they get to high school they'll love detention because it's a great place to sleep. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I have ten bucks in my pocket - what to spend it on? French fries - ten dollars' worth of french fries, ultimate fantasy. — Laurie Halse Anderson

It doesn't matter where I go, I don't want to be there. And then I get to the next place, and I don't want to be there either. — Laurie Halse Anderson

My head is killing me, my throat is killing me, my stomach bubbles with toxic waste. I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid if this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. — Laurie Halse Anderson

It doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts except the small smiles and blushes that flash across the room like tiny sparrows. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I had let down my shields, that was the problem. The crazy inside Dad had infected me, weakened me so that when Finn smiled, I'd been vulnerable. I'd dropped my shields and let myself pretend that somebody like Finn would want to be with somebody like me. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I see IT in the hallway. IT goes to Merryweather. IT is walking with Aubrey cheerleader. IT is my nightmare and I can't wake up.IT sees me. IT smiles and winks. Good thing my lips are stitched together or I'd throw up. — Laurie Halse Anderson

The stuffing/puking/stuffing/puking/stuffing/puking didn't make her skinny, it made her cry. — Laurie Halse Anderson

The next time you work on your trees, don't think about trees. Think about love, or hate, or joy, or rage
whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat or your toes curl. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Halloween - the day when we could pretend to be whatever we wanted - seemed to be letting everyone be who they really were. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I watch some kids ask the cafeteria ladies to sign their books. What do they write: "Hope your chicken patties never bleed?" Or, maybe, "May your Jell-O always wiggle? — Laurie Halse Anderson

The trick to surviving an interrogation is patience. Don't offer up anything. Don't explain. Answer the question and only the question that is asked so you don't accidentally put your head in a noose. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Ghosts are waiting in the shadows of the room, patient dull shimmers. The others can see them, too, I know it. We're all afraid to talk about what stares at us from the dark. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Mother is the rock, I am the ocean. I have to pout and roll my eyes for hours until she finally wears down and crumbles into a thousand grains of beach sand. It takes a lot of energy. I don't think I have it in me. — Laurie Halse Anderson

One of the seeds has split its shell and reaches a white hand upward. An apple tree growing from an apple seed growing in an apple. I show the little plantseed to Ms. Keen. She gives me extra credit. David rolls his eyes. Biology is so cool. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I wasn't going to let her sucker me into being her friend again just so she could turn around and crush me one more time. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Sometimes I think high school is one long hazy activity: if you are tough enough to survive this, they'll let you become an adult. I hope it's worth it. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I knew it!" He pumps a fist into the air. "You've fallen in love with me. You want to have my babies. We'll get a team of horses and a covered wagon and we'll journey to South America and raise goats. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Yes it is, because you can only be brave if you're scared. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Her eyes were tired, but we're seniors. All seniors have dead eyes. — Laurie Halse Anderson

The world turns upside down every day. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I watch the Eruptions. Mount Dad, long dormant, now considered armed and dangerous. Mount Saint Mom, oozing lava, spitting flame. Warn the villagers to run into the sea. — Laurie Halse Anderson

You promise not to maim me?"
"I promise to give fair warning before I maim you. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I like cheeseburgers too much to be a model. — Laurie Halse Anderson

In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I am angry that I starved my brain and that I sat shivering in my bed at night instead of dancing or reading poetry or eating ice cream or kissing a boy ... — Laurie Halse Anderson

They tied me back together, but they didn't use double knots. My insides are draining out of the fault lines in my skin, I can feel it, but every time I check the bandages, they're dry. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I am an iceberg drifting toward the edge of the map. — Laurie Halse Anderson

If I had lady-spider legs, I would weave a sky where the stars lined up. Matresses would be tied down tight to their trucks, bodies would never crash through windshields. The moon would rise above the wine-dark sea and give babies only to maidens and musicians who had prayed long and hard. Lost girls wouldn't need compasses or maps. They would find gingerbread paths to lead them out of the forest and home again. They would never sleep in silver boxes with white velvet sheets, not until they were wrinkled-paper grandmas and ready for the trip. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Think about love, or hate, or joy, or pain- whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat, or your toes curl. Focus on that feeling.
When people don't express themselves, they die on piece at a time. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. Did he rape my head, too? — Laurie Halse Anderson

This is wonderful, wonderful! Be the bird. You are the bird. Sacrifice yourself to abandoned family values ... — Laurie Halse Anderson

I want to make a memorial for our turkey. Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. — Laurie Halse Anderson

We'd itch the vermin feasting on our flesh and share the day's many rumors:
The King had declared peace.
No, the King was sending German and Russian mercenaries to destroy us.
A ball of fire as big as a man's head fell from heaven to Hatboro - a good omen. But there'd been an earthquake near York just as a cat gave birth to puppies, which meant the worst. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Puke and starve and cut and drink because you don't want to feel any of this. Puke and starve and cut and drink because you need an anesthetic and it works. For awhile. But then the anesthetic turns into poison and by then it's to late because you are maintaining it now,straight into your soul. It is rotting you and you can't stop. — Laurie Halse Anderson

What if a king made bad laws; laws so unnatural that a country broke them by declaring its freedom?" He threw his arms in the air. "Now you are spouting nonsense. Two slaves running away from their rightful master is not the same as America wanting to be free of England. Not the same at all." "How is it then that the British offer freedom to escaped slaves, but the Patriots don't? — Laurie Halse Anderson

I don't reread my books after they're published, because it's agony. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I think you have a lot to say. I'd like to hear it. — Laurie Halse Anderson

You can't speak up for your right to be silent. That's letting the bad guys win. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I just want to sleep. The whole point of not talking about it, of silencing the memory, is to make it go away. It won't. I'll need brain surgery to cut it out of my head. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Too much sun after a Syracuse winter does strange things to your head, makes you feel strong, even if you aren't. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Our teachers need a snow day. They look unusually pale. The men aren't shaving carefully and the women never remove their boots. They suffer some sort of teacherflu. Their noses drip, their eyes are rimmed with red. They come to school long enough to infect the staff room then go home sick when the sub shows up. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Didn't help to ponder things that were forever gone. It only made a body restless and fill up with bees, all wanting to sting something. — Laurie Halse Anderson

The bruises are vivid, but they will fade. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Nothing chases away the sand or the memories engraved on the back of my eyelids. They play on a continuous loop, with smells and sound and sorrow. — Laurie Halse Anderson

And then a new screen, one I had never seen before, never even heard of popped up. It gave me a choice. I could become the new Lord of Darkness myself, or I could take a gamble and be reincarnated. I chose wisely. — Laurie Halse Anderson

My first class is biology. I can't find it and get my first demerit for wandering the hall. It is 8:50 in the morning. Only 699 days and 7 class periods until graduation. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I am locked into the mirror and there is no door out. — Laurie Halse Anderson

We swore sacred oaths to be strong and to save the planet and to be friends forever. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I smile and play pretend through the Morning Show in the kitchen. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I live in the borderlands. The word ghost sounds like memory. The word therapy means exorcism. My visions echo and multiplymultiply. I don't know how to figure out what they mean. I can't tell where they start or if they will end.
But I know this. If they shrink my head any more, or float me away on an ocean of pills, I will never return. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I can see us, living in the woods, her wearing that A, me with a S maybe, S for silent, S for stupid, for scared. S for silly. For shame. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Homework is not an option. My bed is sending out serious nap rays. I can't help myself. The fluffy pillows and warm comforter are more powerful than I am. I have no choice but to snuggle under the covers. — Laurie Halse Anderson

If I can write a book that will help the world make a little more sense to a teen, then that's why I was put on the planet. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Another page turns on the calendar, April now, not March.
...
I am spinning the silk threads of my story, weaving the fabric of my world ... I spun out of control. Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living was hardest.
I wanted to swallow the bitter seeds of forgetfulness ... Somehow, I dragged myself out of the dark and asked for help.
I spin and weave and knit my words and visions until a life starts to take shape.
There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore.
I am thawing. — Laurie Halse Anderson

It isn't August. The moon is asleep and I'm sitting on my porch roof like a frozen gargoyle, wondering if the sun is going to blow off the world today and sleepin. — Laurie Halse Anderson

What do you miss about being alive?" The sound of my mom singing, a little off-key. The way my dad went to all my swim meets and I could hear his whistle when my head was underwater, even if he did yell at me afterward for not trying harder. I miss going to the library. I miss the smell of clothes fresh out of the dryer. I miss diving off the highest board and nailing the landing. I miss waffles" - p. 272. — Laurie Halse Anderson

I wanted to pull down a book, open it proper, and gobble up page after page — Laurie Halse Anderson

There is nothing wrong with me. These are really sick people, sick that you can see. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Principal Principal: Where's your late pass, mister?
Errant Student: I'm on my way to get one now.
PP: But you can't be in the hall without a pass.
ES: I know, I'm so upset. That's why I need to hurry, so I can get a pass.
Principal Principal pauses with a look on his face like Daffy Duck's when Bugs is pulling a fast one.
PP: Well, hurry up, then, and get that pass. — Laurie Halse Anderson

You know how sometimes you hear a chord played on an organ and you can feel it vibrating in your bones? Sometimes when I'm writing, I can feel my bones vibrating because I'll have a thought or I'll have a character's voice in my head, and that's when I know I'm on the right track. — Laurie Halse Anderson

No wonder the zombies were crazy. They thought they were supposed to practice breeding before they learned how to do their own laundry. They talked about it, thought about it, maybe did it, all while going through the motions of attending class and learning stuff so that they could go forth and become productive adults. Whatever that was supposed to mean. — Laurie Halse Anderson

Our culture has the expectation that the memories of a happy childhood will somehow ground you and prepare you for adult life. But what about the memories that cut, that wound, that won't heal? — Laurie Halse Anderson