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My brother looked at me. I looked at him.
Sometimes- and I know it doesn't last for anything more than a second- sometimes there can be perfect understanding between two people who can't stand each other. He smiled, and I smiled, and we put on the Timex watches on, and we watched the seconds flit by.
It was the first watch my brother had ever owned.
It was the first watch I had ever owned.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: My brother looked at me.
One day we ran all the way to Jones Beach, and if Mrs. Sidman hadn't sent a bus after us, I think we would have collapsed on the boardwalk and died.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: One day we ran all
Maybe the first time that you know you really care about something is when you think about it not being there,and when you know-you really know-that the emptinessis as much as inside you as outside you.For it falls out,that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it;but being lacked and lost,why,then we rack the value,then we find the virtue that possesion would not show us while it was ours.That's when I knew for the first time that I really did love my sister.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Maybe the first time that
No one ever comes back from Vietnam. Not really.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: No one ever comes back
You should be," she said. "Look what happened to Julius Caesar when he underestimated those around him." So we went out to the
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You should be,
You know how teachers are. If they get you to take out a book they love too, they're yours for life.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You know how teachers are.
When you find something that's whole, you do what you can to keep it that way.
And when you fins something that isn't, then maybe it's not a bad idea to try to make it whole again. Maybe.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: When you find something that's
In English, we were still on the Introduction to Poetry Unit, and I'm not lying, if I ever meet Percy Bysshe Shelley walking down the streets of Marysville, I'm going to punch him right in the face.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: In English, we were still
When gods die, they die hard. It's not like they fade away, or grow old, or fall asleep. They die in fire and pain, and when they come out of you, they leave your guts burned. It hurts more than anything you can talk about. And maybe worst of all is, you're not sure if there will ever be another god to fill their place. Or if you'd ever want another god to fill their place. You don't want the fire to go out inside you twice.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: When gods die, they die
You know how that feels?
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You know how that feels?
You know one thing that Mr. Powell taught me? He taught me that sometimes, art can make you forget everything else all around you. That's what are can do.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You know one thing that
Talk is only silence that ain't workin' well.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Talk is only silence that
The world is Trouble ... and Grace. That is all there is.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: The world is Trouble ...
Mr. Ferris didn't say anything the whole time. He sat next to me and listened. And when I finished, I looked at him.
He was crying. I'm not lying. He was crying.
I don't think it was because how hard I hit him.
I know how the Black-Backed Gull feels when he looks up into the sky.
Maybe, somehow, Mr. Ferris does too.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Mr. Ferris didn't say anything
She came over and looked at the picture. Then she took my hand.
You know what that feels like?
Like what the astronauts will feel when they step onto the moon for the very first time.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: She came over and looked
You don't have to say ridiculous things twice, Holling. Once is more than enough.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You don't have to say
more to be a human being with
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: more to be a human
OKAY. So I was going to the library every Saturday. So what? So what? It's not like I was reading books or anything.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: OKAY. So I was going
So you just went in and told him to give you two Cokes and he gave them to you?" "No, I didn't just go in and tell him to give me two Cokes. I asked for a Coke for me and a Coke for the skinny thug sitting on the library steps.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: So you just went in
How come when you're feeling good like this, something always happens to wreck it all? How come?
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: How come when you're feeling
Christmas is the season for miracles, you know. Sometimes they come big and loud, I guess - but I've never seen one of those. I think probably most miracles are a lot smaller, and sort of still, and so quiet, you could miss them.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Christmas is the season for
Thanks for what?" he said. "Everything," I said.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Thanks for what?
Okay, so maybe sometimes the real world is smiles and miracles.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Okay, so maybe sometimes the
We were just about the last ones to leave. Reverend Ballou took Joseph's hand to shake it, and Joseph said, "How much of that story is true?" Reverend Ballou considered this. "I think it all has to be true, or none of it," he said. "The angels?" said Joseph. "Really?" "Why not?" said Reverend Ballou. "Because bad things happen," said Joseph. "If there were angels, then bad things wouldn't happen." "Maybe angels aren't always meant to stop bad things." "So what good are they?" "To be with us when bad things happen." Joseph looked at him. "Then where the hell were they?" he said. I thought Reverend Ballou was going to start bawling.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: We were just about the
Cooper looked at the house and tried to fix it in his mind like a painting that would never leave him. But its beauty was so think and so real that it could never be just a painting
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Cooper looked at the house
Mrs. Russell made us both sit down with a glass of milk. "And I have a special treat for you," she said. I'm not lying. She really said that. I held my breath because of the last special treat at the Daughertys', but it didn't help, because when Mrs. Russell came back, she came back with a loaf of banana bread. Banana bread! And James said, "How about we have some jam with that?" and Mrs. Russell said, "Jam? Then you wouldn't be able to taste the bananas," and James said, "Ma, I hate bananas," and she said, "But I'm sure that Doug enjoys them," and I said, "I think I'm still full from lunch, so the milk's fine," and then Mrs. Russell picked up the plate with the banana bread on it, and you might not believe this, but she started to laugh and laugh a d laugh, until Mr. Russell came out to the kitchen to see what was so funny and she showed him the banana bread and he said, "I hate bananas," and we all started to laugh until Mrs. Russell said, "I hate bananas too," and you can imagine us all laughing until we were crying and finally Mrs. Russell took the banana bread outside to break it up for the birds-"Let's hope they like bananas"-and then I showed Mr. Russell Aaron Copland's Autobiography: Manuscript Edition, and he stopped laughing.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Mrs. Russell made us both
He felt it deep, like a stone too big to heft out of the garden. He just had to how around it and make do.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: He felt it deep, like
He's falling into the water," I said. Lucas shook his head. "No, he's not. He's going wherever he wants to go.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: He's falling into the water,
Make good decisions and remember who you are." "Make good decisions and remember who loves you.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Make good decisions and remember
I think something must happen to you when you get into eight grade. Like the Doug Swieteck's Brother Gene switches on and you become a jerk.
Which may have been Hamlet, Prince of Denmark's problem, who, besides having a name that makes him sound like a breakfast special at Sunnyside Morning Restaurant
something between a ham slice and a three-egg omelet
didn't have the smarts to figure out that when someone takes the trouble to come back from beyond the grave to tell you that he's been murdered, it's probably behooveful to pay attention
which is the adjectival form.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I think something must happen
A comedy isn't about being funny ... a comedy is about characters who dare to know that they may choose a happy ending after all.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: A comedy isn't about being
Reader, I kissed her. A quiet walk we had, she and I.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Reader, I kissed her. A
There's no pleasure in getting to be an old coot unless you have some fun along the way.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: There's no pleasure in getting
And I know it doesn't last for anything more than a second
sometimes there is perfect understanding between two people who can't stand one another.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: And I know it doesn't
Here's how you practice shrieking like an insane woman who has been locked in an attic for a great many years:
You stand in the middle of the field.
You look around to be sure that no one is going to hear you.
You breathe in a couple of times to get as much air in your chest as you can.
You stretch your neck up like the Great Esquimaux Curlew.
You imagine that it's Game Seven of the World Series and it's the bottom of the ninth and Joe Pepitone is rounding third base and the throw is coming in and the catcher has his glove up waiting for the ball and Joe Pepitone is probably going to be out and the game will be over and the Yankees will lose.
Then you let out your shriek, because that's how everyone in Yankee Stadium would be shrieking right then.
That's how you practice shrieking like an insane woman who has been locked in an attic for a great many years. And you keep doing it over and over again until all the birds in Marysville have flown away.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Here's how you practice shrieking
No storm is forever.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: No storm is forever.
A comedy isn't about being funny," said Mrs. Baker.
"We talked about this before."
"A comedy is about character who dare to know that they may choose a happy ending after all. That's how I know."
"Suppose you can't see it?"
"That's the daring part," said Mrs. Baker.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: A comedy isn't about being
Mrs. Windemere always had a cup of hot coffee waiting for me. Black, which, she said, was the only way to drink it if you wanted to be awake to serve the god of Creativity
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Mrs. Windemere always had a
No one talked because we all wanted to scream.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: No one talked because we
I think he became a man who brought peace and wisdom to hi world, because he knew about war and folly. I think that he loved greatly, because he had seen what lost love is. And I think he came to know, too, that he was loved greatly." She looked at the strawberry in her hands. "But I thought you didn't want me to tell you your future.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I think he became a
We were both chumps. But you know what? It's not so bad when you're chumps together.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: We were both chumps. But
It means, Doug Swieteck, that in this class, you are not your brother.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: It means, Doug Swieteck, that
Mr. Powell raised an eyebrow. 'I'm a librarian,' he said. 'I always know what I'm talking about.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Mr. Powell raised an eyebrow.
That's the Teacher Gene at work, giving its bearer an extra sense. It's a little frightening. Maybe that's how people decide to become teachers. They have that extra sense, and once they have it, and know that they have it, they don't have any choice except to become a teacher.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: That's the Teacher Gene at
Doug Swieteck's brother wouldn't even come near me, and I would foil Mrs. Baker's nefarious plan. But
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Doug Swieteck's brother wouldn't even
Within a year, possibly by next fall," he was saying, "something that has never before been done, will be done. NASA will be sending men to the moon. Think of that. Men who were once in classrooms like this one will leave their footprints on the lunar surface." He paused. I leaned in close against the wall so I could hear him. "That is why you are sitting here tonight, and why you will be coming here in the months ahead. You come to dream dreams. You come to build fantastic castles up in the air. And you come to learn how to build the foundations that make those castles real. When the men who will command that mission were boys your age, no one knew. But in a few months, that's what will happen. So, twenty years from now, what will people say of you? 'No one knew then that this kid Washington Irving High School would grow up to do' ... what? What castle will you build?
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Within a year, possibly by
You can't imagine an actor ever becoming president of the United States, for example, which was true. We couldn't.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You can't imagine an actor
It was a Saturday that you somehow knew was going to be one of the last beautiful days of fall. The sun was shining hot, like it thought it was still July, and November drizzles were a whole season away. The sky was blue and a few white clouds were easing themselves along like they didn't care. The grass was warm and sweet, like April, but the trees hadn't forgotten it was October. They were all on fire, and behind their leaves, the birds were singing their last songs.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: It was a Saturday that
DOWNED HELICOPTER TRANSPORT STOP KHESANH STOP LT T BAKER MISSING IN ACTION STOP
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: DOWNED HELICOPTER TRANSPORT STOP KHESANH
Did you find yourself?" "What?" said my sister. "Did you find yourself?" "She found me," I said.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Did you find yourself?
You know, there are good reasons to learn how to read. Poetry isn't one of them. I mean, so what if two roads go two ways in a wood? So what? Who cares if it made all that big a difference? What difference? And why should I have to guess what the difference is? Isn't that what he's supposed to say?
Why can't poets just say what they want to say and then shut up?
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You know, there are good
(The raindrops) played across the coast all through the night, until the soft new day shrugged itself awake, tried on amethyst and lavender for a while, and finally decided on pale yellow.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: (The raindrops) played across the
Do you ever wonder what it's like to be so angry that you ... And then something happens, and after that, everyone figures that's what you're like, and that's what you're always going to be, and so you just decide to be it? But the whole time you're thinking, Am I going to be like him? Or am I already like him? And then you get angrier, because maybe you are, and you want ...
He stopped. He wiped at his eyes. I'm not lying. My brother wiped at his eyes.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Do you ever wonder what
I almost cried. But I didn't, because if you're in seventh grade and you cry while wearing a blue floral cape and yellow tights with white feathers on the butt, you just have to curl up and die somewhere in a dark alley.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I almost cried. But I
I saw my town as if I had just arrived. It was as if I was waking up. You see houses and buildings every day, and you walk by them on your way to something else, and you hardly see. You hardly notice they're even there, mostly because there's something else going on right in front of your face, But when the town itself becomes the thing that is going on right in front of your face, it all changes, and you're not just looking at a house, but at what's happened in that house before you were born.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I saw my town as
Lizzie Bright Griffin, do you ever wish the world would just go ahead and swallow you whole?"
"Sometimes I do," she said, and then smiled. "but sometimes I figure I should just go ahead and swallow it.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Lizzie Bright Griffin, do you
When Mr. Ferris found out about the Broadway play, Clarence didn't stop rocking during the whole lab.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: When Mr. Ferris found out
Mrs. Daugherty was keeping my bowl of cream of wheat hot, and she had a special treat with it, she said. It was bananas.
In the whole story of the world, bananas have never once been a special treat.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Mrs. Daugherty was keeping my
I know. That sounds like a lie. But Presbyterians know that every so often a lie isn't all that bad, and I figured that this was about the best place it could happen.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I know. That sounds like
Creativty is a god who comes around only when he pleases, and it isn't very often. But when he does come around, he sits at my desk and folds his wings and I offer him whatever he wants.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Creativty is a god who
You know, when someone has been crying, something gets left in the air. It's not something you can see or smell, or feel. Or draw. But it's there.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: You know, when someone has
« Around and around, and the sharp stars watched. And the low moon. And Jupiter over the mountains. »
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: « Around and around, and
Learn everything you can - everything. And then use all that you have learned to grow up too be a wise and good man.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Learn everything you can -
I'm a librarian. I always know what I'm talking about
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I'm a librarian. I always
I handed the test in five minutes before the end of the day. Mrs. Baker took it calmly, then reached into her bottom drawer for an enormous red pen with a wide felt tip. "Stand here and we'll see how you've done," she said, which is sort of like a dentist handing you a mirror and saying, "Sit here and watch while I drill a hole in your tooth.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I handed the test in
He missed him like he would miss the sun if it fell out of the sky.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: He missed him like he
Joseph just listened. It was like he was dragging every word about Jupiter into himself so he could remember it and treasure it in his heart.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Joseph just listened. It was
There are times when she makes me feel as stupid as asphalt.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: There are times when she
I'm not lying, I was a killer Helen Burns. I stepped out on to that stage like I was the Great Esquimaux Curlew. When Jane Eyre came to look at my book
which happened to be Our Town
I handed it to her just right. When Miss Scatchard told me I never cleaned my nails, I was about as quiet and innocent as a Large-Billed Puffin. When she hit me a dozen times with a bunch of twigs, I was the Brown Pelican: I didn't bat an eye
and you try getting hit a dozen times with a bunch of twigs. And when I had to die, people were crying. Really. And you know why? Because I was the Black-Backed Gull, and so people cried like Helen Burns was their best friend.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I'm not lying, I was
When a girl holds a rose up to you, you run better, let me tell you.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: When a girl holds a
I wonder why Holling had the fastest time," said Danny after the announcements - a whole lot louder than he had to. "Could it be because he was running away from two rats who were trying to eat him?"
"That might have a little to do with it," I said.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: I wonder why Holling had
Maybe the Snowy Heron is going to come off pretty badly when the planes come together. Maybe. But he's still proud and beautiful. His head is high, and he's got this sharp beak that's facing out to the world.
He's okay for now.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Maybe the Snowy Heron is
Books can ignite fires in your mind, because they carry ideas for kindling, and art for matches.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Books can ignite fires in
Whatever it means to be a friend, taking a black eye for someone has to be in it.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Whatever it means to be
By the way, in case you weren't paying attention or something, did you catch what Mr. Powell called me? "Young artist." I bet you missed that.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: By the way, in case
The living of your life is hard work, young Master Carter... You may act the gentleman or the barbarian."

"Those are the only two choices?"

"Yes," said the Butler, "the only two...
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: The living of your life
We carry our childhood with us.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: We carry our childhood with
So you want to tell me what a sixth grader was doing in the eighth-grade side of the locker room, in a eighth-grade fight?" he said.
"Winning," I said.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: So you want to tell
Even Doug Swieteck's brother couldn't cuss like that
and he could cuss the yellow off a school bus.
Gary D. Schmidt Quotes: Even Doug Swieteck's brother couldn't
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