Katherine Applegate Quotes

Oh, it's just a trash can. Chill out." (Marco) BAM! BAM! BAM! "Okay, so it's four trash cans," (Marco) " BAM! BAM! BAM! "Do you hate trash cans? Is that your problem? Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!" (Jake)

Death's gruesome face taunts:
soulless eyes, crimson grimace.
I really hate clowns.

Jake? Do me a favor. Don't ever say 'so far, so good'. The only time anyone ever says 'so far, so good' is right before everything blows up in his face!-Marco

Give me liberty or give me death.' A human named Patrick Henry said that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew before they came to conquer Earth that humans said things like that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew what they were getting into. -Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill

My life is flashing lights and pointing fingers and uninvited visitors. Inches away, humans flatten their little hands against the wall of glass that separates us.
The glass says you are this and we are that and that is how it will always be.

My family tree spreads wide as well. I am a great ape, and you are a great ape, and so are chimpanzees and orangutans and bonobos, all of us distant and distrustful cousins.
I know this is troubling.
I too find it hard to believe there is a connection across time and space, linking me to a race of ill-mannered clowns.
Chimps. There's no excuse for them.

Salt! Salt! And grease! Greee-suh!"Ax

I like not knowing everything. It makes things more interesting.

The grocery store
has rows and rows
of color, of light,
of easy hope.
Hannah moves down the aisle,
but I stand like a tree rooted firm,
my eyes too full of this place,
with its answers to prayers
on every shelf.

Interesting. Claws and teeth and ferocity mixed with the subtlety to manipulate creatures larger than itself. A worthy creature.

Love is alcohol.

Human humour often consists of pretending to wish something does not really wish.

I've never asked for a promise before, because promises are forever, and forever is an unusually long time.

Humans speak too much. They chatter like chimps, crowding the world with their noise even when they have nothing to say.

Cassie asked.
asked Ax

But hunger, like food, comes in many shapes and colors.

I have been in my domain for nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five days. Alone. For

But even I have enough sense to know the words "we have to win" are the first four steps on the road to hell.

I hear the fear and hope fighting in my voice.

Here's the thing, Jackson. Life is messy. It's complicated. It would be nice if life were always like this." He drew an imaginary line that kept going up and up. "But life is actually a lot more like this." He made a jiggly line that went up and down like a mountain range. "You just have to keep trying.

With enough time, you can get used to almost anything.

Ruby.
"She's here, Stella," I whisper "Ruby's safe. Just like I promised.

If you're not afraid, you're a fool. If you are afraid, even scared to death, and keep your head? That is called courage.

I tried to tear my mind off my own self loathing.-David

Hey I basically agree with you. I believe in what I can see, touch, eat, drink and spend. Everything else is bull."
April nodded. "You are so right, Christopher. I mean,you are so forceful and all that, you just get me hot. You really do, and we're going to die anyway, so just take me now." She scooted towards Christopher and lowered her voice to a husky whisper. "You think I'm kidding but I'm not. I want you here and now."
She was just convincing enough that Christopher made a sort of move to put his arm around her. She pushed away, laughing slyly.
"Ah, so you just believe in what you can see, huh? Looks to me like you were ready to believe in a miracle.

My mom told me once that money problems sort of sneak up on you. She said it's like catching a cold. At first you just have a tickle in your throat, and then you have a headache, and then maybe you're coughing a little. The next thing you know, you have a pile of Kleenexes around your bed and you're hacking your lungs up.

In dreams you lose normal cause and effect. You jump around in time. This is reality. Jalil

I was born in a place humans call central Africa, in a dense rain forest so beautiful, no crayons could ever do it justice.

Lesson Number One in Everworld: There's them, and there's us. And any day we can keep them from destroying us, that's a victory.

The only person she knew at all was Marquez, and Marquez seemed to have been possessed by the music.

My conscience was going to give me trouble on this one.
That's the naggy little person who lives in your brain and makes you feel guilty about stuff.
Man, I hate that guy sometimes.

A hole can be as real and solid as a boulder or a tree.

A good zoo," Stella said, "is a large domain. A wild cage. A safe place to be. It has room to roam and humans who don't hurt." She pauses, considering her words. "A good zoo is how humans make amends.

And oh, god, how could so much regret and so much sweetness and so much sadness all be present in that single moment. I was already dead and missing my unlived life. I was already dead and Tobias was mourning.
I tried to smile. For him.

Earth is the crossroads of every possible alien. We're the McDonald's next to the highway of the galaxy.

What bothered me most, though, was that I couldn't fix anything. I couldn't control anything. It was like driving a bumper car without a steering wheel. I kept getting slammed, and I just had to sit there and hold on tight.

I'm picky. Not so much about looks, although even there I'm kind of picky. It's more that I can't pretend some guy is interesting when he's not. If he's immature, I'll probably tell him so. Within five minutes of knowing him. And if he looks ridiculous dressed up like some wannabe, I'll probably say that, too, or more likely just steer clear of him.

Old age," she says, "is a wonderful disguise.

Kek finds sun when the sky is dark.

Meantime, I was going to enjoy the magic while I could.

You know a guy is funny when a week later you can still feel the little knives he stuck in you.

I've fought for more than three years. I was just thirteen when I started. I'm sixteen now, though that fact, like so many facts, has been deliberately obscured in the secret accounts we've kept.
I'm a sixteen-year-old kid named Jake Berenson, and I am the leader of the Animorphs.

I felt exalted.
It was my moment. This was my place and my
time and my own perfection.
I was no longer afraid. Weird. If I'd had a
mouth I'd have smiled.
I said.
No one moved.
I asked.
No answer.
I said, almost laughing.

They think I'm too old to cause trouble.
Old age is a powerful disguise.

Now I draw every day ... If I get tired and need a break, I eat my crayons.

Full emergency power to the engines. Ram the Blade ship.

Sometimes I know things before they happen. Sometimes I can see a scene in my head. Like watching a movie, and then it will happen. I think, did I make it happen? Or did I just see it somehow?

His voice was deep,
like a storm coming,
but gentle,
like the rain ending.

I felt the way you do the instant before you leap into the deep end of a pool. You're on your way to somewhere else. You're not there yet. But you know there's no turning back.

Different languages, different food, different customs. That's our neighborhood: wild and tangled and colorful. Like the best kind of garden.

But I figured out after a while that I couldn't spend my life punishing everyone who deserved to be punished."

"So you just forgive them?" Diana said.

He shrugged. "I guess so. Not because they deserve to be forgiven. They don't. It's just that when you go around hating people and wanting to hurt them... You just can't do that. That isn't life. You forgive them so you can live.

She batted her eyelashes at me to show she was kidding.
I love it when she does that.

The first time I met Crenshaw was about three years ago, right after first grade ended. It was early evening, and my family and I had parked at a rest stop off a highway. I was lying on the grass near a picnic table, gazing up at the stars blinking to life. I heard a noise, a wheels-on-gravel skateboard sound. I sat up on my elbows. Sure enough, a skater on a board was threading his way through the parking lot. I could see right away that he was an unusual guy. He was a black and white kitten. A big one, taller than me. His eyes were the sparkly color of morning grass. He was wearing a black and orange San Francisco Giants baseball cap. He hopped off his board and headed my way. He was standing on two legs just like a human. "Meow," he said. "Meow," I said back, because it seemed polite.

Growing up gorilla is just like any other kind of growing up. You make mistakes. You play. You learn. You do it all over again.

What's that?" Seth asked, pointing.
"That?"
"That room. Isn't that a head?"
"Uh, that's, uh, out of order."
"What's wrong with it? Maybe I can fix it later."
Never tell a former handyman anything is broken. Never, ever, ever.

She seemed beautiful to me. Is that strange? I suppose it is. But there is a compelling beauty in the sight of someone seemingly so small and yet so dangerous.

Humans have very odd tastes. They think their music is beautiful. They are wrong. It is awful. All of it. And they completely ignore their greatest accomplishments: the cinnamon bun, the Snickers bar, the hot pepper, and the refreshing beverage called vinegar.

So, you propel rocks at me! You'll be very sorry you ever propelled a rock at me, human.

The zoo lady, whose name is Maya, is here again.

A famous human named Rolling Stones said that.

Those are the stars that will guide my path home.

Christopher flushed, gaped, and then laughed. I gave him credit for that. Lots of guys can laugh at someone else. Chistopher could laugh at himself. You see a lot less of that.

Ax swiveled his stalk eyes toward me.

So, there we were. The five of us - Marco, Tobias, Rachel, Cassie, and me. Five normal mallrats heading home.
Sometimes I think about that one, last moment when we were still just normal kids. It's like it was a million years ago, like it was some totally different group of kids. You know what I was afraid of right then? I was afraid of admitting to Tom that I hadn't made the team. That was as scary as life got back then.
Five minutes later, life got a lot scarier.

Yes," he said. "You were strong. You were brave. You were good. You mattered.

His mop moves across the empty food court like a giant brush, painting a picture no one will ever see.

When I'm drawing a picture, I feel ... quiet inside.

Stella," I say after Julia and her father go home. "I can't sleep."
"Of course you can," she says. "You are the king of the sleepers."
"Shh," Bob says from his perch on my belly. "I'm dreaming about chili fries.

Today, tomorrow, sooner or later, you will meet someone who is lost, just as you yourself have been lost, and as you will be lost again someday. And when that happens, it is your duty to say I've been lost, too. Let me help you find your way home.

Okay," I said. "I'll be there, but I promise to complain the entire time.

She got up and went to her tiny kitchen. On the way she turned on her radio. "You want something to eat?" she called over her shoulder.
"What do you have?"
"Um ... " She opened her refrigerator. "Milk, yogurt, and wilted lettuce." She checked her cupboard. "Cheerios. Instant grits. Sorry
I figured that since this is technically the South, I should try grits. Ah-hah! Pop-Tarts."
"Pop-Tarts! All right," he said enthusiastically. He came to join her as she loaded the toaster. "Life. It just doesn't get any better than this. You and Pop-Tarts.

Everyone deserves a shot ... and some deserve to be shot.

Don't be so sure,' Cassie said. 'We're fighting for Mother Earth. She has some tricks up her sleeves.'
'Good grief,' Marco said. 'Let's all buy Birkenstocks and go hug some trees.

Hollows are proof that something bad can become something good with enough time and care and hope" -Red

She spoke about her family she'd lost. She spoke about her secret hopes and fears and longings. She had love to give, and no one to give it to.

Humans. Rats have bigger hearts. Roaches have kinder souls. Flies have-

Maybe dreams aren't in your head. Maybe dreams are memories of another universe.

It's OAT-freaking-MEAL!

Old age is a powerful disguise.

You do not know me, but I am a juvenile delinquent. I do not trust authority figures, I probably will not graduate from high school, and statistics say my present rowdiness and vandalism will likely lead to more serious crimes. I am a dangerous fellow, and I am causing mayhem in this store. [ ... ] There. I have now shamelessly destroyed the symmetry of this shelf, undoing hours of labor by underpaid store employees. If you could see me, you would be frightened.

And that's how we ended up discovering the evil horses that threatened all of humanity.

She is like a newborn sun, fresh with promise, the just beginning moments before the day fills like a bucket with good and bad, sweat and longing.

I guess none of us will get through this without some terrible sin. This will be mine.

Seerow's kindness. Even then, all those years ago, i knew. My father's epitaph had just been written.

For Marquez, the transition from standing around to dancing was instantaneous and total. It wasn't about looking cool, it was about losing all contact with the normal world, gong away to a place where her body and mind and the music were all the same thing.

am talking to my imaginary friend. I invented him when I was seven. He is here in our bathtub. He has a bubble beard.

Imaginary friends are like books. We're created, we're enjoyed, we're dog-eared and creased, and then we're tucked away until we're needed again.

I remember something my mama
used to say on dark days:
If you can talk, you can sing.
If you can walk, you can dance.
Ganwar, I whisper,
what if she never comes?

I just want to get on a table, dance on someone's tater tots, and wait for the hall monitor to drag me away

I like colorful tales with black beginnings and stormy middles and cloudless blue-sky endings. But any story will do.

Children's books: Every time you find the right, the necessary, book for a child - a book about sadness overcome, unfairness battled, hearts mended - you perform the best kind of magic ... every time you give just the right book to just the right child, you're saying, "You, my friend, have potential." That is a gift. That is a miracle. And that is what you do, each of you, every single day.

You are the One and Only Ivan," he calls.
I nod, then turn toward my family, my life, my home.
"Mighty Silverback," I whisper.

Homework, I have discovered, involves a sharp pencil and thick books and long sighs.

Oh, the things I wanted to say to those two! I wanted to tell them that friendship doesn't have to be hard. That sometimes we let the world make it hard." -Red

Maybe it's easier to forgive others once you've learned how to forgive yourself.

I am talking to a cat. A cat is talking to me.

She said she sometimes wondered if maybe bats are better human beings than human beings are.

Fun fact, Jackson. You can't see sound waves, but you can hear music.

We talked about talking. (We had been interrupting Ms. Diz a lot).
She said that when someone is talking, you listen with your ears.
And save your questions for the end.
Then you use your mouth.
Even if you see something that is a miracle.
Like a squirrel with a blue Matchbox car in his mouth.
Which I saw yesterday.
You are not allowed to jump up and scream, 'MS. DIZ I SEE A SQUIRREL WITH A MATCHBOX CAR IN HIS MOUTH OR MAYBE IT'S AN SUV!! I AM NOT KIDDING MS. DIZ!!

I think that's his point," April said. "Not dumb, maybe. Just naive. I mean we come from a cynical age. Suspicious of everything. Maybe thats the advantage we have."
"Yeah our bad attitudes versus their swords and axes and giant wolves," Christopher said darkly.