Louis Sachar Quotes

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. (p. 3)
It immediately sets a mood of hardship and confusion and starts right in with the irony that permeates the novel.

It's funny how you can go from hating a girl to maybe liking her, maybe liking her a lot, just because she shows a little interest in you.

Whenever you give someone a present or sing a holiday song, you're helping Santa Claus. To me, that's what Christmas is all about. Helping Santa Claus!

'The Cardturner,' while it has bridge in it, you certainly don't need to know how to play bridge to read it. It's basically a book about relationships - between Alton and his great-uncle, and Alton and his friends, and how it changes his life.

I'm an avid bridge player. I usually go to the local bridge club three or four times a week. I've always been a game-player, and I think bridge is one of the greatest games ever invented. It's too bad that not many young people play it any more.

Wayside school is falling down, falling down, falling down,
Wayside school is falling down my fair lady.
Kids go splat as they hit the ground, hit the ground, hit the ground,
Kids go splat as the hit the ground my fair lady
.
Broken bones and blood and gore, blood and gore, blood and gore,
Broken bones and blood and gore my fair lady.
We don't have to go to school no more, school no more, school no more,
We don't have to go to school no more my fair lady.

I think of a book and a play, or a book and a movie, as two separate things - I don't think of it as my novel having a new life.

My parents played bridge, and I remember being fascinated watching them. I sometimes got a chance to sit in on a hand, which I loved. But then I didn't actually play on my own for about 30 years.

You make the decision: Whom did God punish?

I may have ruined my life, but at least I got to eat some really good Chinese food.

When you spend your whole life living in a hole, the only way you can go is up. (Zero/Hector Zeroni)

I never think of an entire book at once. I always just start with a very small idea. In 'Holes,' I just began with the setting; a juvenile correctional facility located in the Texas desert. Then I slowly make up the story, and rewrite it several times, and each time I rewrite it, I get new ideas, and change the old ideas around.

Holes BY LOUIS SACHAR
"Nearly everything in the room was broken; the TV, the pinball machine, the furniture. Even the people looked broken, with their worn out bodies sprawled over the various chairs and sofas." (p.43)
This is Stanley's view of the "wreck room" at Camp Green Lake. It is the one place the boys are allowed to relax somewhat and they have trashed it. The inhumanity of the camp has possessed the boys. Stanley sees this room as a reminder that the boys have the capacity for violence, and he does not want to mess with the other campers.

Back at the compound, they had dug in a systematic order, row upon row, allowing space for the water truck. But out here there was no system. It was as if every once in a while, in a fit of frustration, the Warden would just pick a spot at random, and say, "What the hell, dig here." It was like trying to guess the winning numbers in a lottery.

Life is like crossing a river. If you take a huge step-aim for too bigger dreams-then the current will knock you off your feet and carry you away.
The way to do it is small steps, you will take hold of life. You will get there in the end.

He didn't want her to know that he didn't understand, but what he didn't realize was that she didn't understand either, so that if he had just told her he didn't understand, she would have understood, but when he told her he understood, then she didn't understand.

Sometimes people can learn a lot about each other just by sitting in silence.

Twenty-five Percent Slam

How can he be your friend if you don't like him?

But I'm taking small steps 'Cause I don't know where I'm going I'm taking small steps And I don't know what to say. Small steps, Trying to pull myself together And maybe I'll discover A clue along the way!

School just speeds things up ... Without school it might take 70 years before you wake up and are able to count.

You need a reason to be sad. You don't need a reason to be happy.

Dana raised her hand. "I learned about exaggeration," she said. "It was all my teacher ever talked about. We had like ten thousand tests on it, and the teacher would kill you if you didn't spell it right." "That's very good, Dana!" said Mrs. Jewls. "You learned your lesson well.

Stanley took a shower - if you could call it that, ate dinner - if you could call it that, and went to bed - if you could call his smelly and scratchy cot a bed.

You have only one life, make the most of it

And what would you like, Sharie?" asked Miss Mush.
"What do you have?" asked Sharie.
"Potato salad".
"What else is there?" asked Sharie.
"Nothing" said Miss Mush.
"Okay" said Sharie. "I'll have that."
"Potato salad?" asked Miss Mush.
"No,nothing." said Sharie.

You may have done some bad things, but that doesn't mean you're a bad kid.

The bad stuff always rose to the top of the brain.

Stanley spent more time pushing the wheelbarrow than digging, because he was such a slow digger. He carted away the excess dirt and dumped it into previously dug holes. He was careful not to dump any of it in the hole where the gold tube was actually found.

He understood it when other kids were mean to him. It didn't bother him. He simply hated them. As long as he hated them, it didn't matter what they thought of him.

LOUIS SACHAR is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Holes, winner of the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Christopher Award. He is also the author of Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake; Small Steps, winner of the Schneider Family Book Award; and The Cardturner, a Publishers Weekly Best Book, a Parents' Choice Gold Award recipient, and an ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults book. His books for younger readers include There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, The Boy Who Lost His Face, Dogs Don't Tell Jokes, and the Marvin Redpost series, among many others.

We may be surrounded by some greater reality, to which we are oblivious. And even if we could somehow perceive it in some entirely new way, it is extremely doubtful we would be able to comprehend what we perceived.

Friends always break even.

Higher and higher he climbed. His strength came from somewhere deep inside himself and also seemed to come from the outside as well. After focusing on Big Thumb for so long, it was as if the rock had absorbed his energy and now acted like a kind of giant magnet pulling him toward it. After a while he became aware of a foul odor. At first he thought it came from Zero, but it seemed to be in the air, hanging heavy all around him. He also noticed that the ground wasn't as steep anymore. As the ground flattened, a huge stone precipice rose up ahead of him, just barely visible in the

You're a caring, thoughtful, considerate human being. Maybe that is a curse in this cold world we live in. You have the soul of a poet.
- Mrs. Bayfield, to David

Love is different from most things. If I gave my piece of chalk to someone, then I wouldn't have it anymore. But when I give my love to someone, I end up with more love than I started with. The more love you give away, the more you have left.

I actually started an adult book, worked on it for about two years, and then decided it just wasn't coming together for me, and thought I'll go back to children's books, and almost immediately I started 'Holes,' and it just seemed to take off on me.

It's - I write the books and let the market find who reads it. I guess a young adult is anywhere from ten to fifteen.

I want kids to think that reading can be just as much fun and more so than TV or video games or whatever else they do. I think any other kind of message or morals that I might teach is secondary to first just enjoying a book.

I don't think too much about the audience when I'm writing ... I'm aware that 'Holes' was read by kids as young as 8, up to adults.

My dog, Pugsy, was hit by a car,

I think what makes good children's books is putting the same care and effort into it as if I was writing for adults. I don't write anything - put anything in my books - that I'd be embarrassed to put in an adult book.

Because if you fidget or wriggle or squirm or sass me or get an answer wrong, I'll wiggle my ears - (Wiggles her ears: they vibrate dramatically. MYRON and BEBE duck under their desks) MYRON and BEBE: NO! MRS. GORF: --stick out my tongue and turn you into apples!

A lot of people don't believe in curses.
A lot of people don't believe in yellow-spotted lizards either, but if one bites you, it doesn't make a difference whether you believe in it or not.

Nothing in life is easy.

Not counting 'Small Steps,' I think 'Holes' is my best book, in terms of plot, and setting, and the way the story revealed itself. It hasn't changed my life, other than that I have more money than I did before I wrote it. I'm still too close to 'Small Steps' to compare it to 'Holes.'

I really began to love to read while in high school, and my favorite authors were my heroes: J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut.

Not everyone is as nice as us.

Toni hears voices," said Trapp. "But who is this Dr. Ellsworth to tell her she's a schizophrenic? Maybe she just perceives better than the rest of us. Maybe the voices she hears are just uncommunicated ideas, floating free.

When I wrote 'Sideways Stories from Wayside School' I never expected it to be published. It was kind of a hobby. Now, it's a job, but it's a job I like very much.

I'm not stupid. I know everybody thinks I am. I just don't like answering their questions.

I prefer to use the names their parents gave them
the names that society will recognize them by when they return to become useful and hardworking members of society.

Need help new member

An idea doesn't die," said Trapp. "It exists somewhere, in its own dimension, waiting to be perceived.

The media tends to portray the teenage world as one where drinking and sex is taken for granted. In fact, I think most teenagers don't drink, are unsure of themselves, and feel awkward around members of the opposite sex.

If only, if only, the moon speaks no reply;
Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by.
Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly.
Fly high, my baby bird,
My angel, my only

Zero wasnt worried, " When you spend your whole life living in a shole", he said, "the only way you can go is up.

The Warden owns the shade."-Chapter 1.5

Offering you a hundred and eighty dollars, pure profit, and no worries.

He's not my dad," Kaira said. "Just because he married my - As soon as I turn eighteen I'm firing his ass! Then I'll call you.

What amazes me is that most days feel useless. I don't seem to accomplish anything-just a few pages, most of which don't seem very good. Yet, when I put all those wasted days together, I somehow end up with a book of which I'm very proud.

It's a lost and lonely kind of feeling,
To wake up wearing a disguise.
I lie in bed staring at the ceiling,
I don't know who I am
There's little that I can
Fully recognize....

But I'm taking small steps,
'Cause I don't know where I'm going.
I'm taking small steps
And I don't know what to say.
Small steps,
Trying to pull myself together,
And maybe I'll discover
A clue along the way....

Just to make it through the day and not to get hurt,
Seems about the best that I can hope.
Like coffee stains splattered on your sweatshirt
There isn't any pattern.
Everything's uncertain.
It's difficult to cope....

But I'm taking small steps,
'Cause I don't know where I'm going.
I'm taking small steps,
And I've forgotten how to play.
Small steps,
Trying to pull myself together,
And maybe I'll discover,
A clue along the way....

And if someday my small steps bring me near you,
Please don't rush to tell me all you feel.
You don't have to speak for me to hear you.
If I softly sigh,
Look me in the eye
And let me know I'm real....

Then we'll take small steps,
'Cause we won't know where we're going.
We'll take small steps,
And we'll have too much to say.
Small steps,
Hand in hand we'll walk together,
And maybe we'll discover
A clue along the way....

Inspirational Song

Now you be careful in the real world" said Armpit " Not everyone is as nice as us.

In a way, it made him sad. He couldn't help but think that a hundred times zero was still nothing.

He sat at his desk – last seat, last row – and looked at the chart on the wall next to him. Of course there was no gold star next to his name. He had already done three things wrong: First, he had knocked over a girl and made her cry. Second, he was late getting back to class. And third and worst of all, his name was Bradley Chalkers. As long as his name was Bradley Chalker's, he'd never get a gold star. They don't give gold stars to monsters.

There was something special about being in a strange place, all alone in a mass of people even if you had just screwed up your life, or perhaps especially if you had just screwed up your life.

Warning: Do not read this story right after eating. In fact, don't read it right before eating either. In fact, just to be safe, don't read this story if you're ever planning to eat again.

But don't forget who you really are. And I'm not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you. You know who you really are. When you're alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you ... Your muscles will toughen. So will your heart and soul. That's necessary for survival. But don't lose touch with that person deep inside you, or else you won't really have survived at all.

I write in the mornings, two or three hours every day, and then at least four times a week I play in a duplicate game at a bridge club. I try to go to tournaments three, four, or five times a year.

You're responsible for yourself. You messed up your life, and it's up to you to fix it. No one else is going to do it for you
for any of you.

The time you quit learning is the time to quit playing.

When I turned the corner, I saw Toni waving at me from the elevator. I think I've already told you how it made me feel to see her smile and wave at me. You can have your sunsets and waterfalls. If a piano were to suddenly fall on my head, that's the image I'd want forever engraved in my mind.
- Alton Richard

Every time I start a new novel, it seems like an impossible undertaking. If I tried to do too much too quickly, I would get lost and feel overwhelmed. I have to go slow, and give things a chance to take form and grow.

Give me a dollar or I'll spit on you.

With 'Holes' I was troubled that there weren't very many female characters. I tried to put them in where I could. But the setting didn't lend itself to girls.

Your parents are just trying to do what's best for you," said Carla. "A lot of people think counselors don't belong in schools." She shrugged. "I guess they're afraid I might full your head with all kinds of crazy ideas.

It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.

I don't listen to music when I write. I need silence.