Louise Fitzhugh Quotes

It feels ... as though doors were opening all over the world... It's bigger, somehow, the world.

She would always say that people who try to control people and change people's habits are the ones that make all the trouble. If you don't like somebody, walk away, she said, but don't try and make them like you.
Harriet, on what Ole Golly says

I think maybe they're all right when they say there are some things I won't know anything about until I'm older. But if [love] makes you like to eat all kinds of wurst I'm not sure I'm going to like this.

There is no sight so ugly as the human face in anger.

THERE IS MORE TO THIS THING OF LOVE THAN MEETS THE EYE. I AM GOING TO HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THIS A GREAT DEAL BUT I DON'T THINK IT WILL GET ME ANYWHERE. I THINK MAYBE THEY'RE ALL RIGHT WHEN THEY SAY THERE ARE DOME THINGS I WON'T KNOW ABOUT UNTIL I'M OLDER.

Shy people are angry people,

Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth.

Turning on the shower, he thought of the wildly fancy bathroom at Charlotte's house. It was funny to think of, but the bathrooms he liked weren't fancy; this one, and the one at Seymour's, and the one at Harry's. They weren't fancy, but they were home. He got in the shower. The one squirt that always went haywire hit him right in the eye. He laughed up into the warm water running over his ears.

Harriet pushed her hair back and looked at him seriously. 'Sport, what are you going to be when you grow up?'
'You know what. You know I'm going to be a ball player.'
'Well, I'm going to be a writer. And when I say that's a mountain, that's a mountain.' Satisfied, she turned back to her town.

SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS GOING TO HAPPEN. I KNOW IT. EVERY TIME I HAD A BAD DREAM I FEEL LIKE LEAVING TOWN. THEN I FEEL THAT SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS GOING TO HAPPEN. AND THIS IS THE WORST DREAM I'VE EVER HAD IN MY WHOLE LIFE.

Gone is gone. I never miss anything or anyone because it all becomes a lovely memory. I guard my memories and love them, but I don't get in them and lie down.

She didn't care anymore ... and she got no pleasure from the work she did, but she did it. Everything bored her. She found that when she didn't have a notebook it was hard for her to think. The thoughts came slowly, as though they had to squeeze through a tiny door to get to her, whereas when she wrote, they flowed out faster than she could put them down. She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finall 'I feel different' came slowly to her mind.
Yes, she thought, after a long pause. And then, after more time, 'Mean, I feel mean.

Don't mess with anybody on a Monday. It's a bad, bad day.

Life is a struggle and a good spy goes in there and fights.

Life is very strange.

I'm going to take you somewhere. It's time you began to see the world. You're eleven years old and it's time you saw something.

Her room felt wonderful to her, as usual. She looked around with satisfaction ... She imagined to herself that she would always live this way, even after she had grown up and moved away from her family. She planned to have exactly the same room wherever she was, because this room was her. No matter what happened out there in the rest of the world, she felt totally comfortable once she got into this room and closed the door.

Why am I a loser? She sat very still.
Because it pleases my father.

If you ever get in real trouble, don't panic. Sit down and think about it. Remember two things, always. There must be some way out of it and there must be humor in it somewhere.

Ole Golly: You know what? You're an individual, and that makes people nervous. And it's gonna keep making people nervous for the rest of your life.

Harriet: How do you practice being an onion?

This was too much. I refuse. I absolutely REFUSE to be an onion.

There are as many ways to live as there are people.

I WONDER IF WHEN YOU DREAM ABOUT SOMEBODY THEY DREAM ABOUT YOU.

WHEN SOMEBODY GOES AWAY THERE'S THINGS YOU WANT TO TELL THEM. WHEN SOMEBODY DIES MAYBE THAT'S THE WORST THING. YOU WANT TO TELL THEM THINGS THAT HAPPEN AFTER.

No, you have to look like everyone else, then you'll get by and no one will suspect you.