Katherine Applegate Quotes

There is beauty in stillness and grace in acceptance. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

A famous human named Rolling Stones said that. ~ Katherine Applegate

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) ~ Katherine Applegate

You can't have real pain without real love. You can't feel grief and loss and hurt without real love. Love is the only way you can ever be really hurt deep down. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

I like not knowing everything. It makes things more interesting. ~ Katherine Applegate

Humans. Rats have bigger hearts. Roaches have kinder souls. Flies have- ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

I hear the fear and hope fighting in my voice. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

Human can surprise you sometimes. An unpredictable species, Homo sapiens ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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!! ~ Katherine Applegate

The zoo lady, whose name is Maya, is here again. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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

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 ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

Ax swiveled his stalk eyes toward me. ~ Katherine Applegate

They think we're intelligent. So, Marco, keep quiet. We don't want them to learn the truth. Rachel ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

Humans. Sometimes they make chimps look smart. ~ Katherine Applegate

Old age," she says, "is a wonderful disguise. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

Everyone deserves a shot ... and some deserve to be shot. ~ Katherine Applegate

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? ~ Katherine Applegate

I try to understand, but all I hear is a river of words, rushing and thundering and pushing me beneath the surface. Now and then a word I know darts up like a sparkling fish, but then it's all dark moving water again. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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 ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

Full emergency power to the engines. Ram the Blade ship. ~ Katherine Applegate

Our stories don't make their homes in heavy books. We hold our stories in our songs. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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

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

Old age is a powerful disguise. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

Salt! Salt! And grease! Greee-suh!"Ax ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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? ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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

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

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

It's OAT-freaking-MEAL! ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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

Those are the stars that will guide my path home. ~ Katherine Applegate

My favorite color is rainbow. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

I am talking to a cat. A cat is talking to me. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

What's love? Something that lasts a week or a month and that's all you can except? Or is it just that some loves have a short shelf life? You know, like yogurt: after a week or two they go bad.
And how do you recognize the other kind of love, the kind that isn't like yogurt? The kind that's more like ... I don't know, like peanut butter, that lasts forever and always tastes good? ~ Katherine Applegate

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

Jake, our fearless leader. On a crazed kamikaze mission. I'd never seen him like this. Even in our lowest moments, he'd always been steady. Resolute. He weighed the costs, made a decision, forged ahead.
And I'd always wondered how he did it. How he kept it straight in his mind. Yeerks. Visser One. Aliens conquering humans, conquering the planet. Fighting the enemy without becoming like them. How did he sort through all that? The emotions, the ethical dilemmas, the moral crises? How did he wrap his brain around it all so he could make logical decisions? Smart decisions. The kind that saved the lives of his team. The kind that set the enemy back a small step or two.
But now I knew.
Jake didn't understand any of it better than the rest of us did. If he defeated the Yeerks, freed humanity, rescued Earth, that was good. But that was just a bonus. His main goal was much simpler. To save his family. That goal was what had given him strength. That goal was what had kept him sane. Allowed him to retain a center of calm focus amid the awful chaos.
His family. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

Cassie asked.
asked Ax ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

So he taped a sign on the bathroom door that said OFFICE OF MR. THOMAS WADE. My mom put a sign next to it that said I'D RATHER BE FISHING. ~ Katherine Applegate

Kek finds sun when the sky is dark. ~ Katherine Applegate

Love is alcohol. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

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. ~ Katherine Applegate

It's an alien toilet!" -Cassie ~ Katherine Applegate