Gary D. Schmidt citations

“Books can ignite fires in your mind, because they carry ideas for kindling, and art for matches.”

“Vengeance is sweet. Vengeance taken when the vengee isn't sure who the venger is, is sweeter still.”

“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.”

“Whatever it means to be a friend, taking a black eye for someone has to be in it.”

“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.”

“If Romeo had never met Juliet, maybe they both would have still been alive, but what they would have been alive for is the question Shakespeare wants us to answer.”

“It means, Doug Swieteck, that in this class, you are not your brother.”

“OKAY. So I was going to the library every Saturday. So what? So what? It's not like I was reading books or anything.”

“The light made the snowballs look yellow. Or at least I hoped that was the cause.”

“You know how teachers are. If they get you to take out a book they love too, they're yours for life.”

“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.”

“The world is Trouble… and Grace. That is all there is.”

“Just swell.”