Laurie Halse Anderson citations Page 4

“I am not going to think about it. It was ugly, but it’s over, and I’m not going to think about it.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“You're the one who doesn't understand, I've been standing on the edge with you for years.”

Source: Speak

“I am so sorry. I wish you knew even one tenth of one percent of how sorry I am…. It was my fault. Can I kill myself here, or should I do it outside, so the mess on your carpet doesn't upset your mother?”

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“Too much sun after a Syracuse winter does strange things to your head, makes you feel strong, even if you aren't.”

Source: Twisted

“Don't expect to make a difference unless you speak up for yourself.”

Source: Speak

“Because I am still a little girl who believes in Santa and the tooth fairy and you.”

Source: Speak

“I pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth. If I try hard enough, maybe I can gobble my whole self this way…. I didn't try hard enough to swallow myself.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“I won the wintergirl trip over the border into dangerland.”

Source: Speak

“I don't just use yarn from a store. I buy old sweaters from consignment shops. The older the better, and unravel them. There are countries of women in this scarf/shawl/blanket. Soon it will be big enough to keep me warm.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“When life sucks, read. They can't yell at you for that. And if they do, then you can ignore them.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“I wanted to pull down a book, open it proper, and gobble up page after page”

“Where did you live before you came here?" I asked.
"The moon," he said smoothly. "We left because the place had no atmosphere.”

Laurie Halse Anderson livre Chains

Source: Chains

“If I run or breathe too deep, the cheap stitches holding me together will snap, and all the stickiness inside will pour out and burn through the concrete.”

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“My first class is biology. I can't find it and get my first demerit for wandering the hall. It is 8:50 in the morning. Only 699 days and 7 class periods until graduation.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“Having a friend made everything else suck less.”

Source: Speak

“Killing people is easier than it should be.” Dad put on his beret. “Staying alive is harder.”

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“There is no safer. There’s not even safe, never has been.”

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“I can see us, living in the woods, her wearing that A, me with a S maybe, S for silent, S for stupid, for scared. S for silly. For shame.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“Note: 'family' does NOT only mean a biological unit composed of people who share genetic markers or legal bonds, headed by a heterosexual-mated pair. Family is much, much more than that.”

Source: Speak

“The world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don't need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and BAM! Perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by her parents forever.”

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“wats yr typ?
people who can spell”

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“I pushed my ragged mouth against the mirror. A thousand crushed bleeding lips pushed back at me…”

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“And then a new screen, one I had never seen before, never even heard of popped up. It gave me a choice. I could become the new Lord of Darkness myself, or I could take a gamble and be reincarnated. I chose wisely.”

Source: Speak

“When you're alive, people can hurt you. It's easier to crawl into a bone cage or a snowdrift of confusion. It's easier to lock everybody out.

But it's a lie.”

Source: Twisted

“I open a paperclip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist. Pitiful. If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this. A whimper, a peep? I draw little window cracks of blood, etching line after line until it stops hurting.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“They tied me back together, but they didn't use double knots. My insides are draining out of the fault lines in my skin, I can feel it, but every time I check the bandages, they're dry.”

Source: Speak

“Make it bend — trees are flexible, so they don’t snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch — perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“My head is killing me, my throat is killing me, my stomach bubbles with toxic waste. I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid if this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind.”

Source: Speak