Quotes by Andrew Clements

Two wrongs dont make a right, but dont three lefts make a right? Two wrongs dont make a right, but dont two negatives make a positive?

Robert said, This is great, huh? Sorry to butt in and everything, but I really need the extra points. For my grade.Ben nodded and tried to smile. Right, for his grade. He probably wanted to get an A++ in social studies instead of just an A+

When we read, we decide when, where, how long, and about what. One of the few places on earth that it is still possible to experience an instant sense of freedom and privacy is anywhere you open up a good book and begin to read. When we read silently, we are alone with our own thoughts and one other voice. We can take our time, consider, evaluate, and digest what we read—with no commercial interruptions, no emotional music or special effects manipulation. And in spite of the advances in electronic information exchange, the book is still the most important medium for presenting ideas of substance and value, still the only real home of literature.

But fear doesnt need doors and windows. It works from the inside.

It is not good to have TOO MUCH of anything.

I have my own story, and I love my story, but I know I cant tell it alone, not now. Because stories have centers, but they dont have edges. No boundaries.

I glance into the faces of all these people out for a Sunday stroll, but Im not seeing eyes and noses and mouths. Im seeing stories. Every person has a story. All the hopes and dreams. And fears. And secrets.In every face.

And I love Jane Austens use of language too--the way she takes her time to develop a phrase and gives it room to grow, so that these clever, complex statements form slowly and then bloom in my mind. Beethoven does the same thing with his cadence and phrasing and structure. Its a fact: Jane Austen is musical. And sos Yeats. And Wordsworth. All the great writers are musical.

He spotted Jill sitting about thirty feet away, face tipped toward the sun, her straight brown hair tucked behind one ear and slanted across her neck. And Ben decided that when her mouth wasnt full of tuna salad, she was sort of pretty.

I had a high school English teacher who made me really work at writing. And once, when I got an assignment back, shed written: This is so good, Andrew. This should be published! That made a big impression on me.

I think the reason Im a writer is because first, I was a reader. I loved to read. I read a lot of adventure stories and mystery books, and I have wonderful memories of my mom reading picture books aloud to me. I learned that words are powerful.