Quotes by Laurie Halse Anderson

Eating was hard.Breathing was hard. Living was hardest.

Mr. Freeman sighs. No imagination. What are you thirteen? Fourteen? Youve already let them beat your creativity out of you!

I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. Did he rape my head, too?

It doesnt hurt. Nothing hurts except the small smiles and blushes that flash across the room like tiny sparrows.

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 didnt try hard enough to swallow myself.

I stuff my mouth with old fabric and scream until there are no sounds left under my skin.

I looked in the mirror and realized that I was already dead. I let you kill me one piece at a time, starting when I was, what? Eight years old? Nine? You killed yourself and then you came after us.

I had let down my shields, that was the problem. The crazy inside Dad had infected me, weakened me so that when Finn smiled, Id been vulnerable. Id dropped my shields and let myself pretend that somebody like Finn would want to be with somebody like me.

My only choice was to fight my way out, even if I didnt think I would make it.

Melancholy held me hostage, and the bees built a hive of sadness in my soul.

It was hard to know how to play the game when the rules kept changing.

The gloaming that closed over us the cemetery had crawled inside his skin.

I need a new friend. I need a friend, period. Not a true friend, nothing close or share clothes or sleepover giggle giggle yak yak. Just a pseudo-friend, disposable friend. Friend as accessory. Just so I dont feel or look so stupid.

Why are you being so mean?”“Friends tell friends the truth.”“Yeah, but not to hurt. To help.

Having a friend made everything else suck less.

Tell me this is a nightmare

I just want to sleep. The whole point of not talking about it, of silencing the memory, is to make it go away. It wont. Ill need brain surgery to cut it out of my head.

It doesnt matter where I go, I dont want to be there. And then I get to the next place, and I dont want to be there either.

Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but its because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left on the lake. Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green.

There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesnt matter anymore.