Wendelin Van Draanen Quotes

Sometimes I get so caught up in my own problems that I forget how amazing the world is.

Don't sum up a person based on what you see, or what you don't understand; get to know them

...Next time you're faced with a choice, do the right thing. It hurts everyone less in the long run.

Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss...." He turned to me. "But every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.

I realize something. That wasn't a finish line for me...This is my new starting line.

...and I realized that Garrett was right about one thing- I had flipped. Completely.

It's easy to look back and see it, and it's easy to give the advice. But the sad fact is, most people don't look beneath the surface until it's too late.

If chaos is a necessary step in the organization of one's universe, then I was well on my way.

One's character is set at an early age. The choices you make now will affect you for the rest of your life. I hate to see you swim out so far you can't swim back.

I was slipping, man, and it was definetly time to get a grip.

I wipe away my tears and nod, because the pain in my leg is nothing compare to the one in my heart.

Turn down a chance to feel magic for fear of a little dirt?

Somehow the silence seemed to connect us in a way like words never could. - Julianna Baker

I fell asleep that night thinking about the kiss that might have been. What did a kiss feel like, anyway? Somehow I knew it wouldn’t be like the one I got from Mom or Dad at bedtime. The same species, maybe, but a radically different beast, to be sure. Like a wolf and a whippet – only science would put them on the same tree.

I liked it. I liked her. And every time I saw her, she seemed more beautiful. She just seemed to glow. I'm not talking like a hundred-watt bulb; she just had this warmth to her. Maybe it came from climbing that tree. Maybe it came from singing to chickens. Maybe it came from whacking at two-by-fours and dreaming about perpetual motion. I don't know. All I know is that compared to her, Shelly and Miranda seemed so...ordinary.

But in my heart I knew that just like the new grass, I wasn't strong enough yet to be walked on

A painting is more than the sum of its parts

It's funny how you can think you know someone pretty well, and then something happens or they do something that makes you understand that you didn't really know them at all.

Was it so much to ask just to be left alone?

Sometimes a little discomfort in the beginning can save a whole lot of pain down the road.

My heart stopped. It just stopped beating. And for the first time in my life, I had that feeling. You know, like the world is moving all around you, all beneath you, all inside you, and you're floating. Floating in midair. And the only thing keeping you from drifting away is the other person's eyes. They're connected to yours by some invisible physical force, and they hold you fast while the rest of the world swirls and twirls and falls completely away.

There’s no winning arguments with your parents, so why get all pumped up over them? It is way better to dive down and get out of the way than it is to get clobbered by some parental tidal wave.

I had Flipped. -Bryce Loski

I'd scale that monster sycamore if I could. Right to the top. And I'd yell her name across the rooftops for the whole world to hear. -Bryce

All of a sudden I didn't fit in anywhere. Not at school, not at home...and every time I turned around, another person I'd known forever felt like a stranger to me. Even I felt like a stranger to me.