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Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins Quotes

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Famous Ellen Hopkins Quotes

“HOW do you define a word without concrete meaning? To each his own, the saying goes, so WHY push to attain an ideal state of being that no two random people will agree is WHERE you want to be? Faultless. Finished. Incomparable. People can never be these, and anyway, WHEN did creating a flawless facade become a more vital goal than learning to love the person WHO lives inside your skin? The outside belongs to others. Only you should decide for you - WHAT is perfect.”

PeopleWantShouldPersonsTwoStatesGoalPerfectCreatingIdealsSkinsAgreeFinishedConcreteFacadeFlawlessIncomparableLearning To Love
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“Love Is a curious thing. Sometimes it barrels into you, leaves you breathless. Other times, it comes in- to your life, a tentative beam of morning sun sneaking through the blinds, and you think this light isn't possible. The shutters are drawn. Night should linger on. I don't feel like waking. Yet the room comes slowly lit. Sleep slithers away, and at last you can no longer deny the dawning.”

ThinkingFeelsShouldSometimesLightLastsNightSleepLove IsRoomsMorningSunDenyCuriousWakingLitBeamBarrelsBreathlessShuttersMorning Sun
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“Pretty That's what I am, I guess. I mean, people have been telling me that's what I am since I was two. Maybe younger. Pretty as a picture. (Who wants to be a cliché?) Pretty as an angel. (Can you see them?) Pretty as a butterfly. (But isn't that really just a glam bug?) Cliché, invisible, or insectlike, I grew up knowing I was pretty and believing everything good about me had to do with how I looked. The mirror was my best friend. Until it started telling me I wasn't really pretty enough.”

PeopleWantBelieveMeanHas BeensTwoEnoughKnowingGrewGrew UpAngelMirrorsInvisibleButterflyBugsMy Best FriendMean PeopleGlamReally Pretty
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“Don't bother Me with promises. Vows are cheaply manufactured, come with no guarantees. Don't bother to say you love me. The word is indefinable. Joy to some, heartbreak to others, depending on circumstance. There is evidence that the emotion can make a person live longer, evidence it can kill you early. I think it's akin to a deadly disease. Or at least some exotic fever. Catch it, and you'd better, quick, swallow some medication to use as a weapon against the fire ravaging body and soul.”

ThinkingPersonsSoulUseBodyJoyEmotionFireCircumstancesPromiseDiseaseWeaponsEvidenceBotherGuaranteesVowFeverExoticMedicationIndefinableDeadly Diseases
Author:Ellen Hopkins
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“Ghosts Take shape under moonlight, materialize in dreams. Shadows. Silhouettes of what is no more. But ghosts don't bother me. The day brings bigger things to worry about than flimsy remains of yesterday. No, spooks don't scare me. Gauzy apparitions might prank your psyche or agitate your nightmares, but lacking flesh and blood they are powerless to hurt you-cannot hope to inflict the kind of damage that real, live people do.”

PeopleKindRealDreamMightHurtWorryBloodShapesShadowBiggerRemainsFleshYesterdayGhostBotherDamageNightmareScareLackingPowerlessMoonlightFlesh And BloodPranksSilhouettesApparitionsAgitate
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“At Last It's a perfect winter day. No wind. No Arctic freeze. Cloudless azure sky. A day to fly. Snow drapes the mountain like ermine, fabulous feather- light powder coaxing me to flee the confines of my room, brave the mostly plowed road up to the closest ski resort. To run from the cloying silence connected Mom and Dad, into encompassing stillness far away from city dirt and noise Far above suburban gridlock. Far beyond the grasp of home.”

HomeLightRunningLastsPerfectRoomsCitiesSilenceSkyWindMomDadMountainBraveWinterConnectedSnowNoiseStillnessFar AwayClosestDirtFabulousFeathersResortsFreezePowderSkisArcticMom And DadAzureWinter DaysDrapesGridlock
Author:Ellen Hopkins
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“Light That's how I feel- like the winter-fringed breeze might scoop me up into its wings, fly away with me trapped in its feathered embrace. I am a snowflake. A wisp of eiderdown, liberated from gravity. My body is light. Ephemeral. My head is light. I want to sway beneath the weight of air, dizzy with thought. Light filters through my closed eyelids. The sun, chasing shadows, tells me I'm not afloat in dreams.”

WantFeelsDreamBodyLightMightSunAirShadowWeightEmbraceWingsWinterGravityTrappedChasingBreezeLiberatedFiltersEphemeralSnowflakeDizzyEyelidsFly AwayWisps
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“Not Exactly True That skin hate is dead. There will never be color blindness in a culture of fear. But when you live afraid of your neighbor, the monster you should most walk in terror of thrives. It starts as a little thing, small enough to burrow into your pores, take up excruciating residence in the dark recesses of your brain. Its name is paranoia, and it spreads like an oil spill, there in the shadows, chokes your humanity. Threatens your soul.”

ShouldLittlesSoulEnoughHateHumanityCultureNamesDarkWalksBrainColorShadowSkinsTerrorSpreadOilNeighborMonstersYour SoulThriveLittle ThingsBlindnessChokeParanoiaSpillsRecessResidenceOil Spill
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“Disappointment Can do a couple things. It can drop you into a giant sucking sinkhole of depression, a place you have to fight to climb out of. Or it can trigger an epic mania to overcome the odds and transform failure into success. Say you swing as high as the chains will take you because you seek the thrill of flight, and on the up- kick, you lose your seat. Injury is likely. But if you worry about falling down, and never chance "up," the sky will remain forever out of reach.”

IfsFallFightingCan DoLosesChanceWorryForeverSkyCoupleOvercomingDown AndDisappointmentFlightChainsGiantsKicksSeatsInjuryClimbsSwingsOddsEpicThrillTriggersFalling DownManiaCouple ThingsSinkholes
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“Spilling a Secret What its size, will have varying consequences. It’s not possible to predict what will happen if you open the gunnysack, let the cat escape. A liberated feline might purr on your lap, or it might scratch your eyes out. You can’t tell until you loosen the knot. Do you chance losing a friendship, if that friend’s well-being will only be preserved by betraying sworn-to silence trust? Once the seam is ripped, can it be mended again? And if that proves impossible, will you be okay when it all falls to pieces?”

IfsWellsMightHappensEyeFallChanceSecretSilencePiecesImpossibleProveLosingConsequenceCatOkaySizeWell BeingBetrayScratchesLapLiberatedKnotsRippedSpillingFelineLosing Friendship
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“When I was little, my friends would gush over wedding gowns and honeymoons. But I saw too many people flush decades together down the toilet over money or kids or meaningless flings. My own parents chose to stay married, which I think is rather funny, since they show about as much affection for each other as pit bulls in a ring. Tying the knot means slipping a noose around love and choking it to death.”

PeopleThinkingMeanLittlesShowsKidsTogetherParentMy OwnSawsMarriedMy FriendsAffectionDecadesRingsMeaninglessToiletsBullsPitsChokeKnotsGownsFlingSlippingHoneymoonNoosesPit Bull
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“Not exactly. I see a girl who wants to present someone special to the world. Someone beautiful. The pinnacle of beauty. But she has lost her hold on reality. Real beauty isn’t thin. It isn’t size two, unless you happen to be four foot ten. What the world sees when they look at you is someone who believes self-worth is all about how she looks, and that very often means that what she’s missing is love. Not someone else’s love. But love and respect for herself.”

WorldWantBelieveLooksMeanTwoRealSelfRealityHappensBeautifulGirlLostFourFeetSpecialMissingTenSizeSelf WorthLove And RespectPinnacleReal BeautySpecial Someone
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“One Time, One Day between Davie and Roberta , I asked my mom why she persisted, kept on having baby after baby, She looked at me, at a spot between my eyes, blinking like I had suddenly fallen crazy. She paused before answering as if to confide would legitimize my fears. She drew a deep breath, leaned against the chair. I touched her hand and I thought she might cry. Instead she put baby Davie in my arms Pattyn, she said, it's a woman's role. I decided if it was my role, I'd rather disappear.”

IfsSaidHandsMightEyeRolesCrazyCryBabyArmsMomOne DayDecidedBreathsMy MomDisappearSpotsFallenTouchedChairsOne TimeDeep BreathWomen's Roles
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“I felt angry, frustrated. I felt I didn't belong, not in my church, not in my home, not in my skin. Amidst the chaos, i felt alone, in need of a friend instead of a sister, someone detached from my world. The "woman's role" theory disgusted me. I would soon be a woman, and I knew I could never perform as expected. I was tired of my mom's submission to her religion, to her husband's sick quest for an heir, to his abuse. I was sick of my dad, of reaching for him as he fell farther away from us and into the arms of Johnnie WB.”

WorldNeedsHomeFeltChurchRolesTheoryArmsMomDadHusbandSkinsSickAbuseAngryTiredChaosMy DadMy MomExpectedReachingQuestsFrustratedSubmissionDetachedHeirsDisgustedWomen's Roles
Book:Burned
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“Communication Was never big in my house. We sat together over dinner, but the only sound you'd hear was crunching and chewing and the little ones asking for more, please. We lived, all boxed up in invisible containers. We hardly knew the people we called sister or father. Jackie and I were the exceptions to that rule.”

PeopleLittlesBigsTogetherFatherHouseSoundCommunicationPleaseAskingDinnerInvisibleSatExceptionJackieChewingContainers
Book:Burned
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“In fact, since the accident, Mom doesn't love anyone. She is marble. Beautiful. Frigid. Easily stained by her family. What's left of us anyway. We are corpses. At first, we sought rebirth. But resurrection devoid of her love has made us zombies. We get up every morning, skip breakfast, hurry off to work or school. For in those other places, we are more at home. And sometimes we stagger beneath the weight of grief, the immensity of aloneness.”

FirstsMadeSometimesFactsHomeSchoolBeautifulLeftGriefMorningMomWeightAccidentsGet UpBreakfastResurrectionEvery MorningRebirthZombieCorpsesMarbleSkipImmensityFrigid
Author:Ellen Hopkins
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