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Gary D. Schmidt

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Famous Gary D. Schmidt Quotes

“Defeat doesn't help you to grow,” I said. "It's just defeat." Mrs. Baker smiled. “Two weeks ago, the Saturn V lunar rocket passed its first flight test. It's been less than ten months since we lost three astronauts, but we're still testing the next rocket, so that some day we can go to the moon and make our world a great deal bigger.” She held her hands up to her face. “Wouldn't Shakespeare have admired that happy ending?” she whispered. Then she put the book away in her lower desk drawer. It was quiet and still in the room. You could hear the soft rain on the windows. “Thank you for the cream puffs, ” I said. “The quality of mercy is not strained,” she said.”

HopeLossMercyDefeatHappy Ending
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“Mrs. Russell made us both sit down with a glass of milk. "And I have a special treat for you," she said. I'm not lying. She really said that. I held my breath because of the last special treat at the Daughertys', but it didn't help, because when Mrs. Russell came back, she came back with a loaf of banana bread. Banana bread! And James said, "How about we have some jam with that?" and Mrs. Russell said, "Jam? Then you wouldn't be able to taste the bananas," and James said, "Ma, I hate bananas," and she said, "But I'm sure that Doug enjoys them," and I said, "I think I'm still full from lunch, so the milk's fine," and then Mrs. Russell picked up the plate with the banana bread on it, and you might not believe this, but she started to laugh and laugh a d laugh, until Mr. Russell came out to the kitchen to see what was so funny and she showed him the banana bread and he said, "I hate bananas," and we all started to laugh until Mrs. Russell said, "I hate bananas too," and you can imagine us all laughing until we were crying and finally Mrs. Russell took the banana bread outside to break it up for the birds-"Let's hope they like bananas"-and then I showed Mr. Russell Aaron Copland's Autobiography: Manuscript Edition, and he stopped laughing.”

FunnyLaughterBanana Bread
Book:Okay for Now
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“And I'm not lying. I was a great shrieker. I'd been practicing too. If you're going to get this right, you can't just shriek. Anyone can do that. To shriek like an insane woman who has been locked in an attic for a great many years, you have to practice. The first time I practiced was in.our bathroom, and when Lucas heard it, he tried to roll his wheelchair right up the stairs because he figured there was a bloody, bloody muderer at my throat. He got three steps before I heard him. After that, he said I had to practice outside. So I went to the green field on the way to Mrs. Windermere's house and hoped that no one was around.”

PracticeShriek
Book:Okay for Now
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“The world turns and the world spins, the tide runs in and the tide runs out, and there is nothing in the world more beautiful and more wonderful in all its evolved forms than two souls who look at each other straight on. And there is nothing more woeful and soul-saddening than when they are parted...everyting in the world rejoices in the touch, and everything in the world laments in the losing.”

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Author:Gary D. Schmidt
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“When gods die, they die hard. It's not like they fade away, or grow old, or fall asleep. They die in fire and pain, and when they come out of you, they leave your guts burned. It hurts more than anything you can talk about. And maybe worst of all is, you're not sure if there will ever be another god to fill their place. Or if you'd ever want another god to fill their place. You don't want the fire to go out inside you twice.”

IfsWantHardPainDiesFallGrowsHurtFireWorstNot SureGutsFadesBurnedIt HurtsFade Away
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“I saw my town as if I had just arrived. It was as if I was waking up. You see houses and buildings every day, and you walk by them on your way to something else, and you hardly see. You hardly notice they're even there, mostly because there's something else going on right in front of your face, But when the town itself becomes the thing that is going on right in front of your face, it all changes, and you're not just looking at a house, but at what's happened in that house before you were born.”

IfsWayFacesHouseBornWalksSawsHappenedFrontsBuildingWake UpTownsYour FaceWaking
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“Think of the sound you make when you let go after holding your breath for a very, very long time. Think of the gladdest sound you know: the sound of dawn on the first day of spring break, the sound of a bottle of Coke opening, the sound of a crowd cheering in your ears because you're coming down to the last part of a race--and you're ahead. Think of the sound of water over stones in a cold stream, and the sound of wind through green trees on a late May afternoon in Central Park. Think of the sound of a bus coming into the station carrying someone you love. Then put all those together.”

ThinkingKnowsFirstsMayLongTogetherLastsSoundWaterRaceBreakTreeWindColdLetting GoLateLong TimeSpringStonesEarsBreathsGreenCrowdsOpeningDawnStreamsParksStationsBottlesCheerBusAfternoonCokeSomeone You LoveCentral ParkGreen TreesFirst Day Of SpringSpring BreakSound Of Water
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“Maybe the first time that you know you really care about something is when you think about it not being there,and when you know-you really know-that the emptinessis as much as inside you as outside you.For it falls out,that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it;but being lacked and lost,why,then we rack the value,then we find the virtue that possesion would not show us while it was ours.That's when I knew for the first time that I really did love my sister.”

ThinkingKnowsFirstsShowsCareValuesFallLostEnjoyVirtueFirst TimePrizeMy SisterBeing ThereRacks
Author:Gary D. Schmidt
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“When 1:45 came, half the class left, and Danny Hupfer whispered, "If she gives you a cream puff after we leave, I'm going to kill you" - which was not something that someone headed off to prepare for his bar mitzvah should be thinking. When 1:55 came and the other half of the class left, Meryl Lee whispered, "If she gives you one after we leave, I'm going to do Number 408 to you." I didn't remember what Number 408 was, but it was probably pretty close to what Danny Hupfer had promised. Even Mai Thi looked at me with narrowed eyes and said, "I know your home." Which sounded pretty ominous.”

IfsThinkingKnowsGivingShouldSaidHomeEyeRememberLeftNumbersHalfClassBarsCreamOther HalfPuffOminousBar MitzvahMitzvahCream Puffs
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“You can't just skip the boring parts." "Of course I can skip the boring parts." "How do you know they're boring if you don't read them?" "I can tell." "Then you can't say you've read the whole play." "I think I can live a happy life, Meryl Lee, even if I don't read the boring parts of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." "Who knows?" she said. "Maybe you can't.”

IfsThinkingKnowsSaidI CanPlayWholeCoursesTragedyBoringDo You KnowHappy LifeSkipDenmarkLive Life Happy
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“I handed the test in five minutes before the end of the day. Mrs. Baker took it calmly, then reached into her bottom drawer for an enormous red pen with a wide felt tip. "Stand here and we'll see how you've done," she said, which is sort of like a dentist handing you a mirror and saying, "Sit here and watch while I drill a hole in your tooth.”

SaidEndsDoneFeltWatchesFiveMinutesRedTestsMirrorsBottomWideEnormousHolesTeethThe End Of The DayPensFive MinutesDentistDrawersDrillsBakers
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“I love the sound of a brand-new bottle of coke when you pry the lid off and it starts to fizz. Whenever I hear that sound, I think of roses, and of sitting together with someone you care about and of Romeo and Juliet waking up somewhere and saying to each other, weren't we jerks? And then having all that be over. That's what I think of when I hear the sound of a brand-new bottle of Coke being opened”

ThinkingCareTogetherSoundSittingWake UpRoseBrandsBottlesWakingJerkCokeJulietBrand NewSitting Together
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“And it really doesn't matter if we're under our desks with our hands over our heads or not, does it? No, said Mrs. Baker. It doesn't really matter. So, why are we practicing? She thought for a minute. Because it gives comfort, she said. People like to think that if they're prepared then nothing bad can really happen. And perhaps we practice because we feel as if there's nothing else we can do because sometimes it feels as if life is governed by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

PeopleIfsThinkingGivingFeelsDoeSaidSometimesMatterHandsHappensLife IsCan DoPracticeMinutesComfortFortunePreparedDesksArrowsOutrageousBakersSlings And Arrows
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“I think he became a man who brought peace and wisdom to hi world, because he knew about war and folly. I think that he loved greatly, because he had seen what lost love is. And I think he came to know, too, that he was loved greatly." She looked at the strawberry in her hands. "But I thought you didn't want me to tell you your future.”

ThinkingKnowsMenWorldWantWarHandsLostLove IsFollyWant MeLost LoveYour FutureStrawberries
Book:The Wednesday Wars
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“A southwest blow on ye and blister you all o'er!' 'The red plague rid you!' 'Toads, beetles, bats, light on you!' 'As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed with raven's feather from unwholesome fen drop on you.' 'Strange stuff' 'Thou jesting monkey thou' 'Apes with foreheads villainous low' 'Pied ninny' 'Blind mole...' -The Caliban Curses”

LightMotherStuffStrangeLowsRedBlindBlowCurseWickedBatsMonkeysFeathersPlagueApesDewForeheadsRavensToadsMolesBeetlesBlistersCaliban
Author:Gary D. Schmidt
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“You know, there are good reasons to learn how to read. Poetry isn't one of them. I mean, so what if two roads go two ways in a wood? So what? Who cares if it made all that big a difference? What difference? And why should I have to guess what the difference is? Isn't that what he's supposed to say? Why can't poets just say what they want to say and then shut up?”

IfsKnowsWayWantShouldMeanMadeTwoReasonBigsCareDifferencesPoetWoodsWhat IfShould IShut UpWho CaresTwo WaysTwo Roads
Author:Gary D. Schmidt
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