Quotessence
Home / Authors / Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta

Melina Marchetta Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsKnowsThinkingWantSaidPeopleWayFeelsJellicoe RoadHandsAsksLooksFacesMadeNeedsGirlMomentsYearsDiesKind

Famous Melina Marchetta Quotes

“These people have history and I crave history. I crave someone knowing me so well that they can tell what I'm thinking. Jonah Griggs takes my hand under the table and links my fingers with his and I know that I would sacrifice almost anything just to keep this state of mind, for the rest of the week at least.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsMindWellsStatesHandsKnowingSacrificeWeekTablesFingersLinksState Of MindCraveJonahTake My HandJonah Griggs
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“Guess what?' Fitz said. 'I don't know,' Jude said. 'What? Narnie smiled?' He glanced at her for the first time. 'When you guys see a Narnie smile, it's like a revalation,' Webb said, gathering her towards him. Jude stopped in front of her and, with both hands cupping her face, tried to make a smile. Narnie flinched. 'Leave her alone,' Tate said. 'I need a revelation,' Jude said. 'And you're the only one that can give me one, Narns.”

KnowsNeedsGivingFirstsSaidHandsFacesGuyFrontsFirst TimeGive MeRevelationsGathering
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“My body becomes a raft and there's this part of me that wants just literally to go with the flow. To close my eyes and let it take me. But I know sooner or later I will have to get out, that I need to feel the earth beneath my feet, between my toes - the splinters, the bindi-eyes, the burning sensation of hot dirt, the sting of cuts, the twigs, the bites, the heat, the discomfort, the everything. I need desperately to feel it all, so when something wonderful happens, the contrast will be so massive that I will bottle the impact and keep it for the rest of my life.”

KnowsWantNeedsFeelsBodyHappensEyeEarthCuttingWonderfulFeetFlowHotImpactBurningHeatMassiveSensationsBottlesTake MeBitesContrastSooner Or LaterDirtToesDiscomfortTwigsSplinters
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“And if I get a little chemically imbalanced in the head, like we all know I tend to get sometimes, and I don't want my parents or brother knowing, Will's like, 'We'll deal with it.' He's never said, 'I'll fix it up.' He just says, 'You're not up to going back to uni to finish your Honours this year? Big deal. There's next year. We'll deal with it.'" She nods. "That's what he does well.”

IfsKnowsWantYearsWellsLittlesDoeSaidSometimesBigsNextParentDealsKnowingBrotherHonourBig DealNext Year
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“Her voice whispering love soothes him. They'd never done that before. Weren't that type of family. Except now he doesn't know what kind of family they are. What word is it that can define them? What would they call his family in the textbooks? Broken? He comes from a broken home. The Mackees can't be put back together again. There are too many pieces of them missing.”

KnowsKindDoneHomeTogetherVoicePiecesMissingBrokenTypeWhisperingTextbooksBack TogetherTogether AgainBroken HomesBack Together Again
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“What do you think would happen if we kissed right here, right now?" he asks, digging his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants, grinning right back at me. "I think it would cause a riot." "Well, you know me," he says, lowering his head towards me. "Causing a riot is what I do best." Santangelo approaches before Griggs gets any closer and pulls him away. "Are you guys insane?" he says, irritated. "It's called peaceful coexistence, Santangelo. You should try it and if it works we may sell the idea to the Israelis and Palestinians," I say, throwing his own words back at him.”

IfsThinkingKnowsShouldTryingWellsMayIdeasHandsHappensGuyAsksCausesRight NowApproachSellsInsanePeacefulPocketsThrowingPantsPalestinianKnow MeRiotDiggingIrritatedCoexistenceGrinningPeaceful CoexistenceTaylor Markham
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“Your friends are at the house.' I sit up, straight. 'Who'? 'I don't know. Weird people. The Sullivan girl, whose father got the Gosford police to pick you up.' 'Siobhan?' 'And another one who's making cups of tea for everyone, and keeping the boy who's telling Luca fart jokes away from the girl who says he's "the last bastion of patriarchal poor taste".' 'Justine, Thomas and Tara.' And the drug fiend, Jimmy, is keeping Mia calm and the Trombal boy's rung about ten times. I don't like his manner on the phone.' 'You won't like any guy's manner on the phone.”

PeopleKnowsLastsGuyGirlFatherHousePoorBoysTasteDrugTenJokesPicksPoliceCalmPhonesCupsTeaJimmyFartCups Of TeaMiaWeird PeopleJustinePoor TasteWill Trombal
Book:Saving Francesca
Create image

“He takes out a cigarette and offers one to me. "I try not to indulge. It's a filthy habit," I tell him. "I love that word filthy. I love the way you force it out of your mouth like it's some kind of vermin you want to get rid of." "You've had vermin in your mouth?" "You're mean in that way, you know. You don't let anyone get away with pathetic analogies.”

KnowsWayWantTryingKindMeanForceHabitOffersMouthsGet AwayCigaretteIndulgePatheticAnalogiesFilthyVerminWay I Love You
Book:Saving Francesca
Create image

“My old school, St Stella’s, only goes to Year Ten and most of my friends now go to Pius Senior College, but my mother wouldn’t allow it because she says the girls there leave with limited options and she didn’t bring me up to have limitations placed upon me. If you know my mother, you’ll sense there’s an irony there, based on the fact that she is the Queen of the Limitation Placers in my life.”

IfsKnowsYearsFactsSchoolMotherGirlCollegeTenMy FriendsLimitationIronyQueensSeniorOld SchoolStella
Book:Saving Francesca
Create image

“What happens when she's not my memory anymore? What happens when she's not around to tell me about his belt leaving scars across my two-year-old brother's face or when he whacked her so hard that she lost her hearing for a week? Who'll be my memory?" Santangelo doesn't miss a beat. "I will. Ring me." "Same," Raffy says. I look at him. I can't even speak because if I do I know I'll cry but I smile and he knows what I'm thinking.”

IfsThinkingKnowsYearsLooksI CanTwoHardHappensFacesLostSpeakMemoriesWeekMissingCryBrotherBeatsLeavingHearingRingsTwo YearsScarBeltsI SmileTwo Year OldsJonah GriggsTaylor Markham
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“He knows no other way but ugliness,” Sir Topher said quietly. “He was taught no other lessons but those of force. His teachers have been scum who live by their own rules. No one has ever taught him otherwise.” “Am I to forgive?” she said, her voice shaking with anger. “No,” he said sadly. “Pity him. Or give him new rules. Or put him down like a wild animal before he becomes a monster who destroys everything he encounters.”

KnowsWayGivingHas BeensSaidForceVoiceAnimalTeacherTaughtLessonsForgivingMonstersPityEncountersLive ByUglinessShakingWild AnimalScum
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“You can know someone all your life, like your parents or family, but I’ll tell you this, Ned. There’s an expression on their face, or a tone in their voice, or a way they walk, that you’ve never ever seen before. Like they’ve kept it hidden. Until their brother dies. Or their son. I remember those days and they were like these strangers and I wanted to say, Who are you people?”

PeopleKnowsWayWantedRememberFacesDiesParentVoiceWalksSonBrotherExpressionStrangerTone
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“Sometimes you look at me and it's like all the bullshit gets stripped off and I'm left with what's underneath and I kind of like what I see. Someone who actually fails. Someone who has absolutely no self-control. Someone who says real dickhead things like 'this is complicated.' I like that part of me, you know. I like the fact that I know I can't control you or how I feel about you and that doesn't freak me out.”

KnowsFeelsLooksKindI CanRealSelfSometimesFactsLeftFailingComplicatedFreakSelf ControlBullshitLook At MeControl Someone
Book:Saving Francesca
Create image

“We're an Ag college," I explain to them. "Not as good as the one in Yanco but we have livestock." "Cows?" Anson Choi asks, covering his nose. "Pigs, too. And horses. Great for growing tomatoes. The Cadets are wanna-be soldiers. City people. They may know how to street fight but they don't know how to wade through manure. "I'm going to throw up," one of the guys says. "Don't feel too bad," I explain. "Some of our lot did while they were laying out this stuff. Actually, right there where you're standing.”

PeopleKnowsFeelsMayGuyFightingAsksStuffCitiesKnow HowGrowingStreetsCollegeStandingHorseSoldierNosesCowsPigsCoveringTomatoesWadeManureLivestockCadets
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“There were events that stuck in my mind. One, for example, was the case of the missing palace seal at the beginning of winter.’ ‘Oh the poor animal,’ she cried out, ‘they’re such beautiful creatures.’ ‘I’m speaking of the royal seal placed on correspondence, as you would know,’ he said.”

KnowsMindSaidBeautifulAnimalPoorCasesMissingEventsExampleCreaturesWinterStuckCriedRoyalPalacesSealsCorrespondenceBeautiful Creatures
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“And through all the misery, she said that some of us in this lifetime experience a moment of beauty beyond reckoning. I asked her what that was, and she said, "If you're one of the lucky ones, you'll know it when you see it. You'll understand why the gods have made you suffer. Because that moment's reward will make your knees weak and everything you've suffered in life will pale in comparison.”

IfsKnowsMadeSaidMomentsSufferingLuckyWeakMiseryLifetimeRewardsKneesComparisonThat MomentPaleReckoning
Author:Melina Marchetta
Create image

“If she’s out here and not locked up in the barracks, I’ll know,” he said. He took a deep breath and whistled. “You share a whistle?” Trevanion said in disbelief. “Do you have a problem with that?” Finnikin asked. “I have a few whistles,” Lucian murmured. “Very confusing sometimes.” “Whistles are meant for combat,” Trevanion said. “Not wooing women. Women do not understand whistles.”

IfsKnowsSaidSometimesProblemShareBreathsCombatLockedConfusingDisbeliefDeep BreathLocked UpWooing
Book:The Complete Lumatere Chronicles
Create image