quotes that I want to carry around with me
"I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live, Oskar. Because if I were able to live my life again, I would do things differently. I would change my life. I would kiss the piano teacher, even if he laughed at me. I would jump with Mary on the bed, even if I made a fool of myself. I would send out ugly photographs, thousands of them." (184) - GREATEST IMPETUS TO LIVE FULL LIFE
"'Well it's hard for anyone, even the most pessimistic of pessimists, to spend more than a few minutes in Central Park without feeling that he or she is experiencing some tense in addition to the present, right?' 'I guess.' 'Maybe we're just missing things we've lost, or hoping for what we want to come. Or maybe it's the residue of the dreams from the night before the park was moved. Maybe we miss what those children had lost, and hope for what they had hoped for.'" (222)
"You can see the most beautiful things from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I read somewhere that people on the street are supposed to look like ants, but that's not true. They look like little people. And the cars look like little cars. And even the buildings look little. It's like New York is a miniature replica of New York, which is nice, because you can see what it's really like, instead of how it feels when you're in the middle of it. It's extremely lonely up there, and you feel far away from everything. Also it's scary, because there are so many ways to die. But it feels safe, too, because you're surrounded by so many people. I kept one hand touching the wall as I walked carefully around to each of the views. I saw all the locks I'd tried to open, and the 161,999,831 that I hadn't yet" (245). zooming in & zooming out
"We need much bigger pockets, I thought as I lay in bed, counting off the seven minutes that it takes a normal person to fall asleep. We need enormous pockets, pockets big enough for our families, and our friends, and even the people who aren't on our lists, people we've never met but still want to protect. We need pockets for boroughs and for cities, a pocket that could hold the universe" (74). --- wooooow. this passage. the humanity - THE AUNT MAY URGE! = the purpose of this book?
"The letter was destroyed, but its final paragraph is inside of me. She wrote, I wish I could be a girl again, with the chance to live my life again. I have suffered so much more than I needed to. And the joys I have felt have not always been joyous. I could have lived differently. When I was your age, my grandfather bought me a ruby bracelet. It was too big for me and would slide up and down my arm. It was almost a necklace. He later told me that he had asked the jeweler to make it that way. Its size was supposed to be a symbol of his love. More rubies, more love. But I could not wear it comfortably. I could not wear it at all. So here is the point of everything I have been trying to say. If I were to give a bracelet to you, now, I would measure your wrist twice" (79). – WHEN I AM OLD I WILL NOT CARE ABOUT HAVING IT ALL RECORDED! JUST LIVEEEE MADDIE! JUST LIVE.
"I liked the way it felt to have someone look for me, to hear my name again and again" (101). gospel
"We spent so much time together. I don't think there's anyone that I spent more time with, at least not since Dad died, unless you count Buckminster. But there were a lot of people that I knew better. For example, I didn't know anything about what it was like when she was a kid, or how she met Grandpa, or what their marriage was like, or why he had left. If I had to write her life story, all I could say is that her husband could talk to animals, and that I should never love anything as much as she loved me. So here's my question: What were we spending so much time doing if not getting to know each other?" (105). –> wow. while i'm sitting here taking care of Grandma
"I saw Abe Black, and he saw me. I knew that we were sharing something with our eyes, but I didn't know what, and I didn't know if it mattered" (147).
"'They fed each other! That's the difference between heaven and hell! In hell we starve! In heaven we feed each other!' 'I don't believe in the afterlife.' 'Neither do I, but I believe in the story!'" (164).
"And then I thought of something else. Something beautiful. Something true. 'Do you want me to turn them on for you?" (165).
"'We'll care incredibly much'" (249).
"I thought about you. What kind of food did you like, what was your favorite song, who was the first girl you kissed, and where, and how, I'm running out of room, I want an infinitely long blank book and forever, I don't know how much time has passed, it didn't matter" (280). *** I need to let my parents know these things about me ***
"The fragile balance of life depends on things we'll never be able to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Life itself depends on them. What's real? What isn't real? Maybe those aren't the right questions to be asking. What does life depend on?" (305). - this novel– fiction–
"I tried to notice everything, because I wanted to be able to remember it perfectly. I've forgotten everything important in my life." (308). wait a sec...
"And how can you say I love you to someone you love? I rolled onto my side and fell asleep next to her. Here is the point of everything I have been trying to tell you, Oskar. It's always necessary. I love you, Grandma" (314)