Quotes from Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Paterson ·  128 pages

Rating: (372.9K votes)


“It's like the smarter you are, the more things can scare you.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“You have to believe it and you hate it. I don't have to and I think it's beautiful.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength. ”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“She had tricked him. She had made him leave his old self behind and come into her world, and then before he was really at home in it but too late to go back, she had left him stranded there--like an astronaut wandering about on the moon. Alone.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Sometimes it seemed to him that his life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it was blown to bits.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia



“It was Leslie who had taken him from the cow pasture into Terabithia and turned him into a king. He had thought that was it. Wasn't king the best you could be? Now it occurred to him that perhaps Terabithia was like a castle where you came to be knighted. After you stayed for a while and grew strong you had to move on. For hadn't Leslie, even in Terabithia, tried to push back the walls of his mind and make him see beyond to the shining world—huge and terrible and beautiful and very fragile? (Handle with care—everything—even the predators.)

Now it was time for him to move out. She wasn't there, so he must go for both of them. It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength.

As for the terrors ahead—for he did not fool himself that they were all behind him—well, you just have to stand up to your fear and not let it squeeze you white. Right, Leslie?

Right.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“You never know ahead of time what something's really going to be like.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Shh," he said. "Look."
"Where?"
"Can't you see'um?" he whispered. "All the Terabithians standing on tiptoe to see you."
"Me?"
"Shh, yes. There's a rumor going around that the beautiful girl arrving today might be the queen they've been waiting for.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Everybody gets scared sometimes, May Belle. You don't have to be ashamed.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“He may not have been born with guts, but he didn't have to die without them.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia



“It wasn't so much that he minded telling Leslie that he was afraid to go; it was that he minded being afraid. It was as though he had been made with a great piece missing - one of May Belle's puzzles with this huge gap where somebody's eye should have been. Lord, it would be better to be born without an arm than to go through life with no guts.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“That was the rule that you never mixed up troubles at home with life at school. When parents were poor or ignorant or mean, or even just didn't believe in having a TV set, it was up to their kids to protect them.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“We need a place," she said, "just for us. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in the whole world about it." ... She lowered her voice almost to a whisper. "It might be a whole secret country," she continued, "and you and I would be the rulers of it.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“You're the proverbial diamond in the rough.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Sitting in cold wet britches for an hour was no fun even in a magic kingdom.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia



“It's crazy isn't it?" She shook her head. "You have to believe it, but you hate it. I don't have to believe it, and I think it's beautiful." She shook her head again. "It's crazy.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Miss Edmunds was one of his secrets. He was in love with her. Not the kind of silly stuff Ellie and Brenda giggled about on the telephone. This was too real and too deep to talk about, even to think about very much.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“. . . Jess believed, that she thought he was the best. It was not the kind of best that counted either at school or at home, but it was a genuine kind of best. He kept the knowledge of it buried inside himself like a pirate treasure. He was rich, very rich, but no one could know about it for now except his fellow outlaw, Julia Edmunds.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Church always seemed the same. Jess could tune it out the same way he tuned out school, with his body standing up and sitting down in unison with the rest of the congregation but his mind numb and floating, not really thinking or dreaming but at least free.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Impressed. Lord. He had nearly drowned.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia



“Leslie was one of those people who sat quietly at her desk, never whispering or daydreaming or chewing gum, doing beautiful schoolwork, and yet her brain was so full of mischief that if the teacher could have once seen through that mask of perfection, she would have thrown her out in horror.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Just close your eyes and keep your mind wide open”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Someday, when he was good enough, he would ask her to write them in a book and let him do all the pictures.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“We're alike, Jess would tell himself, me and Miss Edmunds . . . We don't belong at Lark Creek, Julia and me.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“—Qué va. —Hablaba en serio. Jess lo supo por su mirada—. Toda esa historia de Jesús es realmente interesante, ¿no te parece?
—¿Qué quieres decir?
—Toda aquella gente que quiso matarle sin que él les hubiera hecho nada.
Vaciló. De verdad que era una historia preciosa: como la de Abraham Lincoln o Sócrates o Aslan.
—No tiene nada de hermosa —interrumpió May Belle—. Da miedo eso de hacer agujeros en las manos de alguien.
—Tienes razón, May Belle. —Jess buscó en las profundidades de su mente—. Dios hizo que Jesús muriera porque nosotros somos unos miserables pecadores.
—¿Crees que eso es verdad?
Se quedó atónito.
—Lo dice la Biblia, Leslie.
Le miró como si estuviera dispuesta a ponerse a discutir con él, pero luego pareció cambiar de opinión.
—Qué locura, ¿verdad? —Leslie sacudió la cabeza—. Tú que tienes que creer en la Biblia, la odias. Y yo, que no tengo que creerla, la encuentro preciosa. —Volvió a sacudir la cabeza—. Es cosa de locos.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia



“Ain't 'cha gonna run?" she asked.
"No," he said, shoving the sheet away. "I'm gonna fly.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“The last dregs of winter spoiling the taste of everything.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


“Gee, I’m really glad I came.”
Jess turned to Leslie in unbelief.
“It was better than a movie.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not.” And she wasn’t. He could tell by her face. “That whole Jesus thing is really interesting, isn’t it?”
“What d’you mean?”
“All those people wanting to kill him when he hadn’t done anything to hurt them.” She hesitated. “It’s really kind of a beautiful story—like Abraham Lincoln or Socrates—or Aslan.”
― Katherine Paterson, quote from Bridge to Terabithia


About the author

Katherine Paterson
Born place: in Qing Jiang, China
Born date October 31, 1932
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“What strange places our lives can carry us to, what dark passages.”
― Justin Cronin, quote from The Passage


“With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason.

In those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was frightening that it had nearly failed.”
― Ernest Hemingway, quote from A Moveable Feast


“But when I heard his voice, I felt content. When I was with him, I felt beautiful and happy. And there was nothing I could do about it.”
― Charlaine Harris, quote from From Dead to Worse


“Baby, we have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.”
― Mildred D. Taylor, quote from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry


“Jeremy had a plan for getting Clay back and I wasn't allowed to know anything about it or allowed to help him carry it out. As one might expect, I accepted this news with grace and understanding.
"That is the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" I snarled for the dozenth time that hour.
"I won't just sit here and do nothing.”
― Kelley Armstrong, quote from Bitten


Interesting books

The Face Of Battle: A Study Of Agincourt, Waterloo And The Somme
(5.6K)
The Face Of Battle:...
by John Keegan
Dead or Alive
(13.4K)
Dead or Alive
by Tom Clancy
Tartuffe
(26.2K)
Tartuffe
by Molière
The Siege of Krishnapur
(5.2K)
The Siege of Krishna...
by J.G. Farrell
A Change of Fortune
(3.7K)
A Change of Fortune
by Jen Turano
Arouse
(14K)
Arouse
by Nina Lane

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.