Quotes from Burned

“Did you ever, when you were little, endure your parents’ warnings, then wait for them to leave the room, pry loose protective covers and consider inserting some metal object into an electrical outlet?

Did you wonder if for once you might light up the room?

When you were big enough to cross the street on your own, did you ever wait for a signal, hear the frenzied approach of a fire truck and feel like stepping out in front of it?

Did you wonder just how far that rocket ride might take you?

When you were almost grown, did you ever sit in a bubble bath, perspiration pooling, notice a blow dryer plugged in within easy reach, and think about dropping it into the water?

Did you wonder if the expected rush might somehow fail you?

And now, do you ever dangle your toes over the precipice, dare the cliff to crumble, defy the frozen deity to suffer the sun, thaw feather and bone, take wing to fly you home?”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“God is love," she said. "And he respects love, whether it's between a parents, and child, a man and woman, or friends. I don't think he cares about religion one little bit. Live your life right. Love with all your heart. Don't hurt others, and help those in need. That is all you need to know. And don't worry about heaven. If it exists, you'll be welcome.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“in a woman's womb.
another chance.
to make the world better.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Real love finds you once, if you're lucky.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Love is only found in books”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Some people never find love at all, count yourself blessed if it ever happens your way”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Would I ever find forever love? Do I really want to, when forever was a word without meaning?”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“But, though I was very much in lust with him, I knew from the start we were nothing like "forever." Maybe because forever is such a scary place.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“You'll only find happy endings in books. Some books.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Do you ever dangle your toes over the precipice, dare the cliff to crumble, defy the frozen deity to suffer the sun, thaw feather and bone, take wing to fly you home?”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Me? Beautiful? I'm plain as cardboard.

That may be how you see yourself, but the rest of the world would be hard to agree. You shine brighter than the Milky Way.
Now there are those who might try to take that from you, but you don't have to give it away. Keep on shining Pattyn.
And when the right young man comes along, he'll love you all the more for giftin' this sad planet with your light.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“In my limited realm of experience, beginnings led to endings.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“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.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Something stirred beneath my skin, some being inside I'd only suspected existed, demon or angel, I couldn't say.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Dad staggered in, eyes eerily lit.
The corners of his mouth foaming spit.
His demons planned an overnight stay.
Mom motioned to take the girls away.

hide them in their rooms, safe in their beds.
We closed the doors, covered our heads,
as if the blankets could mute the sounds of his blows
or we could silence her screams behind out pillows.

I hugged the littlest ones close to my chest,
till the beat of my heart lulled them to rest.
Only then did I let myself cry.
Only then did I let myself wonder why

Mom didn't fight back, didn't defend,
didn't confess to family or friend.
Had Dad's demons claimed her soul?
Or was this, as well, a woman's role?”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“The love of her life dissolved into dreams.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“God wasn't love, couldn't be love. Because for me, love was a corpse.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“You shine like the Milky Way. Now, there are those who might try to take that from you, but you don't have to give it away. Keep on shining.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Later, Bishop Crandall dropped by
The house to give me a stern
reprimand. He sat across
the cluttered table,

playing with a paper clip.
'Your parents are worries about you, Pattyn.'

I was worried about myself.
But I wasn't about to let him
know it. "Really?"

'Really. What have you got to say for yourself? You've always been such a good girl.'

Good girl. Sit. Stay. Fetch.
Bristles rose up along my
spine. "Define good."

'I don't appreciate your attitude,
Pattyn. Fast and pray. Search your
soul for the inequities in your life.'

"Any inequity in my life
began when I was born
female. Can you fix that?"

'You'll have to fix that yourself,
by concentrating on the things
God expects of you.'

His two-faced rhetoric
was pissing me off. "You
mean like kissing your ass?"

He slammed his hand on the table.
'I will not listen to that sort
of language. Apologize!'

Behind me, I hear Mom
gasp. But I was on a roll.
"I'm sorry, Bishop

I'm sorry I ever believed
you might have something
worthwhile to say.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“But more importantly, you are a gift, to all who know you, whether or not they realize it. If they don't, they are blind. You have a special place in this world. All you hvae to do is find it.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“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.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“I was about six years old, still Daddy's little girl, even though Daddy couldn't care less about me.
How could I expect any man every would?”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Do not give up on yourself, on the truths you have realized. Do not give in to those who would crush your dreams like nutshells. And never turn away from forever love.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Defiance rose up like vomit.
I swung back and yelled,
"Don't ever do that again!”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“You think God would let a girl do something special?”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“I felt angry,
frustrated.
I felt I didn't belong, not in my,

church, not in my home, not


in my skin.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“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.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“If you've never shot a gun,
You can’t understand
how it feels in your hands.
Cool to the touch, all its venom
coiled inside, deadly,
like a steel-scaled serpent. Awaiting your bidding.
You select it’s prey… paper,
tin, or flesh. You lie in wait,
learn that patience is the killer’s
most trustworthy accomplice.
You choose the moment. What. Where. When. Decided.
But the how is everything.
You lift your weapon,
ease it into place, cock it,
to load it, knowing the
satisfying snitch means a bullet is yours to command.
Now, make or break,
it’s all up to you. You
aim knowing a hair either
way means bull’s-eye or miss.
Success or failure. Life or death.
You have to relax,
convince your muscles
not to be tense, not to betray
you. Sight again. Adjust.
Don’t become distracted by the heat of the hunt.
Instincts take over.
You shoot and adrenaline
screams as your target shreds
or the flesh drops. And for
one indescribable moment you are God.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“I had never kissed a boy, had never even considered that I might enjoy such an unclean thing, until literature opened my eyes.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

“Concentrate. Level the sight. Breathe in.
Ease the trigger. And relax?
BLAP! The can somersaulted across the sand.

Pride swelled till I thought I'd burst.
But my pride slipped at Dad's reality check.
Not bad. Pretty good, in fact. For a girl.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Burned

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Popular quotes

“What did you wrap my hand with?" he asked. "My thong." I looked up at him. "You were right ; it's totally uncomfortable. Awesome for first-aid though." The corners of T.J.'s mouth turned up slighty. He looked at me, his brown eyes showing a trance of the spark that had been missing the night before. "It'll make for a funny story someday," I said. "You know what, Anna? It's kinda funny now.”
― Tracey Garvis-Graves, quote from On the Island

“In ninety seconds they were naked and he was nibbling at her ear while his hand rubbed her pubic mat; but a saboteur was at work at his brain. 'I love you,' he thought, and it was not untrue because he loved all women now, knowing partially what sex was really all about, but he couldn't bring himself to say it because it was not totally true, either, since he loved Mavis more, much more. 'I'm awfully fond of you,' he almost said, but the absurdity of it stopped him. Her hand cupped his cock and found it limp; her eyes opened and looked into his enquiringly. He kissed her lips quickly and moved his hand lower, inserting a ringer until he found the clitoris. But even when her breathing got deeper, he did not respond as usual, and her hand began massaging his cock more desperately. He slid down, kissing nipples and bellybutton on the way, and began licking her clitoris. As soon as she came, he cupped her buttocks, lifted her pelvis, got his tongue into her vagina and forced another quick orgasm, immediately lowering her slightly again and beginning a very gentle and slow return in spiral fashion back to the clitoris. But still he was flaccid.

'Stop,' Stella breathed. 'Let me do you, baby.'

George moved upward on the bed and hugged her. 'I love you,' he said, and suddenly it did not sound like a lie.

Stella giggled and kissed his mouth briefly. 'It takes a lot to get those words out of you, doesn't it?' she said bemusedly.

'Honesty is the worst policy,' George said grimly. 'I was a child prodigy, you know? A freak. It was rugged. I had to have some defense, and somehow I picked honesty. I was always with older boys so I never won a fight. The only way I could feel superior, or escape total inferiority, was to be the most honest bastard on the planet earth.'

'So you can't say 'I love you' unless you mean it?' Stella laughed. 'You're probably the only man in America with that problem. If you could only be a woman for a while, baby! You can't imagine what liars most men are.'

'Oh, I've said it at times. When it was at least half true. But it always sounded like play-acting to me, and I felt it sounded that way to the woman, too. This time it just came out, perfectly natural, no effort.'

'That is something,' Stella grinned. 'And I can't let it go unrewarded.' Her black body slid downward and he enjoyed the esthetic effect as his eyes followed her— black on white, like the yinyang or the Sacred Chao—what was the psychoses of the white race that made this beauty seem ugly to most of them? Then her lips closed over his penis and he found that the words had loosened the knot: he was erect in a second. He closed his eyes to savor the sensation, then opened them to look down at her Afro hairdo, her serious dark face, his cock slipping back and forth between her lips. 'I love you,' he repeated, with even more conviction. 'Oh, Christ, Oh, Eris, oh baby baby, I love you!' He closed his eyes again, and let the Robot move his pelvis in response to her. 'Oh, stop,' he said, 'stop,' drawing her upward and turning her over, 'together,' he said, mounting her, 'together,' as her eyes closed when he entered her and then opened again for a moment meeting his in total tenderness, 'I love you, Stella, I love,' and he knew it was so far along that the weight wouldn't bother her, collapsing, using his arms to hug her, not supporting himself, belly to belly and breast to breast, her arms hugging him also and her voice saying, 'I love you, too, oh, I love you,' and moving with it, saying 'angel' and 'darling' and then saying nothing, the explosion and the light again permeating his whole body not just the penis, a passing through the mandala to the other side and a long sleep.”
― Robert Shea, quote from The Illuminatus! Trilogy

“Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you're supposed to.”
― Susan Cain, quote from Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Richard III

“Leo cada carta escrupulosamente. Algunas no carecen de gravedad. Me hablan del sentido de la vida, de la supremacía del alma, del misterio de toda existencia, y por un curioso fenómeno de inversión de las apariencias, son aquellos con quienes había establecido las relaciones más triviales los que más abordan estas cuestiones esenciales. Su ligereza enmascaraba un alma profunda. ¿Acaso estaba ciego y sordo, o bien se requiere la luz de una desgracia para que un hombre se revele tal como es?”
― Jean-Dominique Bauby, quote from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

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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.

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