“There is this weird thing that happens, when you stop worrying so much about what other people think of you...you suddenly start seeing what you think of you.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“Home is where you can be yourself.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“I'd say all mirrors are magical, or can be.
They show you yourself after all.
Really seeing yourself, though, that's the hard part.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“When you do what you want, not what you wish...' said the first raven.
'When you no longer seek your reflection in others' eyes...' said the second.
'When you see yourselves face to face...' said the third.
'Then,' the ravens intoned in unison, 'you will have found what you truly seek.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“But beware, dear reader. For we go out into the wide, wild world, looking to change, looking to grow, looking for wisdom. But wisdom is hard to come by, and once achieved, it is very easily lost. Especially when one is leaving the wide, wild world - and returning to the place you once fled.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“So thirsty," Jack groaned.
"So worried,"said the frog. I hope we don't starve to death."
"Yes,"said Jill, "not starving to death would be nice."
"So would not thirsting to death," said Jack
"Thirsting isn't even a word," said Jill
"It isn't?"
"No."
"Then what's the word?"
"I dont know. You just can't."
"Oh."
This is, of course, the kind of inane conversation that occurs when people are slowly losing their minds.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“When you are very pretty, people tend to remark on your looks. They smile at you more easily. They are more permissive of your faults. Soon, you come to believe that your prettiness matters, and that you are better because you are pretty, and that all it takes to get through life is a batting of your eyelashes and a twisting of your hair around your little finger, and that you can scream and pout and shout and tease because everyone will still like you anyway because you are so unbelievably pretty. This is what many very pretty people think.
Beware, then, for this is how monsters are made.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“Maybe I've been wanting the wrong things.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“They were amazing, fierce, beautiful children.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“She looked up, over the bandage that was nestled under her chin, and saw that the big-belly man with the red beard was starting at her, shaking his head. He looked like he was crying.
"I got ya this time," he whispered, as if to himself. "This time, I got ya.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“But beware...For we go out into the wide, wild world, looking to change, looking to grow, looking for wisdom. But wisdom is hard to come by, and once achieved, it is very easily lost. Especially when one is leaving the wide, wild world—and returning to the place you once fled.”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
“Second of all, those fairy tales that you hear over and over and over again aren't even the REAL fairy tales. Has your teacher ever said to you, "Today, children, we're going to read a Cinderella story where the stepsisters cut off their toes and their heels with a butcher's knife! And then they get their eyes pecked out by birds! Ready? Is everyone sitting crisscross-applesauce?”
― Adam Gidwitz, quote from In a Glass Grimmly
Adam Gidwitz
Born place: in San Francisco, The United States
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“All baby clothes are adorable, whoever they’re meant for (and in the end, of course, they’re meant for the parents). All remind you of how vulnerable an infant is, how wholly incompetent and in need of adult largess. You don’t look at blue clothes and think “strong” or pink clothes and think “fragile.” You look at everything in these micromatized dimensions and think, “How precious! How ridiculous! What was evolution thinking of?”
― Natalie Angier, quote from Woman: An Intimate Geography
“Such was the texture of her marble.
[In a description of Laura Trevelyan.]”
― Patrick White, quote from Voss
“The old dwarf drew himself up. His height was no longer impressive: the bowed back would not straighten, the legs could no longer support the body without assistance. But Drugar, towering over his father, saw the dignity in the trembling stance, the wisdom in the dimming eyes, and felt himself a child again.”
― Margaret Weis, quote from Elven Star
“But I can cite ten other reasons for not being a father."
"First of all, I don't like motherhood," said Jakub, and he broke off pensively. "Our century has already unmasked all myths. Childhood has long ceased to be an age of innocence. Freud discovered infant sexuality and told us all about Oedipus. Only Jocasta remains untouchable; no one dares tear off her veil. Motherhood is the last and greatest taboo, the one that harbors the most grievous curse. There is no stronger bond than the one that shackles mother to child. This bond cripples the child's soul forever and prepares for the mother, when her son has grown up, the most cruel of all the griefs of love. I say that motherhood is a curse, and I refuse to contribute to it."
"Another reason I don't want to add to the number of mothers," said Jakub with some embarrassment, "is that I love the female body, and I am disgusted by the thought of my beloved's breast becoming a milk-bag."
"The doctor here will certainly confirm that physicians and nurses treat women hospitalized after an aborted pregnancy more harshly than those who have given birth, and show some contempt toward them even though they themselves will, at least once in their lives, need a similar operation. But for them it's a reflex stronger than any kind of thought, because the cult of procreation is an imperative of nature. That's why it's useless to look for the slightest rational argument in natalist propaganda. Do you perhaps think it's the voice of Jesus you're hearing in the natalist morality of the church? Do you think it's the voice of Marx you're hearing in the natalist propaganda of the Communist state? Impelled merely by the desire to perpetuate the species, mankind will end up smothering itself on its small planet. But the natalist propaganda mill grinds on, and the public is moved to tears by pictures of nursing mothers and infants making faces. It disgusts me. It chills me to think that, along with millions of other enthusiasts, I could be bending over a cradle with a silly smile."
"And of course I also have to ask myself what sort of world I'd be sending my child into. School soon takes him away to stuff his head with the falsehoods I've fought in vain against all my life. Should I see my son become a conformist fool? Or should I instill my own ideas into him and see him suffer because he'll be dragged into the same conflicts I was?"
"And of course I also have to think of myself. In this country children pay for their parents' disobedience, and parents for their children's disobedience. How many young people have been denied education because their parents fell into disgrace? And how many parents have chosen permanent cowardice for the sole purpose of preventing harm to their children? Anyone who wants to preserve at least some freedom here shouldn't have children," Jakub said, and fell into silence.
"The last reason carries so much weight that it counts for five," said Jakub. "Having a child is to show an absolute accord with mankind. If I have a child, it's as though I'm saying: I was born and have tasted life and declare it so good that it merits being duplicated."
"And you have not found life to be good?" asked Bertlef.
Jakub tried to be precise, and said cautiously: "All I know is that I could never say with complete conviction: Man is a wonderful being and I want to reproduce him.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from Farewell Waltz
“It's just that,well,I'm gonna pull a Brad on you."
"You're going to start totally ignoring me?”
― Rachel Hawthorne, quote from Love on the Lifts
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