Quotes from Mockingbird

Kathryn Erskine ·  235 pages

Rating: (25.3K votes)


“Sometimes I read the same books over and over and over. What's great about books is that the stuff inside doesn't change. People say you can't judge a book by its cover but that's not true because it says right on the cover what's inside. And no matter how many times you read that book the words and pictures don't change. You can open and close books a million times and they stay the same. They look the same. They say the same words. The charts and pictures are the same colors.

Books are not like people. Books are safe.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“I don't think I'm going to like it at all. I think it's going to hurt. But after the hurt I think maybe something good and strong and beautiful will come out of it.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“I don't like the word soon because you don't know when it's going to sneak up on you and turn into NOW. Or maybe it'll be the kind of soon that never happens.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“Understanding people’s difficulties and—just as crucial—helping people understand their own difficulties and teaching them concrete ways to help themselves will help them better deal with their own lives and, in turn, ours.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“Empathy isn't as hard as it sounds because people have a lot of the same feelings. And it helps to understand other people because then you can actually care about them sometimes. And help them. And have a friend.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird



“Ignore and ignorance share the same root.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“I feel like Snow White because now I have a bunch of little dwarf friends who love me. I may not know how Scout's overalls feel but I think I know how Snow White's Shoes feel because now I know why Snow White was happy.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“A movie is better than real life because in the movies only the bad guys die. Or you can pick the good movies where the bad guys die and only those. If you get tricked and a good person dies in the movie then you can rewrite it in your head so the good person lives and the part about death is superfluous.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“I know, I say, after he says, This is hard, for the third time. This is what happens when you have a TRM, I tell him. You make a mess. It's okay. You just have to try harder next time.

I am trying hard, Dad says.

I know. You get a sticker.

Thank you.

Okay. You get another sticker for being polite.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“Even though I didn't think I'd like empathy it kind of creeps up on you and makes you feel all warm and glowy inside. I don't think I want to go back to life without empathy.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird



“Understanding people’s difficulties and—just as crucial—helping people understand their own difficulties and teaching them concrete ways to help themselves will help them better deal with their own lives and, in turn, ours.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“I think about what Devon would say. You have to Work At It Dad. You have to try even if it's hard and you think you can never do it and you just want to scream and hide and shake your hands over and over and over.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“I wish people would follow the Facial Expressions Chart like they’re supposed to.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“Blurring is good for the things you don’t want to see but it doesn’t work so well for the stuff you actually have to Deal With.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“Haven’t you ever seen someone standing alone?
I shrug. Just one.
Why don’t you talk to that child?
Because it’s me and Devon told me I shouldn’t talk to myself. Not in public anyway”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird



“I don’t think you’re disgusting just because you have hair sticking out of your ear. Dad”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“Livros não são como pessoas. Livros são seguros.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“She points to some girls who are standing in a circle talking and giggling LOUD. They are bent. What do you think they’re feeling? Like throwing up? She Looks At The Person. Well they’re bending over so much it looks like they’re going to throw up. Do you usually laugh a lot just before you throw up? No. I don’t. But who knows about them?”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“A empatia não é tão difícil quanto parece porque muitos dos sentimentos das pessoas são os mesmos. E isso ajuda a compreender os outros porque aí a gente pode realmente se preocupar com eles de vez em quando. E ajudá-los. E ter amigos. Como Michael. E fazer alguma coisa por eles e fazer com que se sintam tão bem quanto a gente está se sentindo.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


“Josh is walking into the principal’s office when I get off the phone.”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird



“You have to try even if it’s hard and you think you can never do it and you just want to scream and hide”
― Kathryn Erskine, quote from Mockingbird


About the author

Kathryn Erskine
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“The miraculous power of love has often been underestimated just like we underestimate the power of sleep. Most of the herculean tasks performed by men were possible because they had been deeply in love and had slept well the night before.”
― Vivek Pereira, quote from Indians in Pakistan


“Indeed, while experiences and information can be good teachers, there are many times in life where we simply cannot afford to learn on the job. You don’t want to have to go through multiple marriages to learn how to be a good spouse. Or wait until your last child has grown to master parenthood. This is why theory can be so valuable: it can explain”
― Clayton M. Christensen, quote from How Will You Measure Your Life?


“It was starting to feel like a hair pulling, bitch slapping kind of fight. I needed to take it to the next level.”
― Trina M. Lee, quote from Once Bitten


“Did my job really matter? A successful year would only help a rich company get richer.”
― John Wood, quote from Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children


“I still harbor lingering doubts about most people. I guess I always will.”
― Corey Taylor, quote from Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good


Interesting books

The Road to Los Angeles
(4.5K)
The Road to Los Ange...
by John Fante
Get Me
(3.9K)
Get Me
by Jillian Dodd
Provoked
(4.8K)
Provoked
by Rebecca Zanetti
Deadly is the Kiss
(732)
Deadly is the Kiss
by Rhyannon Byrd
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
(38.6K)
The Best Christmas P...
by Barbara Robinson
Touched
(5.5K)
Touched
by Corrine Jackson

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.