Quotes from One Crazy Summer

“We all have our la-la-la song. The thing we do when the world isn't singing a nice tune to us. We sing our own nice tune to drown out ugly.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“It was a strange, wonderful feeling. To discover eyes upon you when you expected no one to notice you at all.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“A name is important. It isn't something you drop in the litter basket or on the ground. Your name is now people know you. The very mention of your name makes a picture spring to mind, whether it's a picture of clashing fists or a mighty mountain that can't be knocked down. Your name is who you are and how you're known even when you do something great or something dumb.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“Saying "please" without saying it to someone you don't want to say "please" to in the first place tops the list of hard.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“I just took the box and nodded, because that's how you treat crazy people. You nod and count down twenty-seven days for crazy to come to an end.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“Cecile made it sound like it was no big deal. "I've been fighting for freedom all my life." But she wasn't talking about protest signs, standing up to the Man, and knowing your rights. She was talking about her life. Just her. Not the people.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“If you knew what I knew, seen what I've seen, you wouldn't be so quick to pull the plow.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“That was how I knew Sister Mukumbo was a real teacher, aside from her welcoming smile and her blackboard penmanship. She asked a teacher's type of question. The kind that says: Join in.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“I had a lot of those memories clicking before me like projector slides in the dark. Lots of pictures, smells and sounds flashing in and out.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“The last thing Pa and Big Ma wanted to hear was how we made a grand Negro spectacle of ourselves thirty thousand feet up in the air around all these white people.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“Cecile carried on a full conversation, on and on”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“We're trying to break yokes. You're trying to make one for yourself.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“There was also one Anthony, whose mama could spell, and one Antnee, whose mama couldn’t. It”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“Although I didn’t hear the door swing”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

“I didn’t want to say Big Ma was right. Cecile was no kind of mother. Cecile didn’t want us. Cecile was crazy. I didn’t have to.”
― Rita Williams-Garcia, quote from One Crazy Summer

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Popular quotes

“They presumed a knowledge and an intimacy they did not have and had no right to. Some”
― Tom Wolfe, quote from The Right Stuff

“The suit came up, and Holston thought that maybe people went along with it because they couldn't believe it was happening. None of it was real enough to rebel against. The animal part of his mind wasn't made for this, to be calmly ushered to a death it was perfectly aware of.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Wool Omnibus

“How do we stop them?” Edilio asked. He raised his head, and Sam saw the distress on his face. “How do you think we stop them? When your fifteenth birthday rolls around, the easy thing is to take the poof. You gotta fight to resist it. We know that. So how are we going to tell kids this isn’t real, this Orsay thing?”
“We just tell them,” Astrid said.
“But we don’t know if it’s real or not,” Edilio argued.
Astrid shrugged. She stared at nothing and kept her features very still. “We tell them it’s all fake. Kids hate this place, but they don’t want to die.”
“How do we tell them if we don’t know?” Edilio seemed genuinely puzzled.
Howard laughed. “Deely-O, Deely-O, you are such a doof sometimes.” He put his feet down and leaned toward Edilio as if sharing a secret with him. “She means: We lie. Astrid means that we lie to everyone and tell them we do know for sure.”
Edilio stared at Astrid like he was expecting her to deny it.
“It’s for people’s own good,” Astrid said in a low voice, still looking at nothing.
“You know what’s funny?” Howard said, grinning. “I was pretty sure we were coming to this meeting so Astrid could rank on Sam for not telling us the whole truth. And now, it turns out we’re really here so Astrid can talk us all into becoming liars.”
― Michael Grant, quote from Lies

“There is nothing more satisfying than having plans.”
― Lalita Tademy, quote from Cane River

“Hesitation is the death of advantage.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from A Darker Shade of Magic

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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.