“I picked up the nearest weapon I could lay my hands on: a stapler. I lifted it, going for “menacing.” I admit it lacked a certain elegance, but hey. It was worth a shot. David placed his hand on my arm and pushed it back down.
“What?”
“Just . . . that’s embarrassing for all of us,” he replied.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Bruce Wayne's parents get killed and he goes to Tibet or whatever, and Superman is an alien, and Spiderman had that radioactive spider. Me? I kissed a janitor in the school bathroom.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“The great thing about best friends is that they know you really well. And the terrible thing about best friends is that they know YOU really well.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Look at him. Whole life turned upside down, and he’s in there making pizza rolls.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“The three of us, working together to save the world. Me, my ex-girlfriend, and the guy she dumped me for.” His mouth twisted into a half smile. “This has to be the most screwed up situation three teenagers have ever found themselves in.”
“I think I saw an episode of Gossip Girl like that once,” I offered.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“If by ‘graciously volunteered,’ you mean ‘was threatened and coerced,’ then yes, I did,”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“I know,” I told him. “It sounds insane. It is insane.”
His eyes fixed on mine. “You killed someone,” he said, his voice barely audible. “With a shoe.”
“He had a sword,” I fired back and then, to my shock, David burst out laughing.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Harper, did you just... did you just throw a pen at Liz?"
"Oh my gosh, no, Mrs. Ford! I was just... um... writing really fast because there was so much information to take in, and I had, like, some lotion? On my hands? Anyway the pen flew out of my hand and hit Liz”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“just . . . I don’t like crying girls, okay?” We were quiet for a second while I took that in. “That was very nice of you, David,” I finally said. “Now hold on because I’m about to drive into a fence.” “Yeah, okay,” he muttered, his eyes still closed. “You do that.” Then his eyes shot open. “Wait, what?”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“He and I had loathed each other since kindergarten. Heck, even before that. Mom says he’s the only baby I ever bit in daycare.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Looking back, none of this would have happened if I’d brought lip gloss the night of the Homecoming Dance.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“I’m sure you’d hate to miss everyone’s felicitations.”
David had beaten me in the final round of our sixth-grade spelling bee with that word and now, all these years later, he still tried to drop it into conversation whenever he could.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“It was such a relief to be able to sob and have someone know all the reasons why.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“You know what's awkward?" David asked, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"Our entire existences?"
Now the grin was real. "That," he acknowledged. "And when you make a big, dramatic gesture because you think you're going to die, and then you-"
"Don't die," I finished for him, and he nodded.
"Exactly. Not that I'm not one hundred percent psyched that we didn't die, but...”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“I hurried out of the lobby and turned the corner into the English hall, so I didn’t see the guy in front of me until it was too late.
“Oh!” I exclaimed as we bumped shoulders. “Sorry!”
Then I realized who I’d bumped into, and I immediately regretted my apologetic tone. If I’d known it was David Stark, I would have tried to hit him harder, or maybe stepped on his foot with the spiky heel of my new shoes for good measure.
I did my best to smile at him, though, even as I realized my stomach was jumping all over the place. He must have scared me more than I’d thought.
David scowled at me over the rims of his ridiculous hipster glasses, the kind with the thick black rims. I hate those. I mean, it’s the 21st century. There are fashionable options for eyewear.
“Watch where you’re going,” he said. Then his lips twisted in a smirk. “Or could you not see through all that mascara?”
I would’ve loved nothing more than the tell him to kiss my ass, but one of the responsibilities of being a student leader at The Grove is being polite to everyone, even if he is a douchebag who wrote not one, but three incredibly unflattering articles in the school paper about what a crap job you’re doing as SGA president.
And you especially needed to be polite to said douchebag when he happened to be the nephew of Saylor Stark, President of the Pine Grove Junior League, head of the Pine Grove Betterment Society, Chairwoman of the Grove Academy School Board, and, most importantly, Founder and Organizer of Pine Grove’s Annual Cotillion.
So I forced myself to smile even bigger at David and said, “Nope, just in a hurry. Are you, uh… are you here for the dance?”
He snorted. “Um, no. I’d rather slam my testicles in a locker door. I have some work to do on the paper.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Oh, don’t worry about it," I said, trying to sound normal even though all I really wanted to do was run inside the garage and try to lift my dad’s SUV. You know, for scientific purposes.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Since when did David Stark have biceps? How did you get any muscle tone when all you did was type and be annoying?”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“I had just killed a teacher. With my shoe.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“And the next time I did school stuff in the middle of the night, I just did it in my closet with the door locked. Honestly, what is wrong with this country when striving for excellence means you need antidepressants?”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“But please . . . don’t keep trying to fix us, Harper. We’re not broken.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“What’s going to happen?” he asked. “Are we all going to stand in a circle and sing ‘Kumbaya’?”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Aunt May, my sweet Aunt May, who taught me how to knit, who bought me a piece of candy every time we went to the store, jabbed a cocktail fork at my eye.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“I had to get out of this before I was killed with some elaborate cutlery.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“You do love him," I said, and she swung her gaze back to me.
"I do." She smoothed her hand over her thighs, flattening imaginary wrinkles from the linen.
"Even though he's not your family."
Saylor laughed, a surprisingly husky sound. "Don't you love people who aren't your family, Harper Jane?"
"Of course I do. But you love him for more than the whole Oracle thing. You love him because he's David.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“A few weeks ago, if you had told me that being held in David Stark’s arms was one of the nicest things I’d ever feel, I wouldn’t have laughed at you. I would’ve been too busy choking on my own horror.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“I'm a lover, not a fighter.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Okay, I should probably mention right here that Brandon used the real word, but this is my story, so I'm cleaning it up a little.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“Oh, don't worry about it," I said, trying to sound normal even though all I really wanted to do was run inside the garage and try to lift my dad's SUV. You know, for scientific purposes.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“I uncurled my legs and pushed until I had both arms fully extended and both legs straight up in the air. My dress fell down over my head, so if any of our neighbors were up and about, they saw more than just me going all Russian gymnast on our fence.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
“just . . . I don’t like crying girls, okay?” We were quiet for a second while I took that in. “That was very nice of you, David,” I finally said. “Now hold on because I’m about to drive into a fence.”
― Rachel Hawkins, quote from Rebel Belle
Rachel Hawkins
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“I want it to be good. I don’t want to mess it up.”
“You couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s you. And it’s me. Nothing means more to me in the world but this. But us.”
― Tillie Cole, quote from Sweet Soul
“Always, during both the low points and high points in our lives, if we needed to escape, we went bush. We were so lucky to share a passion for wildlife experiences. Tasmania, the beautiful island state off the southern coast of Australia, became one of our favorite wildlife hot spots.
We so loved Tassie’s unique wildlife and spectacular wilderness areas that we resolved to establish a conservation property there. Wes and Steve scouted the whole island (in between checking out the top secret Tasmanian surf spots), looking for just the right land for us to purchse.
Part of our motivation was that we did not want to see the Tasmanian devil go the way of the thylacine, the extinct Tasmanian tiger. A bizarre-looking animal, it was shaped like a large log, with a tail and a pouch like a kangaroo. It had been pushed off of the Australian mainland (probably by the dingo) thousands of years ago, but it was still surviving in Tasmania into the 1930s.
There exists some heartbreaking black-and-white film footage of the only remaining known Tassie tiger in 1936, as the last of the thylacines paces its enclosure. Watching the film is enough to make you rededicate your life to saving wildlife.”
― Terri Irwin, quote from Steve & Me
“Personally, if I were trying to discourage people from smoking, my sign would be a little different. In fact, I might even go too far in the opposite direction. My sign would say something like, "Smoke if you wish. But if you do, be prepared for the following series of events: First, we will confiscate your cigarette and extinguish it somewhere on the surface of your skin. We will then run you nicotine-stained fingers through a paper shredder and throw them into the street, where wild dogs will swallow them and then regurgitate them into the sewers, so that infected rats can further soil them before they're flushed out to sea with the rest of the city's filth. After such time, we will sysematically seek out your friends and loved one and destroy their lives."
Wouldn't you like to see a sign like that?”
― George Carlin, quote from When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
“Her eyes were enlarged and faded with discovering what, by common human agreement, is better undivulged.”
― Shirley Hazzard, quote from The Transit of Venus
“The part in each of us that we feel is different from other people is just the part that is rare, the part that makes our special value - and that is the very thing people try to suppress. They go on imitating. And yet they think they love life”
― André Gide, quote from The Immoralist
Emanate
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The Prayer Box
Dating a Cougar
Criminal
The New Homeowner's...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.
