Quotes from Runaway

“Sometimes I get so caught up in my own problems that I forget how amazing the world is.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“I miss school.
What’s wrong with me?”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“You told us over and over that you don’t think you could live without books, but the ironic thing is, you’d probably die before you’d think to rip pages out of one to start a fire. Am I right?
Well, get over it already. Better to be warm then well-read.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“I operate under the assumption that people don't notice the good in me. That's just how things always seem to play out. I get blamed, while con-artist kids like Venus, and Camille, and Gemma get believed. But the rescue lady noticed. In the background, just observing, she noticed.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“(Actually now I’m remembering that the goodbye chow isn’t spelled that way. It’s ciao or something weird like that. It’s Italian, right? But I’m not an Italian gypsy, I’m a hungry gypsy. So spelling it chow makes total sense.)”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“I don’t think you’re aloud to be homeschooled if you don’t have a home.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Okay that’s it. Now I’m torching this.
I just need to score a match.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Blue Face
Disgusting taste
Flush it
Shush it
Cold disgrace”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Holly, I understand that you are upset because Gemma pulled down your ants, but why did you think pouring motor oil inside her backpack is the way to solve the problem?”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Street people use cardboard all the time, and bum alleys are just shanties or lean-tos, though. They’re nothing like my house! Mine is deluxe! It’s a big, thick, super sturdy refrigerator box that I found at an appliance store!”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“It’s funny to hear priests and nuns argue with each other.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“She was married to my dad, and everything was fine until he got killed in some freak tractor accident.
Yeah, that’s what I said, a freak tractor accident.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Thank you for helping me turn the page.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Food in the trash is like the tossed-and-found.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“I’m not going to be able to sleep a wink tonight.
I hate shelters.
People coughing and snoring and hacking up who-knows-what.
It’s a nightmare.
But I do have clean teeth.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Summers there are awful! Winters there are awful! Why do you stay? You ought to run away! Hop a train! Stow away on a bus!
What am I saying? You could just buy yourself a ticket.
It would be interesting to talk to you if you did it the other way, though.
We could compare scars and bruises.
It might be fun.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“Words can't fix my life.
Words can't give me a family.
Words can't do jack.
You may be a teacher, Ms. Leone, but face it: You don't know squat.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“scraps of love
torn and tattered
faded, scattered
trashed

threads of hope
frayed and tangled
broken, mangled
dashed

backing, buttons
yarn and batting
quilted tenderly
wrapped up in
this warm repair
my patchwork family”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“I've decided this is all your fault, Ms. Leone. I've run away before, you know, but stowed away or jumped trains or broke into buildings, I just ran away and got caught. But I think all that stuff you told us about the Underground Railroad got lodged in my subconscious, and somewhere inside it gave me the strength or courage or insanity to really get away. So see? This is all your fault.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

“I’d way rather defend myself against a man with a stick than a social worker with good intentions.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway

About the author

Popular quotes

“The problem with human attraction is not knowing if it will be returned.”
― Becca Fitzpatrick, quote from Hush, Hush

“Courage is confused with picking up arms and cowardness is confused with laying them down.”
― Mitch Albom, quote from The Five People You Meet in Heaven

“Tom, don't let anybody kid you. It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal Like God. He knows every feather that falls from the tail of a sparrow or however the hell it goes? Right? And you know something? Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.”
― Mario Puzo, quote from The Godfather

“There is considerable hypocrisy in conventionalism. Any thinking person is aware of this paradox; but in dealing with conventional people it is advantageous to treat them as though they were not hypocrites. It isn't a question of faithfulness to your own concepts; it is a matter of compromise so that you can remain an individual without the constant threat of conventional pressures.”
― Truman Capote, quote from In Cold Blood

“Yesterday's gone on down the river and you can't get it back.”
― Larry McMurtry, quote from Lonesome Dove

Interesting books

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.