Quotes from Runaway

Wendelin Van Draanen ·  245 pages

Rating: (3.7K votes)


“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

Wendelin Van Draanen
Born place: Chicago, Illinois, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“my mother have taught me that food is a universal passport. Whatever the constraints of language, culture or geography, food crosses over all boundaries. To offer food is to extend the hand of friendship; to accept is to be accepted into the most closed of communities. I”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Peaches for Father Francis


“He’s six-three, and so skinny my mom would say there’s more meat on a butcher’s apron.”
― John Locke, quote from Promise You Won't Tell?


“But you're so easy to sneak up on." He crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall. "You should be honored that I bother, since there's no challenge to it."
"Right," I said dryly.
Tybalt has never made a secret of his contempt for changelings in general and me in particular. Not even the years I spent missing could change that. If anything, it made things worse, because when I came back, I promptly removed myself from all the places he was accustomed to finding me. Hating me suddenly took effort - an effort he's proved annoying glad to make. On the other hand, it's actually been something of a relief, because it is something I can count on. Dawn comes, the moon rises and Tybalt hates me.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue


“It is not that you fall in love with a beautiful person; the process is just the opposite. When you fall in love with some person, the person looks beautiful. It is love that brings the idea of beauty in, not vice versa.”
― Osho, quote from Intelligence: The Creative Response to Now


“Boy, don’t you dare insult me with that shit. They can kiss my furry wolf ass, which is exactly what Aimee would skin alive if I dared let them have you. I don’t give up family.” He paused. “Well, they could have Fury. I’m not that attached to him. But they’d only keep him till he opened his mouth, then launch his ass back to me with a catapult. He’s like a bad boomerang that way.”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, quote from Dragonbane


Interesting books

A Kiss of Shadows
(48.5K)
A Kiss of Shadows
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Silk
(26.6K)
Silk
by Alessandro Baricco
Haunted
(22.4K)
Haunted
by Kelley Armstrong
The Prisoner of Cell 25
(29.1K)
The Prisoner of Cell...
by Richard Paul Evans
Sole Survivor
(24K)
Sole Survivor
by Dean Koontz
The Little Friend
(36.8K)
The Little Friend
by Donna Tartt

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.