Quotes from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Being in love with your best friend is problematic.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“As much as I cared about him, I wasn’t a slave to fate. I could choose to ignore my feelings, strong as they were. It would be painful, but no more so than letting myself pine for my friend.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“If you want to call it quits, just tell me. Man up and say it to my face. Don’t just skulk around.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I didn’t say anything; I could find no words that would express the swirled chaos of emotions inside me. So I just watched him go right out the door.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“You shouldn’t have to pretend to be as excited as I am just to make me happy. If it comes to that, you shouldn’t have to pretend to be anything around me. Friends should be real with each other”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I got through it, and I wore it like a badge of honor—I Can Be Alone and it's Okay.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I Can Be Alone and it's Okay.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I know he’s a realist, he’s okay with being alone, and he helps people when he thinks no one is watching.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I need you to just trust me for now without knowing all the answers.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“We walked to dinner, ate together, and talked nearly the whole time. I was amazed that I had as much in common with her as I did. I’d been raised mostly in a completely different country, yet we were so similar.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I suppose that means you don’t want any band-aids, either,” I said, a touch more bitterly than I’d meant to.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“No one wants to go through life alone, fighting battles single-handedly their whole life. Not even the hardiest of heroes. That’s just a miserable existence. Everyone needs someone in their corner, right?...Even if you could,” I wrinkled my brow, “would you really want to? By all accounts, it gets lonely being your own hero.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“When the moment shifts, and you realize you don't actually want to be alone, that underneath the bravado is an ache that won’t quite fade away, you’re not only aware of how lonely you are, but how much you've been lying to yourself.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Well, if you can accept that I’m a great big geeky fangirl, then I guess I can accept that you’re a skeptic and a realist.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I had always thought that I was fine with being alone. Halfway through high school, I moved from Brazil to America, and it took me forever to make friends. I had culture shock of virtually every kind, besides which I was awkward, geeky, and shy. So I ate alone, telling myself that it was fine while I watched other people have normal conversations with their friends.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“If he can’t handle it, then you aren’t very good friends, are you?”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Last Resort friends are for getting from, not giving to.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“As we were about to cross the road, Davin suddenly grabbed my wrist and held me back a moment; a car peeled out of the driveway and roared past us. “Geez,” I gasped, and then, glancing at him curiously, I added, “Thanks.” He didn’t say anything, but slowly released my wrist. Before he completely withdrew, I took his hand and interlaced my fingers through his. He looked at me, his lips parted in surprise, but then he smiled shyly and gave my hand a squeeze as we kept walking. It gave me a feeling of nervous flutters in the best way. As we walked up to the doors, Jill and Laurel came bursting out the exit.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“It was nice. Even in high school, I’d mostly had makeshift friends forged by the shared status of outcast. It was rare for me to discuss things so easily to someone outside of my family, but somehow Jill got me.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I suddenly felt the way Cinderella might have felt if she hadn’t had that convenient midnight curfew: my feet were hurting, my hair was slipping free from its pins, and my makeup was getting all smudged from sweat. I was unbelievably tired, undeniably depressed, and I just wanted charming.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“He pinned me in place with a direct look, his dark brown eyes smoldering. “You’re Mary Jane,” he said finally. “And you have all these Flash Thompsons and Harry Osborns hovering around you, trying to make a move. Because...you’re basically amazing.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“It’s so peaceful. I could go to sleep in here.” His eyes flickered to me once more, and for a dizzying second I wasn’t thinking about sleep or storms but about pressing my lips to his. I gave my head a slight shake and tried to slow my pulse”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“He was quiet for a moment. “So, in this analogy, you’re Mary Jane?” “You got that right, Tiger.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Amazing? My heart fluttered. “But I don’t want Flash or Harry,” I murmured. “You want Spider-Man,” he finished for me, looking a little wistful. I shrugged. “And Peter Parker.” He looked at me, very seriously. “Then don’t settle,” he said.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“You have to be a friend to have them.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Suddenly finding it hard to breathe. It wasn’t because his grip was too tight, mind you. It was just the sudden proximity. And he smelled so good, the scent of fresh coffee and rain clinging to his skin as he leaned in.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“Alan shrugged. “I love the CBC, really, but being voted its president—” “Co-president,” Sputnik corrected. “—is kind of like being declared King of Nerds.” “Co-king,” Sputnik asserted.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I wouldn’t joke if you weren’t always patching me up,” Davin retorted. He looked at Chad again. “You must have noticed, right? It’s kind of cute, actually.” Though my heart fluttered, I tried to shoot him a warning glare. He ignored me. “I like to call her Doctor Fisher.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“When I arrived back at Intro to Basic Art again later that week, I thought for a moment we had a new student who didn’t know about the assigned seats. Sitting at my table was a girl in a long flowered dress, very vintage-hippie. She actually was wearing real flowers in her hair, and hardly any make up. I sat down, ready to explain to this poor lost soul that the seat was already taken, when I looked again and realized it was the same girl. I ended up not saying anything at all; I couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t be rude or just plain stupid.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

“I bundled in my own blanket and reflected on the strange and somewhat unexpected friendship that was slowly developing between Davin and myself. It was clear to me that he needed a friend, but for reasons unknown to me, thought that it was better for him to be alone.”
― J.M. Richards, quote from Tall, Dark Streak of Lightning

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Popular quotes

“. . . waves of desert heat . . . I must’ve passed out, because when I woke up I was shivering and stars wheeled above a purple horizon. . . . Then the sun came up, casting long shadows. . . . I heard a vehicle coming. Something coming from far away, gradually growing louder. There was the sound of an engine, rocks under tires. . . . Finally it reached me, the door opened, and Dirk Bickle stepped out. . . .

But anyway so Bickle said, “Miracles, Luke. Miracles were once the means to convince people to abandon reason for faith. But the miracles stopped during the rise of the neocortex and its industrial revolution. Tell me, if I could show you one miracle, would you come with me and join Mr. Kirkpatrick?”

I passed out again, and came to. He was still crouching beside me. He stood up, walked over to the battered refrigerator, and opened the door. Vapor poured out and I saw it was stocked with food. Bickle hunted around a bit, found something wrapped in paper, and took a bottle of beer from the door. Then he closed the fridge, sat down on the old tire, and unwrapped what looked like a turkey sandwich.

He said, “You could explain the fridge a few ways. One, there’s some hidden outlet, probably buried in the sand, that leads to a power source far away. I figure there’d have to be at least twenty miles of cable involved before it connected to the grid. That’s a lot of extension cord. Or, this fridge has some kind of secret battery system. If the empirical details didn’t bear this out, if you thoroughly studied the refrigerator and found neither a connection to a distant power source nor a battery, you might still argue that the fridge had some super-insulation capabilities and that the food inside had been able to stay cold since it was dragged out here. But say this explanation didn’t pan out either, and you observed the fridge staying the same temperature week after week while you opened and closed it. Then you’d start to wonder if it was powered by some technology beyond your comprehension. But pretty soon you’d notice something else about this refrigerator. The fact that it never runs out of food. Then you’d start to wonder if somehow it didn’t get restocked while you slept. But you’d realize that it replenished itself all the time, not just while you were sleeping. All this time, you’d keep eating from it. It would keep you alive out here in the middle of nowhere. And because of its mystery you’d begin to hate and fear it, and yet still it would feed you. Even though you couldn’t explain it, you’d still need it. And you’d assume that you simply didn’t understand the technology, rather than ascribe to it some kind of metaphysical power. You wouldn’t place your faith in the hands of some unknowable god. You’d place it in the technology itself. Finally, in frustration, you’d come to realize you’d exhausted your rationality and the only sensible thing to do would be to praise the mystery. You’d worship its bottles of Corona and jars of pickled beets. You’d make up prayers to the meats drawer and sing about its light bulb. And you’d start to accept the mystery as the one undeniable thing about it. That, or you’d grow so frustrated you’d push it off this cliff.”

“Is Mr. Kirkpatrick real?” I asked.

After a long gulp of beer, Bickle said, “That’s the neocortex talking again.”
― Ryan Boudinot, quote from Blueprints Of The Afterlife

“Mr. Turner gets mad when I say, “I don’t work for you, I work for the children.” But it’s true. Isn’t it? I’ll find out when I get fired, I guess.”
― Esmé Raji Codell, quote from Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year

“So, Buckley, huh?" he asked, pulling away from me. "You think he deserves that much credit?"
"Well, he did bring us together and all," I said.
"Oh, is that what brought us together?" His brown crinkled together. "I thought it was that ten minutes of unprotected passion in a cheap Manhattan hotel room."
"I'd give it six at most.”
― Rachel K. Burke, quote from Sound Bites

“ARTICLE 85 If a Bro buys a new car, he is required to pop the hood when showing it off to his Bros. COROLLARY: His Bros are required to whistle, even if they have no idea what they’re whistling at.”
― Barney Stinson, quote from The Bro Code

“Sarcasm. It’s not just a form of speech; it’s a dear friend. “Oh,”
― Jenn Cooksey, quote from Shark Bait

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