Quotes from Teeth

“If this were a fairy tale, this would be the part where the fishboy appears and Diana shoots him through the heart. Because he is a tragic hero, he's our fucking Gatsby, and he lived for his fish and he has to die for his fish. He would never let my fake authority, condoning his abandonment, making up rules about what's okay just to save his life, convince him to give up his family. He would never leave.
He would know that without him, none of us will be as good. Me, without a friend; and the fish, without a brother; and the island, without a story; and Diana, without her something real, we will all be a little bit less than we were before we knew him.
So he wouldn't leave. Not until I could come with him. And I have never been less able to leave than I am now.
But this isn't a fairy tale, and he doesn't appear. We stand here for a long time.
He really left.
Because it was all that we could do.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I like books. I thought you liked books."

"Let's be honest, Rudy, books are pornography for brains. All that subtext and bullshit and hidden imagery.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I think this is the part where we stop pretending we’re not going to see each other again.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I could totally be a . . .
whatever.”
“Sailor?”
“On a boat?”
“Yep.”
“Yeah.” He’ll sigh all wistfully. “I could be a sailor. But I’m too busy being a fish.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I close my eyes and listen to the ocean.
I'm thinking about sailing, to England or maybe France. The way the wind would feel on my face and the sound of his voice screaming my name through his laughter. The waves would crash like applause. God, I remember when I used to be afraid of the ocean.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I ignore people who need me and latch on to people who don't. I dive into every other world except my own just because I want something more glamorous than my real life. I do destructive shit so a stupid hypocritical fish will like me.

I fall for fish instead of girls.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I’m bored of this. I want to hear about you. Favorite color. Go.”
I laugh. “Green.”
“I’m green!”
“Fuck yeah you are.”
“Why are you laughing? Isn’t this what friends do?”
“Interrogate each other?”
“What? Uh, sure. I don’t know what that means. But yes.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“You're absolved," I tell him.
He brings his eyes back up to mine. There's no fucking way he knows what that word means. That's a word I dream someone will say to me.
So I put it in his language. "You're free.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I wish we would all just fall apart so I wouldn't have to listen to the downfall happen, so slowly, so painfully.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“He says, "But it is really whatever, you know? You've saved me way more times. And we call ourselves friends."

It doesn't matter what we call ourselves, really. "You already saved me," I say.

"That was nothing."

"I'm not talking about the cave."

He wrinkles his nose.

"That first day," I say, "When you got up on the rocks to flirt with a human boy."

He smiles big, with all his ground-down teeth shining.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“It's not just like that. I can't just swim away."

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid I'll drown." He looks up and gives the world's smallest smile. He takes a deep breath with those lungs. "I'm afraid I'll drown.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“He'd kill one to save me, but not to save himself. Just like I'd risk Dylan's life for him but not for me. It makes us a little horrible.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“Make sure you're not expecting cute. This isn't Looking For Alaska.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I wish we could get away from our fish.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“Pathetic, huh?” He learned that word
from me.
“Yeah. It’s like the opposite of a fish,
right?”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“He shakes his head. "They're hunting the Enkis. I know that. And I get that. But . . . we're special."

"The reason they want them is because they're special. Anchovies aren't going to cure anyone."

"That's not the special I mean." He catches another fish and hugs it to his chest.

I'm trying to be gentle. "They're only special to you because they're yours."

"I could say the same thing about that cute kid you were holding."

Well, shit.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I say, "Good job, buddy," and his face is like I've just fixed the whole world.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“And fuck it, because that was seriously fucking fantastic.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“Shit, boy. Look at me. Do they have me right now? Are you tying me up and hitting me and... whatever? Did you trap me?"
"I..." I shake my head.
"And do I look free?”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“He has lungs and a heart and he... he is just telling himself over and over again that he is all fish because that's what you wanted him to be.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“If this were a fairy tale, this would be the part where the fishboy appears and Diana shoots him through the heart. Because he is a tragic hero, he's our fucking Gatsby, and he lived for his fish and he has to die for his fish.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“if my friends or my girlfriend back home saw who I've turned into, I don't think they'd recognize me. And I think that's okay with me.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“There has to be a way. I didn't die in that cave, and Dylan didn't die when he was two, and Teeth didn't die in the shrimp boat, because there is always a way. And I'm going to find it.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“I should have touched him. I missed my chance to find out what he was.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“You are no longer responsible. You are no longer allowed to give a shit. Nobody can need you ever again. Go.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“My last girlfriend at home was Gabrielle. We were together for only a month before I left. I pretty much knew by the time we kissed for the first time that I was leaving soon. That's probably why I kissed her so hard that I bruised my lip against her teeth. I felt like I could get every bit of me inside of her, if I tried hard enough. I don't know.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“Once we’re back to safety, we float on our backs by the sandbar.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“It's not disgusting. Books are disgusting."
"I like books. I thought you liked books."
"Let's be honest, Rudy, books are pornography for brains.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

“Swim. I shove myself off the dock with my feet and fucking flail as hard as I can.”
― Hannah Moskowitz, quote from Teeth

About the author

Popular quotes

“CORY: The whole time I was growing up...living in his house...Papa was like a shadow that followed you everywhere. It weighed on you and sunk into your flesh. It would wrap around you and lay there until you couldn't tell which one was you anymore. That shadow digging in your flesh. Trying to crawl in. Trying to live through you. Everywhere I looked, Troy Maxson was staring back at me...hiding under the bed...in the closet. I'm just saying I've got to find a way to get rid of that shadow, Mama.”
― August Wilson, quote from Fences

“Oh, excellent," Ethan Stone said. "A way out. Good thing I was sure to be bitten by a radioactive spider so I can scale these walls and ceiling and shimmy my arse right out of here."
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― Courtney Allison Moulton, quote from Shadows in the Silence

“Unlike you,’ she said pointedly, ‘some men understand a refusal.’
His mouth firmed, but he held his tongue, not about to mention that she almost never meant no when she said it.
‘I see,’ he said tersely.”
― C.C. Gibbs, quote from All He Needs

“Sometimes when you lose your way, you find YOURSELF.”
― Mandy Hale, quote from The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

“There was no Pacific railroad in those fine times of ten or twelve years ago—not a single rail of it. I only proposed to stay in Nevada three months—I had no thought of staying longer than that. I meant to see all I could that was new and strange, and then hurry home to business. I little thought that I would not see the end of that three-month pleasure excursion for six or seven uncommonly long years!”
― Mark Twain, quote from Roughing It

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