Quotes from The Freedom Writers Diary

Erin Gruwell ·  316 pages

Rating: (12.7K votes)


“Don't let the actions of a few determine the way you feel about an entire group. Remember, not all German's were Nazis.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“Evil prevails when good people do nothing.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you tell kids they're stupid--directly or indirectly--sooner or later they start to believe it.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“It would be easy to become a victim of our circumstances and continue feeling sad, scared or angry; or instead, we could choose to deal with injustice humanely and break the chains of negative thoughts and energies, and not let ourselves sink into it.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“No matter what race we are, what ethnic background, sexual orientation, or what views we may have, we are all human. Unfortunately, not all humans see it that way.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary



“Society just doesn't care about young people anymore, even if we are the future.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“...choose to deal with inhumane situations in a humane way, we can turn the world around and create positive lessons for ourselves and for others.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“It sounds strange, somewhat on the line between irony and absurdity, to think that people would rather label and judge something as significant as each other but completely bypass a peanut. ... World peace is only a dream because people won't allow themselves and others around them to simply be peanuts. We won't allow the color of a man's heart to be the color of his skin, the premise of his beliefs, and his self-worth. We won't allow him to be a peanut, therefore we won't allow ourselves to come to live in harmony. (Diary 18)”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“I have always been taught to be proud of being Latina, proud of being Mexican, and I was. I was probably more proud of being a "label" than of being a human being, that's the way most of us were taught.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“Fights don't solve matters, they just make things worse. (Diary 19)”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary



“Silence ensures that history repeats itself.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“Ruining is a gift .. it's the way of changing.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“Because if they grow up holding on to such terrible feelings, it could lead to another war come time in the future when the fate of the country is in their hands.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“There were more courses than O.J. has alibis.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“I always say that the young people are the future of the world, and if we start with them first, if we educate and develop a sense of tolerance among them, our future, the future of this world, will be in good hands for generations to come.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary



“i loved the freedom writers diary and even though i only read it because my teacher made us i loved the book. it shows me some feelings that i also feel sometimes, and even though i never finished reading it because i got lazy its the only book ive ever liked”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“I have always been taught to be proud of being Latina, proud of being Mexican, and I was. I was probably more proud of being a "label" than of being a human being, that's the way most of us were taught. Since the day we enter this world we were a label, a number, a statistic, that's just the way it is. Now if you ask me what race I am, like Zlata, I'll simply say, "I'm a human being.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“Be the kind of people that have enough passion to change the world. If we let ourselves be fire, thunder, or lightning, we could alter everything.”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“No matter what race we are, what ethnic background, sexual orientation, or what views we may have, we are all human. Unfortunately, not all humans see it that way. Diary”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


“They say America is the "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave" but what's so free about a land where people get killed?”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary



“That’s exactly what we all are. We spend so much time trying to figure out what race a person is when we could just get to know them as individuals. I felt like answering their question with a question. Does it matter? Will it make a difference if she is Croatian, Muslim, Serbian?”
― Erin Gruwell, quote from The Freedom Writers Diary


About the author

Erin Gruwell
Born place: in The United States
Born date August 15, 1969
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I don't have any kids, so I'm not as worried about my heirs as the rest of you, but still: I think the youth of tomorrow might be better off if they knew the physical sensation of cracking a spine and turning the page.”
― Lisa Lutz, quote from Trail of the Spellmans


“he wouldn’t look so foolish walking amid the Sun Herd steeds in the grasslands. Familiar voices pierced the silence, wafting on the breeze from Feather Lake. Star pricked his ears. “Look at me; I’m a dud like Star.” Star crept to the edge of the trees and peeked through the pine needles.”
― Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, quote from Starfire


“I’ll be there for the whole thing. Whatever you need, you tell me. I’ll be your running bitch. I’ll give you a radio and you can call me any moment. I’ll come running. I’ll do whatever. If you want an inspirational poem, call me Logan Angelou. If you want music to warm you up, I’m the new Beastie Boy. Whatever you want.”
― Tijan, quote from Fallen Fourth Down


“Choose wisely
From those who start
A fire in your heart.

Some may burn you to shreds,
While you were looking for warmth.”
― Saiber, quote from Stardust and Sheets


“You don’t get to break someone's heart and think everything is fine just because you say sorry. That's just not fair.”
― Carey Heywood, quote from Him


Interesting books

Ghosts
(9.9K)
Ghosts
by Henrik Ibsen
The Not So Secret Emails Of Coco Pinchard
(2.7K)
The Not So Secret Em...
by Robert Bryndza
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
(11.8K)
Without You, There I...
by Suki Kim
I Love Dick
(7.3K)
I Love Dick
by Chris Kraus
A Spool of Blue Thread
(65.6K)
A Spool of Blue Thre...
by Anne Tyler
Asylum
(1.7K)
Asylum
by Amy Cross

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.