Quotes from The Wednesday Wars

“Vengeance is sweet. Vengeance taken when the vengee isn't sure who the venger is, is sweeter still.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“Think of the sound you make when you let go after holding your breath for a very, very long time. Think of the gladdest sound you know: the sound of dawn on the first day of spring break, the sound of a bottle of Coke opening, the sound of a crowd cheering in your ears because you're coming down to the last part of a race--and you're ahead. Think of the sound of water over stones in a cold stream, and the sound of wind through green trees on a late May afternoon in Central Park. Think of the sound of a bus coming into the station carrying someone you love.
Then put all those together.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“When gods die, they die hard. It's not like they fade away, or grow old, or fall asleep. They die in fire and pain, and when they come out of you, they leave your guts burned. It hurts more than anything you can talk about. And maybe worst of all is, you're not sure if there will ever be another god to fill their place. Or if you'd ever want another god to fill their place. You don't want the fire to go out inside you twice.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“Whatever it means to be a friend, taking a black eye for someone has to be in it.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“You can't just skip the boring parts."
"Of course I can skip the boring parts."
"How do you know they're boring if you don't read them?"
"I can tell."
"Then you can't say you've read the whole play."
"I think I can live a happy life, Meryl Lee, even if I don't read the boring parts of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark."
"Who knows?" she said. "Maybe you can't.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“If Romeo had never met Juliet, maybe they both would have still been alive, but what they would have been alive for is the question Shakespeare wants us to answer.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“Maybe the first time that you know you really care about something is when you think about it not being there,and when you know-you really know-that the emptinessis as much as inside you as outside you.For it falls out,that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it;but being lacked and lost,why,then we rack the value,then we find the virtue that possesion would not show us while it was ours.That's when I knew for the first time that I really did love my sister.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“A comedy isn't about being funny," said Mrs. Baker.

"We talked about this before."

"A comedy is about character who dare to know that they may choose a happy ending after all. That's how I know."

"Suppose you can't see it?"

"That's the daring part," said Mrs. Baker.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“The light made the snowballs look yellow. Or at least I hoped that was the cause.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“And it really doesn't matter if we're under our desks with our hands over our heads or not, does it?

No, said Mrs. Baker. It doesn't really matter.

So, why are we practicing?

She thought for a minute. Because it gives comfort, she said. People like to think that if they're prepared then nothing bad can really happen. And perhaps we practice because we feel as if there's nothing else we can do because sometimes it feels as if life is governed by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“Did you find yourself?"

"What?" said my sister.

"Did you find yourself?"

"She found me," I said.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I love the sound of a brand-new bottle of coke when you pry the lid off and it starts to fizz. Whenever I hear that sound, I think of roses, and of sitting together with someone you care about and of Romeo and Juliet waking up somewhere and saying to each other, weren't we jerks? And then having all that be over. That's what I think of when I hear the sound of a brand-new bottle of Coke being opened”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“...and she ran out of the diesel combustion and right to me and we held each other and we were not empty at all.

"Holling," she said. "I was so afraid I wouldn't fine you."

"I was standing right here, Heather." I said. "I'll always be standing right here.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I almost cried. But I didn't, because if you're in seventh grade and you cry while wearing a blue floral cape and yellow tights with white feathers on the butt, you just have to curl up and die somewhere in a dark alley.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“When 1:45 came, half the class left, and Danny Hupfer whispered, "If she gives you a cream puff after we leave, I'm going to kill you" - which was not something that someone headed off to prepare for his bar mitzvah should be thinking.
When 1:55 came and the other half of the class left, Meryl Lee whispered, "If she gives you one after we leave, I'm going to do Number 408 to you." I didn't remember what Number 408 was, but it was probably pretty close to what Danny Hupfer had promised.
Even Mai Thi looked at me with narrowed eyes and said, "I know your home." Which sounded pretty ominous.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“A comedy isn’t about being funny...a comedy is about characters who dare to know that they may choose a happy ending after all.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I handed the test in five minutes before the end of the day. Mrs. Baker took it calmly, then reached into her bottom drawer for an enormous red pen with a wide felt tip. "Stand here and we'll see how you've done," she said, which is sort of like a dentist handing you a mirror and saying, "Sit here and watch while I drill a hole in your tooth.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“A southwest blow on ye and blister you all o'er!'
'The red plague rid you!'
'Toads, beetles, bats, light on you!'
'As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed with raven's feather from unwholesome fen drop on you.'
'Strange stuff'
'Thou jesting monkey thou'
'Apes with foreheads villainous low'
'Pied ninny'
'Blind mole...'
-The Caliban Curses”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I think something must happen to you when you get into eight grade. Like the Doug Swieteck's Brother Gene switches on and you become a jerk.
Which may have been Hamlet, Prince of Denmark's problem, who, besides having a name that makes him sound like a breakfast special at Sunnyside Morning Restaurant--something between a ham slice and a three-egg omelet--didn't have the smarts to figure out that when someone takes the trouble to come back from beyond the grave to tell you that he's been murdered, it's probably behooveful to pay attention--which is the adjectival form.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I saw my town as if I had just arrived. It was as if I was waking up. You see houses and buildings every day, and you walk by them on your way to something else, and you hardly see. You hardly notice they're even there, mostly because there's something else going on right in front of your face, But when the town itself becomes the thing that is going on right in front of your face, it all changes, and you're not just looking at a house, but at what's happened in that house before you were born.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I wonder why Holling had the fastest time," said Danny after the announcements - a whole lot louder than he had to. "Could it be because he was running away from two rats who were trying to eat him?"
"That might have a little to do with it," I said.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“When a girl holds a rose up to you, you run better, let me tell you.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I think he became a man who brought peace and wisdom to hi world, because he knew about war and folly. I think that he loved greatly, because he had seen what lost love is. And I think he came to know, too, that he was loved greatly." She looked at the strawberry in her hands. "But I thought you didn't want me to tell you your future.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“Okay, so maybe sometimes the real world is smiles and miracles.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“You don't have to say ridiculous things twice, Holling. Once is more than enough.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“Spring break! Were there any two words ever put together that make a more beautiful sound?”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“I never knew a building could hold so much inside.
. . . I saw my town as if I had just arrived. It was as if I was waking up. You see houses and buildings every day, and you walk by them on your way to something else, and you hardly see. You hardly notice they're even there, mostly because there's something else going on right in front of your face. But when the town itself becomes the thing that is going on right in front of your face, it all changes, and you're not just looking at a house but at what's happened in that house before you were born.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“A comedy is about characters who dare to know that they may choose a happy ending after all.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

“Don't look so surprised. You didn't think I'd spent my whole life behind this desk, did you?"
And I suddenly realized that, well, I guess I had. Weren't all teachers born behind their desks, fully grown, with a red pen in their hand and ready to grade?”
― Gary D. Schmidt, quote from The Wednesday Wars

About the author

Popular quotes

“I am afraid that if you want to go down into history you'll have to do something for it.”
― Joseph Conrad, quote from The Secret Agent

“Na kvantnoj razini, naš svemir se može vidjeti kao neodredivo mjesto, predvidivo na statistički način jedino uz primjenu dovoljno velikih brojeva. Između tog svemira i nekog razmjerno predvidivog u kojem se prolaz nekog planeta može vremenski odrediti unutar pikosekunde, u igru ulaze druge sile. U srednjem svemiru, u kojem svakodnevno živimo, glavna sila je ono u što vjerujete. Vaša vjerovanja određuju odvijanje dnevnih događaja. Vjeruje li nas dovoljno u nešto, možemo to učiniti postojećim. Uređenje vjerovanja stvara filtar kojim se kaos prosijava u red.”
― Frank Herbert, quote from Heretics of Dune

“I didn't really know what to expect from detention but when I waked into the room, the first thought I had was, I don't belong in here with these future criminals.”
― Jeff Kinney, quote from The Last Straw

“His management philosophy, tempered in his rain-dancing days, was always to give the project to whoever had the most to gain from success--or the most to lose from failure.”
― Michael Crichton, quote from Congo

“He isn’t like us Low. You know that right.”

I knew what Cage was saying. Marcus was out of my league. He didn’t want me thinking there could ever be anything between me and his roommate. I was low class. Marcus was a rich kid.

“I’m not stupid Cage.”
― Abbi Glines, quote from Because of Low

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.