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

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Popular quotes

“Edward spoke in a voice so peaceful and gentle that it made the words strangely more threatening. "I'm not going to kill you now, because it would upset Bella."
"Hmph," I grumbled.
Edward turned slightly to throw me a quick smile. His face was still calm. "It would bother you in the morning," he said, brushing his fingers across my cheek.
The he turned back to Jacob. "But if you ever bring her back damaged again--and I don't care whose fault it is; I don't care if she merely trips, or if a meteor falls out of the sky and hits her in the head--if you return her to me in less than the perfect condition that I left her in, you will be running with three legs. Do you understand that, mongrel?"
Jacob rolled his eyes.
"who's going back?" I muttered
Edward continued as if he hadn't heard me. "And if you ever kiss her again, I wiil break your jaw for her," he promised, his voice still gentle and velvet deadly.
"What if she wants me to?" Jacob drawled, arrogant.
"Hah!" I snorted.
"If that's what she wants, then I won't object." Edward shrugged, untroubled. "You might want to wait for her to say it, rather than trust your interpretation of body language-but it's your face."
Jacob grinned.
"You wish," I grumbled.
"Yes, he does," Edward murmured.
"Well, if you're done rummaging through my head," Jacob said with a think edge of annoyance, "why don't you go take care of her hand?"
"One more thing," Edward said slowly. "I'll be fighting for her, too. You should know that. I'm not taking anything for granted, and I'll be fighting twice as hard as you will."
"Good," Jacob growled. "it's no fun beating someone who forfeits."
She is mine." Edward's low voice was suddenly dark, not as composed as before, "i did't say I would fight fair."
"Neither did I."
"Best of luck."
Jacob nodded. "Yes, may the best man win."
"That sounds about right...pup.”
― Stephenie Meyer, quote from Eclipse

“Future historians, I hope, will consider the American fast food industry a relic of the twentieth century — a set of attitudes, systems, and
beliefs that emerged from postwar southern California, that embodied its limitless faith in technology, that quickly spread across the globe,
flourished briefly, and then receded, once its true costs became clear and its thinking became obsolete. We cannot ignore the meaning of mad
cow. It is one more warning about unintended consequences, about human arrogance and the blind worship of science.The same mindset
that would add 4-methylacetophenone and solvent to your milkshake would also feed pigs to cows. Whatever replaces the fast food industry
should be regional, diverse, authentic, unpredictable, sustainable, profitable — and humble. It should know its limits. People can be fed
without being fattened or deceived.This new century may bring an impatience with conformity, a refusal to be kept in the dark, less greed,
more compassion, less speed, more common sense, a sense of humor about brand essences and loyalties, a view of food as more than just
fuel.Things don’t have to be the way they are. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I remain optimistic.”
― Eric Schlosser, quote from Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

“Saiman picked up a coffee mug, stared at it, and hurled it against the wall. It shattered into a dozen pieces. We looked at him.
“Your date appears to be hysterical,” Rene told me.
“You think I should slap some man into him?"
Saiman stared at me, speechless. I had to give it to Rene—she didn't laugh. But she really wanted to.”
― Ilona Andrews, quote from Magic Strikes

“Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being.”
― Carl Sagan, quote from The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

“I’ll defend the girl with my last breath,” he promised, and clasped his hand dramatically to the chest of his ragged frock coat. “Oh, wait. That doesn’t mean much, does it, since I gasped that last breath before the Magna Carta was dry on the page? I mean, of course I’ll look after her, with whatever is left of my life.”
― Rachel Caine, quote from Carpe Corpus

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