“Well, it's simple to love someone," she said. "But it's hard to know when you need to say it out loud.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Mom says each of us has a veil between ourselves and the rest of the world, like a bride wears on her wedding day, except this kind of veil is invisible. We walk around happily with these invisible veils hanging down over our faces. The world is kind of blurry, and we like it that way. But sometimes our veils are pushed away for a few moments, like there's a wind blowing it from our faces. And when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is, just for those few seconds before it settles down again. We see all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love. But mostly we are happy not to. Some people learn to lift the veil themselves. Then they don't have to depend on the wind anymore.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean. It's like how turning on a light makes you realize how dark the room had gotten. And the way you usually act, the things you would have normally done, are like these ghosts that everyone can see but pretends not to.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Pajamas are good for the soul.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“I don't know. I just feel stuck, like I'm afraid to take any steps, in case they're the wrong ones.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Trying to forget really doesn't work. In fact, it's pretty much the same as remembering.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“If I'm afraid of someone on the street, I'll turn to him (it's always a boy) and say, "Excuse me, do you happen to know what time it is?" This is my way of saying to the person, "I see you as a friend, and there is no need to hurt me or take my stuff. Also, I don't even have a watch and I am probably not worth mugging." So far, it's worked like gangbusters... And I've discovered that most people I'm afraid of are actually very friendly.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Didn't you ever have a father yourself? You don't want him for a reason. You want him because he's your father.' So I figured it's because I never had a father that I don't want one now. A person can't miss something she never had.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Nice tights," I snorted. Or I tried to snort, anyway. I'm not exactly sure how, though people in books are always doing it.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“I'm an old man, and she's gone now. So don't worry, okay?”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“I still think about the letter you asked me to write. It nags at me, even though you're gone and there's no one to give it to anymore. Sometimes I work on it in my head, trying to map out the story you asked me to tell, about everything that happened this past fall and winter. It's all still there, like a movie I can watch when I want to. Which is never.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“[she used to say that] each of us has a veil between ourselves and the rest of the world – like a bride wears on her wedding day—except this kind of veil is invisible. we walk around happily with these invisible veils hanging down over our faces. the world is kind of blurry. we like it that way. but sometimes our veils are pushed away for a few moments – like there’s a wind blowing it from our faces – and when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is, just for those few seconds before it settles down again. we see all the beauty and cruelty and sadness and love, but mostly we are happy not to. some people learn to lift the veils themselves. then they don’t have to depend on the wind anymore. ...it’s just her way of saying that most of the time people get distracted by little stuff, and ignore the big stuff.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Common sense is just a name for the way we’re used to thinking.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Like when that man was running down Broadway stark naked and we all had to eat in the cafeteria while the police tried to catch him.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“She's called the secretary, but as far as I can tell she basically runs the school.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“It was hard to imagine him sneaking around and leaving a rose on anyone's doormat, but I guess boys will surprise you sometimes.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Some feeling had started in my stomach and was traveling up to my face, and I knew that when it got there I would turn bright red and hear the ocean, which is what happens when I get put on the spot. If I don't cry, I turn red and hear the ocean. It's a lose-lose situation.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“And when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is, just for those few seconds before it settles down again. We see all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“I had watched them trade best friends, start wars, cry, trade back, make treaties, squeal and grab each other's arms in this fake-excited way, et cetera...”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“We have lunch at ten-forty-five,” Colin said. A stupidly early lunch. At our school, the older you get, the stupider your lunch period.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Isn’t that the whole idea?’ I asked. ‘It’s supposed to stop them from being criminals!’ She shook her head. ‘That’s not what I mean. A lot of people make bad mistakes. But being in jail can make them feel like a mistake is all they are. Like they aren’t even people anymore.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“But at the exact same time I got nervous about that, I also got this other feeling, which I can only describe of as love for Annemarie's elevator.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Marcus’s face lit up. ‘Stop—I see your problem! You’re thinking that time exists on the diamonds themselves. It doesn’t. Each moment—each diamond—is like a snapshot.’ ‘A snapshot of what?’ ‘Of everything, everywhere! There’s no time in a picture, right? It’s the jumping, from one diamond to the next, that we call time, but like I said, time doesn’t really exist. Like that girl just said, a diamond is a moment, and all the diamonds on the ring are happening at the same time. It’s like having a drawer full of pictures.’ ‘On the ring,’ I said. ‘Yes! All the diamonds exist at once!’ He looked triumphant.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“The guy is looney,’ Belle said thoughtfully, ‘but also generally polite. Polite is always worth something.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“It's crazy the things a person can pretend not to notice.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Mom says each of us has a veil between ourselves and the rest of the world, like a bride wears on her wedding day, except this kind of veil is invisible. We walk around happily with these invisible veils hanging down over our faces. The world is kind of blurry, and we like it that way. But sometimes our veils are pushed away for a few moments, like there’s a wind blowing it from our faces. And when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is, just for those few seconds before it settles down again. We see all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love. But mostly we are happy not to.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“Some people learn to lift the veil themselves. Then they don’t have to depend on the wind anymore. She doesn’t mean that it’s a real veil. And it isn’t about magic, or some idea that maybe God is looking right at you, or an angel is sitting next to you, or anything like that. Mom doesn’t think in those ways. It’s just her way of saying that most of the time, people get distracted by little stuff and ignore the big stuff.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
“He nodded like he felt sorry for me and my stupid brain. ‘I think that’s probably because of your common sense. You can’t accept the idea of arriving before you leave, the idea that every moment is happening at the same time, that it’s us who are moving—’ Enough was enough.”
― Rebecca Stead, quote from When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead
Born place: in New York City
Born date January 16, 1968
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“Enough, a person might say, if that person lived in the civilized world, the world of movies and television and fair play and decent restraint. But Reacher didn’t live there. He lived in a world where you don’t start fights but you sure as hell finish them, and you don’t lose them either, and he was the inheritor of generations of hard-won wisdom that said the best way to lose them was to assume they were over when they weren’t yet.”
― Lee Child, quote from Worth Dying For
“Note, Those that depart from God cannot find rest any where else. After Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, he never rested. Those that shut themselves out of heaven abandon themselves to a perpetual trembling. "Return therefore to thy rest, O my soul, to thy rest in God; else thou art for ever restless.”
― Matthew Henry, quote from A Church in the House: Restoring Daily Worship to the Christian Household
“Cuerpo a cuerpo he de matalle donde Sevilla lo vea, en la plaza o en la calle; que al que mata y no pelea nadie puede disculpalle; y gana más el que muere a traición, que el que le mata.”
― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, quote from Captain Alatriste
“I don't know. It's the world we live in, I guess. Some things will never be fair.”
― S. Walden, quote from Going Under
“Gabe tried to force himself to listen to and comprehend the priest’s words, but it was difficult, as Sophie’s beauty kept distracting him.”
― Melanie Dickerson, quote from The Fairest Beauty
Animal Liberation
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