“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
See more on GoodReads
“Prom was more about acting out some weird facsimile of adulthood: dress up like a tacky wedding party, hold hands and behave like a couple even if you've never dated, and observe the etiquette of Gilded Age debutantes thrust into modern celebrity: limos, red carpets and a constant stream of paparazzi, played by parents, teachers, and hired photo hacks.”
― Dave Cullen, quote from Columbine
“I was no hero. The dearest wishes of my heart were for safety and tranquility. The world was a perilous place, wrong for the likes of me.”
― Gail Carson Levine, quote from The Two Princesses of Bamarre
“It was a nasty look. It made me feel as if I were something the dog had brought in and intended to bury later on, when he had time.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, quote from My Man Jeeves
“Funnily enough, it is the subject one dreads talking about at length one ends up talking about at length, often without the slightest provocation.”
― Marisha Pessl, quote from Special Topics in Calamity Physics
“It doesn't work that way. Silencing memories does not make them stop existing. Events cannot be undone by forgetting them.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Ship of Destiny
The Guns of August
The Grim Grotto
Erak's Ransom
Austenland
The Witch of Portobe...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.
