Katherine Applegate > Quotes

“Dogs, we use the sky to tell time, like any sensible creature. Sky says it's dawn? Time to eat. It's noon? Time to eat. It's afternoon? Time to eat. It's dusk? Time to eat. It's midnight? Time to eat.
Point is, it's always time to eat.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“Sometimes nothing is the worst sound in the world. Ruby lets out a little elephant cry, and then I realize maybe that’s the worst sound in the world.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“I really do try to listen to the grown-ups, but every now and then my ears misbehave.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ruby

“I’m picky. Not so much about looks, although even there I’m kind of picky. It’s more that I can’t pretend some guy is interesting when he’s not. If he’s immature, I’ll probably tell him so. Within five minutes of knowing him. And if he looks ridiculous dressed up like some wannabe, I’ll probably say that, too, or more likely just steer clear of him.”
― Katherine Applegate

“Humans love it when we get silly. I think they’re so weighed down by people problems that sometimes they need to be reminded what happy looks like.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“No,”
― Katherine Applegate, Odder: The Novel

“Ma nel bene o nel male, avevo legato il mio destino a quello dei terrestri.
I terrestri.
Violenti ma amanti della pace.
Pieni di passione ma cerebrali.
Pieni di umanità ma crudeli.
Impulsivi ma calcolatori.
I terrestri. Complessivamente, una specie contraddittoria e molto imperfetta.
Eppure… eppure in qualche modo sapevo che erano proprio loro la speranza per tutta la galassia.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Sacrifice

“See that vine?" I said to Tobble. "My siblings and I used to swing out from it, then land in the lake." I gave a small laugh. "Well, they did anyway. I was too afraid."
"You? Afraid?"
"Always and forever," I said. "I'm beginning to think that's how life works."
"Are we stopping here?" Tobble asked. "The horses are well watered."
"Yes, but I'm not. Do you know what I need, Tobble? I need a swim."
I checked the icy water with a long stick to be sure it was as deep as I recalled. Two silver fish darted past. As I clambered to a low-hanging branch, I felt a familiar shiver of anticipation and dread, and for a moment, I was the old Byx, with all her hopes and fears and longings. Then I kicked off as hard as I could, swung far out over the pond, and let go.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Only

“Wobbyks have a saying, 'Grow tall as a sapling, not tall as a weed. One is watered, the other cut down.' It means that you can set yourself greater than others, but only if you're a tree that gives shade. Not if you're a useless plant that must be cut down.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Only

“Nonetheless, although dairnes don’t lie, we do sometimes . . . hope.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Last

“That's not brave, Bob," he finally said. "That's just knowing what I can't change."
"I call it brave," I said. "I call it crazy brave.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“The orphanage was a special place for baby elephants who'd been found lost and alone. The way it worked was pretty simple. With pretend milk and pretend parents and a pretend life, they were trying to teach us how to survive.

But the love was never pretend. Never. ”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ruby

“Time heals all wounds.”
― Katherine Applegate, Wishtree

“The weak and frightened long to kill,
The blood of innocents to spill.
'Tis ever easier to hate,
Than learn to love, or to create.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Only

“When time tells a story, surprises are the one thing you can count on.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Family

“For Marquez, the transition from standing around to dancing was instantaneous and total. It wasn't about looking cool, it was about losing all contact with the normal world, gong away to a place where her body and mind and the music were all the same thing.”
― Katherine Applegate, June Dreams

“I think I’ve always been an artist. Even as a baby, still clinging to my mother, I had an artist’s eye. I saw shapes in the clouds, and sculptures in the tumbled stones at the bottom of a stream. I grabbed at colors—the crimson flower just out of reach, the ebony bird streaking past.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

“There was a dog on that Man's Best Friend show who supposedly understood like a thousand human words. Border collie, I think. Those guys need to switch to decaf.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“I was amazed how easy the lying came. It was like turning on a faucet. The words just rushed right out. I felt guilty for not feeling guilty. I mean, I’d shoplifted. I’d taken something that didn’t belong to me. I was a criminal. But I told myself that in nature it’s survival of the fittest. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. They say those things a lot in nature films. Right after the lion eats the zebra. Of course I wasn’t a lion. I was a person who knew right from wrong. And stealing was wrong. But here’s the truth. I felt crummy about the stealing. But I felt even worse about the lying.”
― Katherine Applegate, Crenshaw

“sometimes. If”
― Katherine Applegate, Crenshaw

“Why can’t you just be like other parents?” I demanded. I was crying hard. I gasped for breath. “Why does it have to be this way?”
― Katherine Applegate, Crenshaw

“Everything ends eventually. I guess that's what makes summer so intense, this feeling that it lasts for only a a short while and then it's back to reality.”
― Katherine Applegate, August Magic

“We can't change the past. But maybe we can figure out the future.”
― Katherine Applegate, Spring Break

“We’re right here … In … Your … FACE!”
― Katherine Applegate, The Visitor

“But even though I draw the same things over and over again, I never get bored with my art. When I’m drawing, that’s all I think about. I don’t think about where I am, about yesterday or tomorrow. I just move my crayons across the paper.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

“I’ve always been an artist. I love drawing.” “Why do you love it?” Ruby asks. I pause. I’ve never talked to anyone about this before. “When I’m drawing a picture, I feel … quiet inside.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

“David, when it happens... when it happens, David, will you save me?”
― Katherine Applegate, Search for Senna

“Gently, because trees are like quiet friends and you have to be kind to them.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ruby

“Fear can make you panic. But sometimes it floods your body like cobra venom and leaves you frozen.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ruby

“Nature is not always pretty or fair or kind.
But sometimes surprises happen. And Samar, every spring night, reminded me there is beauty in stillness and grace and acceptance.
And that you're never too old to be surprised" -Red”
― Katherine Applegate, Wishtree