HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE Quote #2

"One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he didn't understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid."

- Douglas Adams
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ch. 12

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE Quote #1

Using poetry as a torture device:

"[Electrodes] were strapped to his temples. These were attached to a battery of electronic equipment--imagery intensifiers, rhythmic modulators, alliterative residulators and simile dumpers--all designed to heighten the experience of the poem"

- Douglas Adams
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ch. 7

SEVEN LITTLE AUSTRALIANS Quote #1

How's this for an opening line?

"Before you fairly start this story I should like to give you just a word of warning.  If you imagine you are going to read of model children, with perhaps; a naughtily inclined one to point a moral, you had better lay down the book immediately ... Not one of the seven is really good, for the very excellent reason that Australian children never are."

- Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians

THREE MEN IN A TUB Quote #1

"We had knocked those three old gentlemen off their chairs ... and they were now slowly and painfully sorting themselves out from each other, and picking fish off themselves; and as they worked, they cursed us -- not with a common cursory curse, but with long, carefully-thought-out curses that embraced the whole of our career, and went away into the distant future, and included all our relations, and covered everything connected with us -- good, substantial curses."

Jerome K Jerome
Three Men in a Tub, ch XII

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #9

  "You see, to find the brightest wisdom one must pass through the darkest zones. And through the darkest zones there can be no guide."

- Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #8

I'm a sucker for word-play: "Of course, getting trapped in the stomach of a dragon is, even for a creature that cannot die, an incredibly unpleasant experience.... Though not quite as unpleasant, I would imagine, as getting out again."

- Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #7

About false apologies: "This I would not recommend. It's sort of like sweeping broken glass under the carpet; the floor still isn't clean, and somebody's going to end up with a bloody sock."

- Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #6

Some wisdom on dragon-slaying: "'You must kill it. You and Gretel.' 'Why us?' 'Because there is a time when a kingdom needs its children.'"

- Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #5

What do you eat for breakfast?: "The next morning, the Devil arose and readied himself for another day of soul-collecting. His grandmother made him a breakfast of human fingernails -- scrambled, of course -- and packed up his lunch bag."

- Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #4

Some lovely description: "...the little village that stood near the Schwarzwald was not dark at all. No, no: It was ringed by trees that, when Gretel arrived, had just slipped into their golden robes of autumn."

- Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #3

"But she wasn't a witch. The Brothers Grimm call her a witch, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact she was just a regular woman who had discovered, sometime around the birth of her second child, that while she liked chicken and she liked beef and she liked pork, what she really liked was child. I bet you can figure out how this happened. " -Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #2

"Now, my young readers, I know just what you're thinking. You're thinking, Hmmmm. Stealing a girl. That's an interesting way of winning her heart. Allow me to warn you now that, under any other circumstances, stealing a girl is about the worst way of winning her heart you could possibly cook up. But because this happened long ago, in a faraway land, it seems to have worked." - Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM Quote #1

I'm a sucker for word-play: "Understanding them?" the young king asked. "No. Under-standing them. In the ancient sense of the word. Standing beneath them. Supporting them. Bearing their troubles and their pains on my shoulders."

- Adam Gidwitz A Tale Dark and Grimm

THE CHOCOLATE WAR Quote #13

Chapter 31:

“Why did the wise guys always accuse other people of being wise guys?”

- Robert Cormier The Chocolate War

THE CHOCOLATE WAR Quote #12

Talking to a crank caller:

“‘Who is this?’ Jerry asked. And then the dial tone, line a fart in his ear.”

- Robert Cormier The Chocolate War

THE CHOCOLATE WAR Quote #11

From chapter 25:

“‘That’s right,’ Jerry said, his voice small, a wrong-end-of-the-telescope kind of voice.”

- Robert Cormier The Chocolate War

THE CHOCOLATE WAR Quote #10

“Rippled” is the perfect word:

“A second chocolate followed the first. And a third followed the second. His mouth was crammed with the candy now and his throat rippled as he swallowed. ‘Delicious,’ he said.”

- Robert Cormier The Chocolate War

THE CHOCOLATE WAR Quote #9

Talking while jogging:

“‘He got transferred,’ Jerry answered, squeezing the words out of himself like toothpaste from a tube. He was in good shape because of football but he wasn’t a runner and didn’t know the tricks.”

- Robert Cormier The Chocolate War

THE CHOCOLATE WAR Quote #8

“The poster showed a wide expanse of beach, a sweep of sky with a lone star glittering far away. A man walked on the beach, a small solitary figure in all the immensity. At the bottom of the poster, these words appeared -- Do I dare disturb the universe? By Eliot, who write the Waste Land thing they were studying in English.” - Robert Cormier The Chocolate War

THE CHOCOLATE WAR Quote #7

Another lovely description:

“He had a terrible case of acne, his face like a relief map.”

- Robert Cormier The Chocolate War