Lois Lowry Quotations | Page 2

But there's a whole world waiting, still, and there are good things in it.

I left home at the correct time but when I was riding along near the hatchery, the crew was separating some salmon, I guess I just got distraught, watching them.

Things seem more when you’re little. They seem bigger, and distances seem farther.

The mind can’t explain it, and you can’t make it go away. It’s called love.

I see all of them. All the colors.

So actually, there could be parents-of-the-parents-of-the-parents-of-the parents?

But then everyone would be burdened and pained. They don't want that. And that's the real reason The Receiver is so vital to them, and so honored. They selected me--and you-to lift that burden from themselves.

Ellen had said that her mother was afraid of the ocean, that it was too cold and too big. The sky was, too, thought Annemarie. The whole world was: too cold, too big. And too cruel.

They were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.

You will fail. Then they will kill you." - Vandara to Kira, following Kira's trial.

Then I went home to continue my life, which had changed a little, as lives do every day, inching by microspecks forward toward whatever surprises are coming next.

There's much more. There's all that goes beyond – all ... that is Elsewhere – and all that goes back, and back, and back. I received all of those, when I was selected. And here in this room, all alone, I re-experience them again and again. It is how wisdom comes. And how we shape our future.

I often compare myself as a kid to my own grandchildren, who are around 11 and 14 now. That's the age kids usually read my book. And I remember myself; we'd gone through a world war. My father was an army officer so I was aware of what was going on. But I wasn't bombarded with images of catastrophe like many kids are today.

Think only on the climb. Think on what you control

I tend not to think about audience when I'm writing. Many people who read 'The Giver' now have their own kids who are reading it. Even from the beginning, the book attracted an audience beyond a child audience.

It's a funny thing about names, how they become a part of someone.

Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.

It's just that... without the memories it's all meaningless.

Because of fear, they made shelter and found food and grew things. For the same reason, weapons were stored, waiting.

It is so good to have friends who understand how there is a time for crying and a time for laughing, and that sometimes the two are very close together.

Time goes on, and your life is still there, and you have to live it. After a while you remember the good things more often than the bad. Then, gradually, the empty silent parts of you fill up with sounds of talking and laughter again, and the jagged edges of sadness are softened by memories.

Every 'no' means you are that much closer to a 'yes.

I think when you've had success, publishers and reviewers and readers are willing to let you try something new if you've already proven yourself. They're excited about what you're doing, you have people interested in it, and actually waiting for it. It's empowering.

I don't read young adult or children's books, now that my grandchildren are beyond the age of my reading to them. I read reviews, and so I'm aware of what's out there. But I tend not to read the books.

Today is declared an unscheduled holiday.

Gabe?" The newchild stirred slightly in his sleep. Jonas looked over at him. "There could be love", Jonas whispered.

You remember that I told you it was safer not to know. But,' he went on, as his hands moved wuth their sure and practiced motion, 'I will tell you just a little, because you were so very brave.' Brave?' Annemarie asked, surprised. 'No, I wasn't. I was very frightened.' You risked your life.' But I didn't even think about that! I was only thinking of-' He interrupted her,smiling. 'That's all that brave means-not thinking about the dangers. Just thinking about what you must do. Of course you were frightened. I was too, today. But you kept your mind on what you had to do. So did I.

I liked the feeling of love,' [Jonas] confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. 'I wish we still had that,' he whispered. 'Of course,' he added quickly, 'I do understand that it wouldn't work very well. And that it's much better to be organized the way we are now. I can see that it was a dangerous way to live.' ...'Still,' he said slowly, almost to himself, 'I did like the light they made. And the warmth.

The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.

If you were to be lost in the river, Jonas, your memories would not be lost with you. Memories are forever.

For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo.

He wept, and it felt as if the tears were cleansing him, as if his body needed to empty itself.

Memory is the happiness of being alone.

Making lists of reasons was sometimes a good way to figure things out.

Even trained for years as they all had been in precision of language, what words could you use which would give another the experience of sunshine?

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come.

Take pride in your pain; you are stronger than those who have none

There is something about that moment, when literature becomes accessible, and a door of the world opens.

And here in this room, I re-experience the memories again and again it is how wisdom comes and how we shape our future.

It is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything.

She fell asleep, and it was a sleep as thin as the night clouds, dotted with dreams that came and went like the stars.

As a shy, introverted, scholarly child (long ago) I don't know what I would have done without libraries! My family moved often. I was always the new kid in town. The library always offered me my first and most important friendship: the place where I felt right at home. I still feel that way today, about libraries.

Early on I came to realize something, and it came from the mail I received from kids. That is, kids at that pivotal age, 12, 13 or 14, they're still deeply affected by what they read, some are changed by what they read, books can change the way they feel about the world in general. I don't think that's true of adults as much.

Evil can do anything, for a price.

Fear dims when you learn things.

I knew that there had been times in the past-terrible times-when people had destroyed others in haste,in fear, and had brought about their own destruction

The writer after all is only half the book, the other half is the reader.

It is very risky. But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere.

-a whole world can lie before someone, if love is there when one wakes.