Quotes by Robert Cormier

“He hated to think of his own life stretching ahead of him that way, a long succession of days and nights that were fine - not good, not bad, not great, not lousy, not exciting, not anything.”

“They don't actually want you to do your own thing, not unless it's their thing too.”

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.”

“He was intrigued by the power of words, not the literary words that filled the books in the library but the sharp, staccato words that went into the writing of news stories. Words that went for the...”

“Everybody sins, Francis. The terrible thing is that we love our sins. We love the thing that makes us evil.”

“The possibility that hope comes out of hopelessness and that the opposite of things carry the seeds of birth - love out of hate, good out of evil. Didn't flowers grow out of dirt?”

“The cheese stands aloneThe cheese stands aloneHeigh-ho the merry-oThe cheese stands alone”

“You see Carter, people are two things: greedy and cruel. So we have a perfect set-up here. The greed part - a kid pays a buck for a chance to win a hundred. Plus fifty boxes of chocolates. The crue...”

“Don't miss the bus, boy. You're missing a lot of things in the world, better not miss that bus.”

“Family life was wonderful. The streets were bleak. The playgrounds were bleak. But home was always warm. My mother and father had a great relationship. I always felt 'safe' there.”

“I have always had a sense that we are all pretty much alone in life, particularly in adolescence.”

“I wonder if it's a special sin to lie to a nun”

“When he ran, he even loved the pain, the hurt of the running, the burning in his lungs and the spasms that sometimes gripped his calves. He loved it because he knew he could endure the pain, and ev...”

“The Goober was beautiful when he ran. His long arms and legs moved flowingly and flawlessly, his body floating as if his feet werent touching the ground. When he ran, he forgot about his acne and h...”

“Everybody sins, Francis. The terrible thing is that we love our sins. We love the thing that makes us evil.”

“They murdered him.”

“Obie was bored. Worse than bored. He was also tired. He went to bed tired and woke up tired. He found himself yawning constantly. Most of all, he was tired of Archie. Archie the bastard. The bastar...”

“You're a real bastard, Obie said finally, his frustration erupting, like a Coke exploding from a bottle after you shake it. You know that? Archie turned and smiled at him benevolently, like a godda...”

“The assignment must fit the kid. That's the beauty of it, Obie. Obie waited a minute or two and couldn't resist asking, You running out of ideas, Archie? The great Archie Costello running dry? The ...”

“Know what, Archie What? Life is sad, sometimes. That was one of the great things about Arcie, you could say things like that. Life is shit, Archie said. The shadows of he goal posts definitely rese...”