Steven Herrick > Quotes

“and I'm thinking as our bodies meet that I'll remember this forever, and i just hope it's for all the right reasons.”
― Steven Herrick, Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair

“I’m alone with the ghost of the swamp, somewhere near the weeping willows.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“Men walk through tragedy, quietly, calm and precise on the outside, tearing themselves to shreds inside.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“My father said to remember your enemies as well as your friends, and don't trust either of them.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“It was a good apple too. A good apple, picked by a madman on a full moon night.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“I'd go off alone,
because you can't trust those who want to break the rules and you certainly can't trust those who make the rules so you do the only thing possible,
you avoid the rules.”
― Steven Herrick

“I decide to make the most of the time we got left before she gets too big for this small town.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“Wandering from room to room discovering another side to the moon.”
― Steven Herrick

“He hands the page to his wife and looks across the room to Colleen's picture, listening to her absence, breathing deeply the air she can't share.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“People say the beach is the great equaliser
Who are they kidding?
Sit at Bondi and watch the boys flex
And the girls walk bolt upright
It looks like a nightmare episode of Baywatch.
The true equaliser is the mountain cold
And stacks of cold flung together
Maybe then we’d listen to what each other is saying
Instead of checking out the best bods.

And as I wrap another layer
Around my Size 10
I think of Jack’s favourite saying:
“today’s tan is tomorrow’s cancer”

I walk outside
And whistle at the wind.”
― Steven Herrick, Kissing Annabel: Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair; A Place Like This

“He did what he could, and that was more than enough.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“Cowards don't always hide. Sometimes, they're so gutless they need to stand out.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“Bloody rain” says Mr Chivers
Bouncing a basketball
On the one dry patch of court
bloody rain” he nods to our Sports class
And gives us the afternoon off.
Bloody rain all right
As Annabel and I run to Megalong Creek hut
Faster than we ever have in Chivers’s class
And the exercise we have in mind
We’ve been training for all year
But I doubt if old Chivers
Will give us a medal if he ever finds out.
We high jump into the hut
And strip down
Climb under the blankets
And cheer the bloody rain
As it does a lap or two
Around the mountain
While Annabel and me
Embrace like winners should
Like good sports do
As Mr. Chivers sips his third coffee
And twitches his bad knee
From his playing days
While miles away
Annabel and I
Score a convincing victory
And for once in our school life
The words “Physical Education”
Make sense…”
― Steven Herrick, Kissing Annabel: Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair; A Place Like This

“She taught me what's important, and what isn't. And I've never forgotten. And that's what mothers do, I say.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“I'm dreaming of a month of Sundays.”
― Steven Herrick

“I'm drinking away the exam results that don't take me anywhere.”
― Steven Herrick

“I'm glad she left me the kids. I'd be lost without them. Lost and bitter. With them here, I'm only bitter.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“He looks again towards the door, expecting Mum to walk in and remind him of something he's forgotten. He smiles awkwardly.
'Is that it, Dad? I've got to go.'
'Your Mum said I should mention ... um ... satisfaction.'
'What!'
'She said young men should know things, should be told things so that the girl won't be ...' his eyes plead for understanding, '... disappointed.'
[...] 'No worries, Dad. My biology teacher said I was a natural.'
Dad looks confused.
'I'm kidding, Dad.'
[...] Poor bloke, having to do the dirty work while Mum's off with her gang.
'Dad? What did Grandpa tell you about sex?'
'He said if I got a girl pregnant, he'd kill me.”
― Steven Herrick, Slice

“As I stood on the lonely backroad, I'm sure I heard birds, kookaburras, laughing ...”
― Steven Herrick

“Pretty girls kissed me on victory day, their lips soft red petals brushing my face.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“But when I look at this farm I keep thinking it's not whether I have the guts to go but if I have the guts to stay.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“He walks through the house of his past, hoping he'll find the right door, hoping he'll find the key.”
― Steven Herrick

“I'm not sure if my dream is a dream, or a nightmare.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“After the war I was going to make up for lost time. But the time I spent away, it's still lost. No matter what I do, it stays lost.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“Nobody in school is stronger than me. But when Sally Holmes kissed me, I never felt so weak in all my life.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“I walked out of his room sure I'd said the right thing maybe not as a father but as a Dad. I'd said the right thing, for once in my life.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“I've tried praying. It gives me comfort. But not as much as a cup of tea and a ginger nut biscuit.”
― Steven Herrick, Cold Skin

“A nice place to visit,
before you sleep.”
― Steven Herrick, By the River

“And I feel like a real Dad when I read to her at night. She won't sleep without one story, at least.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This

“Our great adventure ran out of petrol and stopped on this farm.”
― Steven Herrick, A Place Like This