Tae Keller > Quotes

“A scientist never apologizes for asking questions. Questions keep us alive.”
― Tae Keller, The Science of Breakable Things

“Everybody have good and bad in them. But sometimes they so focused on sad, scary stories in life that they forget the good. When that happen, you don't tell them they are bad. That only make it worse. You remind them of the good.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“You can’t always protect breakable things. Hearts and eggs will break but you keep going anyway, because science is asking questions and living is not being afraid of the answer.”
― Tae Keller, The Science of Breakable Things

“Science is asking questions. And living is not being afraid of the answer”
― Tae Keller, The Science of Breakable Things

“Does it get easier? Does the sadness go away? The sadness fades, yeah. Eventually. But the missing ... I don't know if that ever does.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“Sometimes, no matter how much you want people to stay, you have to let them go.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“It's always so awkward when adults comment on your age. They look at you and say You're still so young or You're getting so old, and you want to shake your head and say I'm not young or old. I'm just me.”
― Tae Keller, The Science of Breakable Things

“Being brave means going up to people and saying, "Here's what I believe. I trust you," he said. Trust is the scariest thing to give but it is the most powerful.”
― Tae Keller, Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone

“Side effects. Consequences. Why does hope always come at a price?”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“I am a girl who sees invisible things, but I am not invisible.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“Natalie, you aren't the captain because you do everything right and stay out of trouble. You're the captain because you bring us all together" -Twig”
― Tae Keller, The Science of Breakable Things

“Story magic is powerful, powerful enough to change someone. And when a story is locked away, its magic only grows. Sometimes it grows sour. The magic becomes a kind of poison.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“As you get older, you collect more information and you see things from different perspectives. So, naturally, sometimes the stories you tell yourself…can change.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“I've been thinking more about perennial plants. About how sometimes life needs to go underground, bury itself deep to survive, and how maybe that's not a bad thing. It's just necessary. And that's okay." -Natalie”
― Tae Keller, The Science of Breakable Things

“If you are strong, you can hold more than one truth in your heart" -the tiger”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“But I believe in me. When you believe, that is you being brave. Sometime, believing is the bravest thing of all" -Halmoni”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“Even if things aren't perfect, they can still be good.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“He’s quiet, because I think he knows: Sometimes, with the hard things, you don’t want to talk about it. You just want someone to know it’s happening.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“I accept it, and warmth spreads up my fingertips and through my body. A small part of me perks up, smiles. And I'm not sure the smiles reaches my face, but maybe this is how healing starts - small bits of happiness waking up inside you, until maybe one day it spreads through your whole self" -Lily”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“You don’t have to say sorry. Everyone says sorry, but that doesn’t help, because it’s not their fault and they can’t fix it.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“A cure is not about what we want. It's about what we need. The same is true for stories.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“Why are people scared to believe? Maybe it's because if they believed in a better world then they would have to work to make that world happen.”
― Tae Keller, Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone

“We’re all part of this vast universe, full of infinite, messy life.”
― Tae Keller, Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone

“And maybe it would be nice to have some help—from someone who isn’t all that bothered by the why of things.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“Holidays, apparently, don’t make people happy. They just remind us of what we’re missing every other day of the year.”
― Tae Keller, The Science of Breakable Things

“All my life, I spend so much time, so much energy, hiding my heart. I am scare of tigers. But more, I am scare of the tiger in me,” she says. “I thought I have to hide my words, because my English not so good. I thought I have to hide my heart, because I feel too much. And I thought I have to hide my story, because I think if I tell it, it is who I am forever.” She takes a shallow breath. “But when I keep it tight-tight, it eat me up. I don’t see the love, all around me.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“Stories don’t belong to anybody,” I say. “They’re meant to be told.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“The human body is ten percent hydrogen. Which means ten percent of us is as old as the universe itself.”
― Tae Keller, Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone

“Maybe it's scary to tell stories and share their truths—but I'd rather face them than run.”
― Tae Keller, When You Trap a Tiger

“Lately every conversation with Mom turned into a fight or a lecture, like she didn’t trust me to be a decent person on my own.”
― Tae Keller, Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone