Jo Knowles > Quotes

“We only hate what we don't understand.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I'm lying in my room listening to the birds outside. I used to think they sang because they were happy. But then I learned on a nature show they're really showing off. Trying to lure in some other bird so they can mate with it. Or let the other birds know not to get too close to their turf. I wish I never watched that show, because now all I think about is what those pretty sounds mean. And how they're not pretty at all.”
― Jo Knowles, Jumping Off Swings

“I have this friend, Jake," Mr. Mitchell says, sitting on the edge of his desk. "One day, I needed a favor. It wasn't a big favor, but I called him and told him I needed something. Know what he said?"
We shake our heads.
"He said, 'Sure.' Before he eve knew what i was going to ask him. You know why?"
We shake our heads again.
"Because he trusted me not to ask him to do something he couldn't or wouldn't want to do. He knew that whatever i asked for, he would help me simply because he was my friend and I needed help. That's true friendship.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I breath in and out through my mouth to feel the quiet. In. Out. Over and over. Until I fall asleep.”
― Jo Knowles, See You at Harry's

“What happens when you finally decide to tell the truth and no one listens?”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I stretch my fingers across my belly and glide my hand back and forth, waving softly. Sometimes I think I feel a hand reaching out for mine. Or it could be a foot, kicking my hand away. I wish I could tell the difference.”
― Jo Knowles, Jumping Off Swings

“Maybe that's what being real friends are all about - putting up with the hard lessons - both taught and learned together.”
― Jo Knowles

“For someone who is invisible, why am I the only one in this family who can’t seem to master the art of disappearing?”
― Jo Knowles, See You at Harry's

“I want to be happy. To finally just let the past slip away into the night.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“She had this chant, "All will be well, all will be well." I started to believe them, but the whole thing was a scam. It was just some stupid thing to say to make me believe life isn't unfair. And just when I thought life was perfect, it became unbearable again.”
― Jo Knowles, See You at Harry's

“But then, as she looks at their unsuspecting, uninterested faces, she will start to think about what that really means. That just like there is more to her than what they see, there is more inside each one of them. What’s your story? she will wonder as she scans the room from face to face. And this time, when she pleads with them to read between the lines, she will try to do the same.”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“She’s the kind of person who looks at you when you’re talking and asks you questions as if she really cares.”
― Jo Knowles, Jumping Off Swings

“Maybe I just need to be able to feel the significance of my own existence.”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“Saying good-bye to them was like saying good-bye to some people who used to know me when I was a little kid. Like saying good-bye to zombies. Good-bye to a memory. Good-bye to dust. The real good-bye happened a long, long time ago.”
― Jo Knowles, Living with Jackie Chan

“And where would I be, that plain, quiet girl Leah was always dragging along?
I’d be up at the front, where everyone could see me.
I would stand at the altar above Leah’s shiny coffin and deliver the eulogy. I would tell the truth about Leah Greene. I would say she was my troubled friend. I would admit that I let her down. I would explain that, in many ways, we let each other down. But I would say that I forgive her. And while I spoke, I’d feel her watching and listening, trying to decide if she forgives me, too.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I’ve never felt this ugly or embarrassed — this dirty — in my life. I hate the way I feel. I hate it. I’m a pervert. Why else would my body feel that way when I looked at those pictures?”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I do what I always do. I go outside to get some air. Seems like I’m always trying to get some air.”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“Now my life has shifted. But instead of feeling glad or excited, I feel lost. I didn’t realize how alone alone would feel.”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“The hard floor makes my head ache more than it did before, but I don’t get up. I don’t move. I feel all the ugliness and shame I’ve bottled up pour over me and cover me like a blanket.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I try to remind myself of all the mean things she’s done to me, but in the end it doesn’t matter. With Leah, it never did. Even from the very beginning. No matter how much she hurt me, I always came back. All she had to do was reach for my hand and pull.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“Grace’s boyfriend’s parties became more important than trying to find ourselves. Maybe it’s because we became afraid of what we’d find.”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“Why do people want to be so skinny? What do they think will happen when they reach their size-zero goal? What happens at zero? Zero means there’s nothing left. Why does she want to disappear?”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“It makes me want to cry. Sometimes, when someone is nice to you for no reason but when you need it most, that happens.”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“I get up slowly, quietly, and creep to the bathroom. I turn the water on full and step in without waiting for the hot to kick in. The tub is cold against my skin. I reach for the soap and a washcloth and rub myself all over. Hard. I scrub and scrub until the water warms up and rises over my ankles, my shins, my knees. I scrub until my skin feels raw and the water is so hot it stings against my skin.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I stand here, looking at it. At my new life. No more people staring at me when I walk down the hall. No more whispers behind my back. No one knows me here. No one knows what happened. What I did. I just have to get through the year, get into college someplace far away, and leave for good.”
― Jo Knowles, Living with Jackie Chan

“I lean against the hard back of the tub and close my eyes. I see flashes of Leah. Hear fragments of her voice. Remember, Lainey? Remember when we used to mess around? First I did something to you, then you had to do it to me.You liked it. You know you did.
Tears slip down my cheeks and along my neck. I sink under the water to wash them away. Under here, the quiet echo of the water moving makes me feel like I’m in another world. Alone. But I have to come up for air.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“We were outsiders, waiting to become invisible. Waiting to amount to nothing.”
― Jo Knowles, Read Between the Lines

“I nod to say good-bye, and I almost believe she’s nodding back at me.
But she’s not.
It’s me nodding. Me nodding to her, and to myself. When I stand, I see the shape of my legs reflected in the stone. I step backward. Backward. Backward until I can’t see my image there anymore. Then I turn and walk away.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl

“I know I shouldn't judge the guy by his name, or apparent lack of a sense of humor, but I can't help it. Something about the way Stella talked about him, like she had to convince me he's a good guy, felt strange. Why do girls do that? Why do they go out with guys they have to convince people - convince themselves - to like?”
― Jo Knowles, Living with Jackie Chan

“I turn my back to Jess while we both get dressed. I’m sweating.
Please don’t let me have any weird feelings.
Please don’t let her look at me.
Please don’t let her be like Leah.”
― Jo Knowles, Lessons from a Dead Girl