Peter Brown > Quotes

“I'll tell you what: If I could do it all over again, I'd spend more time helping others. All I've ever done is dig tunnels. Some of them were real beauties too, but they're all hidden underground, where they're no good to anyone but me.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“But I do not know how to act like a mother.” “Oh, it’s nothing, you just have to provide the gosling with food and water and shelter, make him feel loved but don’t pamper him too much, keep him away from danger, and make sure he learns to walk and talk and swim and fly and get along with others and look after himself. And that’s really all there is to motherhood!” The”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“An uncomfortable question popped into Jaya's mind. "Roz, don't take this the wrong way," she began, "but is it possible that you are defective?"

"Don't say that, Jaya!" cried her brother.

"No, it is okay," said the robot. "I have asked myself that same question. I do not feel defective. I feel . . . different. Is being different the same as being defective?"

"I don't think so," said Jaya. "Or else we're all a little defective.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Escapes

“If you stand in a forest long enough, eventually something will fall on you. And Roz had been standing in the forest long enough.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“You’ll never be the perfect mother, so just do the best you can. All Brightbill really needs is to know you’re doing your best.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“The island was teeming with life. And now it had a new kind of life. A strange kind of life. Artificial life.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“My mind is strong, but my body will not last forever.
I want to survive as long as possible. And to do that I will need the help of my friends.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Reader, there's another important quality that children possess. In addition to being sneaky and smart, they're also compassionate. Children care about others, and about the world.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Escapes

“As the robot looked out at the island, it never even occurred to her that she might not belong there. As far as Roz knew, she was home.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“She discovered that all the different animals shared one common language; they just spoke the language in different ways. You might say each species spoke with its own unique accent.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Brightbill had been Roz's son from the moment she picked up his egg. She had saved him from certain death, and then he had saved her. He was the reason Roz had lived so well for so long. And if she wanted to continue living, if she wanted to be wild again, she needed to be with her family and her friends on her island. So, as Roz raced through the sky, she began computing a plan.
She would get the repairs she needed.
She would escape from her new life.
She would find her way back home.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“The wilderness really can be ugly sometimes. But from that ugliness came beauty. You see, those poor dead creatures returned to the earth, their bodies nourished the soil, and they helped create the most dazzling spring bloom the island had ever known.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“If you love your job it never feels like work,”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Escapes

“You do want him to survive, don’t you?” said the goose. “Yes, I do want him to survive,” said the robot. “But I do not know how to act like a mother.” “Oh, it’s nothing, you just have to provide the gosling with food and water and shelter, make him feel loved but don’t pamper him too much, keep him away from danger, and make sure he learns to walk and talk and swim and fly and get along with others and look after himself. And that’s really all there is to motherhood!”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“The wilderness really can be ugly sometimes. But from that ugliness came beauty.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“As you might know, robots don’t really feel emotions. Not the way animals do. And yet, as she sat in her crumpled crate, Roz felt something like curiosity. She was curious about the warm ball of light shining down from above. So her computer brain went to work, and she identified the light. It was the sun.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Oscar ran after them, barking, “Is that food? It smells like food! I want food!”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Escapes

“Do you know what happened to my birth mother?” Roz told Brightbill about that fateful day in spring. About how the rocks had fallen and only one egg had survived. About how she’d put the egg in a nest and carried it away. About how she’d watched over the egg until a tiny gosling hatched. Brightbill listened carefully until she finished. “Should I stop calling you Mama?” said the gosling. “I will still act like your mother, no matter what you call me,” said the robot. “I think I’ll keep calling you Mama.” “I think I will keep calling you son.” “We’re a strange family,” said Brightbill, with a little smile. “But I kind of like it that way.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“it must seem impossible that our robot could have changed so much. Maybe the RECOs were right. Maybe Roz really was defective, and some glitch in her programming had caused her to accidentally become a wild robot. Or maybe Roz was designed to think and learn and change; she had simply done those things better than anyone could have imagined. However it happened, Roz felt lucky to have lived such an amazing life. And every moment had been recorded in her computer brain. Even her earliest memories were perfectly clear. She could still see the sun shining through the gash in her crate. She could still hear the waves crashing against the shore. She could still smell the salt water and the pine trees. Would she ever see and hear and smell those things again? Would she ever again climb a mountain, or build a lodge, or play with a goose? Not just a goose. A son. Brightbill had been Roz’s son from the moment she picked up his egg. She had saved him from certain death, and then he had saved her. He was the reason Roz had lived so well”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“His mother carefully laid him on a soft cushion of moss. But he didn’t want to sleep there. So she put him back in his little nest, but he didn’t want to sleep there either. Brightbill looked up and said, “Mama, sit!” Roz sat down. Then he said, “Mama, hold!” Roz held him. The robot’s body may have been hard and mechanical, but it was also strong and safe. The gosling felt loved. His eyes slowly winked closed. And he spent the whole night quietly sleeping in his mother’s arms.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Brewing is mentioned rarely in accounts of the Industrial Revolution. Temperance pressures meant it was impolitic for brewers to boast of their achievements and innovations, and few accurate records exist of exactly how it performed in the 19th Century compared to those glamorous, sexy industries like coal mining and steel making.”
― Peter Brown, The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles

“CHAPTER 80 THE SKY Our story ends in the sky, where a robot was being whisked away from the only home she had ever known.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Juggernaut.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Protects

“There was a sudden spray of mist, and everyone turned to see a pod of whales arriving. The whales breathed noisy gusts of air through their blowholes as they lined up along the platform. “These are your life rafts,” said Roz. “You expect us to ride whales?” said George. “An hour ago, they wanted to kill us!”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Protects

“so she didn’t feel the same fear felt by the animals. Instead, she felt something like sadness about the changes happening to the island.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Protects

“Of course I’ll be okay,” the cow panted. “I’m old, but I’m feisty. Those wolves don’t scare me.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot Escapes

“Our story begins on the ocean, with wind and rain and thunder and lightning and waves.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Please leave your droppings”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Everyone wanted to see the mother robot riding the mother bear.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot

“Reader, it must seem impossible that our robot could have changed so much. Maybe the RECOs were right. Maybe Roz really was defective, and some glitch in her programming had caused her to accidentally become a wild robot. Or maybe Roz was designed to think and learn and change; she had simply done those things better than anyone could have imagined.”
― Peter Brown, The Wild Robot