Adam Gidwitz > Quotes

“You see, to find the brightest wisdom one must pass through the darkest zones. And through the darkest zones there can be no guide.
No guide, that is, but courage”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“Once upon a time, fairy tales were AWESOME!”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“There is a certain kind of pain that can change you. Even the strongest sword, when placed in a raging fire, will soften and bend and change its form...
Trust me on this one. I know this from personal experience. I hope that you never will, but, since you're a person, and therefore prone to making horrible, soul-splitting mistakes, you probably will one day know what this kind of guilt and shame feels like. And when that time comes, I hope you have the strength...to take advantage of the fire and reshape your own sword.”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“For a momente she [Gretel] stopped and considered following the rain's advice. But then she shook her head. "You're being foolish," Gretel told herself. "Rain can't talk."

No, of course it can't. The moon can eat children, and fingers can open doors, and people's heads can be put back on.
But rain? Talk? Don't be ridiculous.
Good thinking, Gretel dear. Good thinking.”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“There is this weird thing that happens, when you stop worrying so much about what other people think of you...you suddenly start seeing what you think of you.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“You see, Hansel and Gretel don’t just show up at the end of this story.

They show up.

And then they get their heads cut off.

Just thought you’d like to know.”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“Home is where you can be yourself.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“There is a wisdom in children, a kind of knowing, a kind of believing, that we, as adults, do not have. There is a time when a kingdom needs its children.”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“I'd say all mirrors are magical, or can be.
They show you yourself after all.
Really seeing yourself, though, that's the hard part.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“For, in life, it is in the darkest zones one finds the brightest beauty and the most luminous wisdom.”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“The oven became hotter and hotter, and Hansel began to sweat. Then a delicious smell wafted to his nostrils. Oh no! he thought. I'm cooking! He sniffed at the air. And I smell delicious!”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“There is something embarrassing about someone else's grief. It is hard to know what to do around it. The right answer, always, is hugs.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

“But beware, dear reader. For we go out into the wide, wild world, looking to change, looking to grow, looking for wisdom. But wisdom is hard to come by, and once achieved, it is very easily lost. Especially when one is leaving the wide, wild world - and returning to the place you once fled.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“Sometimes, it turns out, the most important decisions in life are made by your dog.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

“When you do what you want, not what you wish...' said the first raven.
'When you no longer seek your reflection in others' eyes...' said the second.
'When you see yourselves face to face...' said the third.
'Then,' the ravens intoned in unison, 'you will have found what you truly seek.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“So thirsty," Jack groaned.
"So worried,"said the frog. I hope we don't starve to death."
"Yes,"said Jill, "not starving to death would be nice."
"So would not thirsting to death," said Jack
"Thirsting isn't even a word," said Jill
"It isn't?"
"No."
"Then what's the word?"
"I dont know. You just can't."
"Oh."
This is, of course, the kind of inane conversation that occurs when people are slowly losing their minds.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“There is a certain kind of pain that can change you. Even the strongest sword, when placed in a raging fire, will soften and bend and change its form.”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark and Grimm

“Maybe you know something about young people, and maybe you don't. I, having been one myself once upon a time, know a few things about them. One thing I know is that if you don't want one to do something - for example, go into a room where there's a portrait of an unbearably beautiful princess- saying "It might cost you your life" is about the worst thing you can possibly say. Because then that's all that young person will want to do.

I mean, why didn't Johannes say something else? Like, "It's a broom closet. Why? you want to see a broom closet?" Or, "It's a fake door, silly. For decoration." Or even, "It's the ladies' bathroom, Your Majesty. Best not go poking your head in there.”
― Adam Gidwitz, A Tale Dark & Grimm

“It tastes like life."
"What?"
"Rotten and strange and rich and way, way too strong.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

“Being the reader of a dark fairy tale is much like being the hero of one. Our lives are filled with pain, boredom, and fear. We want to venture into the dark wood, to see the oddities and the beauties it holds, and to test ourselves against them. So we pick up a book of fairy tales. The real ones. THe weird ones. The dark ones. We see oddities and beauties galore. We test our courage and our understanding. Finally, we put the book down and return to our lives. And hopefully, just like the hero of the fairy tale, we return stronger, richer, and wiser. In difficult times - of recession and violence and political bitterness - we long for a dark forest to which we can escape; and from which we can return, better than we were before.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Grimm Conclusion

“Inside her, great castles of comprehension, models of the world as she had understood it, shivered. She could not decide whether to let them crumble or to try desperately to save them.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

“Maybe I've been wanting the wrong things.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“There are some people in this world who have magic in them, whose very presence makes you happier. Some of those people, it turns out, are children.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

“When you are very pretty, people tend to remark on your looks. They smile at you more easily. They are more permissive of your faults. Soon, you come to believe that your prettiness matters, and that you are better because you are pretty, and that all it takes to get through life is a batting of your eyelashes and a twisting of your hair around your little finger, and that you can scream and pout and shout and tease because everyone will still like you anyway because you are so unbelievably pretty. This is what many very pretty people think.

Beware, then, for this is how monsters are made.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly

“Whoever destroys a single life destroys the whole world. And whoever saves a single life saves the whole world.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

“There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Grimm Conclusion

“He stopped at every village, every hamlet, every house and hovel he passed along the way to ask if they had seen or heard anything of his sister,, Gretel. But no one had.

"You mean Gretel, the old woman?"

"No, my sister."

"Gretel, my sister's baby?"

"No, my sister. And she's not a baby."

"I have a goat named Gretel."

"No!”
― Adam Gidwitz

“Wait!” the prince exclaimed. “After you kill it, can I ride it?”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Grimm Conclusion

“How could he hate the Jews and yet feel sick when they were attacked? Louis hated peasants, too, apparently, and yet he had no problem sitting beside Jeanne - hoisting her in the air and dancing even. Jacob tried to turn this over in his head, around and around, like the cartwheels beneath him. But after a while, he gave up. People were too strange to understand, he decided. They were like life. And also that cheese. Too many things at once.”
― Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog

“They were amazing, fierce, beautiful children.”
― Adam Gidwitz, In a Glass Grimmly