Sharon M. Draper > Quotes

“Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes-each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“What's right isn't always popular, and whats popular isn't always right.”
― Sharon M. Draper

“[A] person is so much more than the name of a diagnosis on a chart.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Thoughts need words. Words need a voice.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Words.

I’m surrounded by thousands of words. Maybe millions.

Cathedral. Mayonnaise. Pomegranate.
Mississippi. Neapolitan. Hippopotamus.
Silky. Terrifying. Iridescent.
Tickle. Sneeze. Wish. Worry.

Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes—each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.

Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phrases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions. Jokes. Love songs.

From the time I was really little—maybe just a few months old—words were like sweet, liquid gifts, and I drank them like lemonade. I could almost taste them. They made my jumbled thoughts and feelings have substance. My parents have always blanketed me with conversation. They chattered and babbled. They verbalized and vocalized. My father sang to me. My mother whispered her strength into my ear.

Every word my parents spoke to me or about me I absorbed and kept and remembered. All of them.

I have no idea how I untangled the complicated process of words and thought, but it happened quickly and naturally. By the time I was two, all my memories had words, and all my words had meanings.

But only in my head.

I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Do not let anyone stop you from succeding”
― Sharon M. Draper

“What would you do if you could fly?" Mrs. V asks as she glances from the bird to me.
"Is that on the quiz?" I ask, grinning as I type.
"I think we've studied just about everything else." Mrs. V chuckles.
"I'd be scared to let go," I type.
"Afraid you'd fall?" she asks.
"No. Afraid it would feel so good, I'd just fly away.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Who Am I?
I’m a creator, a visionary, a poet. I approach the world with the eyes of an artist, the ears of a musician, and the soul of a writer. I see rainbows where others see only rain, and possibilities when others see only problems. I love spring flowers, summer’s heat on my body, and the beauty of the dying leaves in the fall. Classical music, art museums, and ballet are sources of inspiration, as well as blues music and dim cafes. I love to write; words flow easily from my fingertips, and my heart beats rapidly with excitement as an idea becomes a reality on the paper in front of me. I smile often, laugh easily, and I weep at pain and cruelty. I'm a learner and a seeker of knowledge, and I try to take my readers along on my journey. I am passionate about what I do. I learned to dream through reading, learned to create dreams through writing, and learned to develop dreamers through teaching. I shall always be a dreamer. Come dream with me.”
― Sharon M. Draper

“Maybe I'm not so different from everyone else after all. It's like somebody gave me a puzzle, but I don't have the box with the picture on it. So I don't know what the final thing is supposed to look like. I'm not even sure if I have all the pieces.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“I believe in me. And my family does. And Mrs. V.
It's the rest of the world I'm not so sure of.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“What your body looks like has nothing to do with how well your brain works!”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Music is powerful, my young friends,” she said. “It can connect us to memories. It can influence our mood and our responses to problems we might face.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Do you know what courage is? I guess you don't. Do you know that the courage it took at that moment - to actually blow yourself away - was more than enough courage to keep on living?”
― Sharon M. Draper, Tears of a Tiger

“Go ahead and cry, Andy. Don't be afraid of those tears. Sometimes they help to wash the soul clean.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Tears of a Tiger

“But I'll always love you, and I'll always miss you and I'll never forget that It's okay to put dragons in the jungle and tears on a tiger”
― Sharon M. Draper, Tears of a Tiger

“By the way, there is nothing cute about a pink wheelchair. Pink doesn't change a thing.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“I learned to dream through reading, learned to create dreams through writing, and learned to develop dreamers through teaching. I shall always be a dreamer.”
― Sharon Draper

“She talked to me like I was just like any other student, not a kid in a wheelchair.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“and the machine speaks the words I’ve never been able to say. “I love you.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“It’s like I’ve always had a painted musical sound track playing background to my life. I can almost hear colors and smell images when music is played.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Words. I'm surrounding by thousands of words. Maybe millions...Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phrases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions. Jokes. Love songs...I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old.”
― Sharon Draper

“Delete, delete, delete. No way am I letting their negativity mess me up. I have enough to worry about.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Words fall out of the sky like leaves, girl. Grab a couple and write ’em down.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Stella by Starlight

“I can’t talk. I can’t walk. I can’t feed myself or take myself to the bathroom. Big bummer.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“I just sit there. The morning started out like crystal, but the day has turned to broken glass.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Fifth grade is probably pretty rocky for lots of kids. Homework. Never being quite sure if you’re cool enough. Clothes. Parents. Wanting to play with toys and wanting to be grown up all at the same time. Underarm odor. I guess I have all that, plus about a million different layers of other stuff to deal with. Making people understand what I want. Worrying about what I look like. Fitting in. Will a boy ever like me? Maybe I’m not so different from everyone else after all.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“Look at that amazing display of sparkle! And feel that wind? It's trying to tickle your toes,”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“One series of notes, high and delicate, sang of a sweet moonlight kiss gone sour; another line of music rippled with regret over opportunities forever lost.”
― Sharon M. Draper, The Battle of Jericho

“I love the smell of my mother’s hair after she washes it.
I love the feel of the scratchy stubble on my father’s face before he shaves.
But I’ve never been able to tell them.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind

“I’m always amazed at how adults assume I can’t hear. They talk about me as if I’m invisible, figuring I’m too retarded to understand their conversation. I learn quite a bit this way.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Out of My Mind