Andrew Clements > Quotes

“Two wrongs don't make a right, but don't three lefts make a right? Two wrongs don't make a right, but don't two negatives make a positive?”
― Andrew Clements, Things Not Seen

“When we read, we decide when, where, how long, and about what. One of the few places on earth that it is still possible to experience an instant sense of freedom and privacy is anywhere you open up a good book and begin to read. When we read silently, we are alone with our own thoughts and one other voice. We can take our time, consider, evaluate, and digest what we read—with no commercial interruptions, no emotional music or special effects manipulation. And in spite of the advances in electronic information exchange, the book is still the most important medium for presenting ideas of substance and value, still the only real home of literature.”
― Andrew Clements

“Because a real kiss, a kiss that two real people choose to give each other - it's something that can't be filmed or photographed or drawn, or even described with words.
Because a kiss isn't what it looks like or how it feels.
A real kiss happens down deep inside of two hearts at the same time. It's hidden away. A real kiss is invisible.”
― Andrew Clements, Things That Are

“But fear doesn't need doors and windows. It works from the inside.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Not Seen

“Darkness is only light's absence.
”
― Andrew Clements, Things That Are

“Sooner or later,reality does occor and when it does, all the lies show up, like blood on snow.”
― Andrew Clements, Things That Are

“who says dog means dog?”
― Andrew Clements, Frindle

“Dave couldn't remember the last time a grownup had apologized to him.”
― Andrew Clements, No Talking

“It is not good to have TOO MUCH of anything.”
― Andrew Clements

“Watch TV or something." That's what the note says.
So I say to myself, Fine. But I think I'll do the "or something" part.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Not Seen

“I have my own story, and I love my story, but I know I can't tell it alone, not now. Because stories have centers, but they don't have edges. No boundaries.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Hoped For

“I glance into the faces of all these people out for a Sunday stroll, but I'm not seeing eyes and noses and mouths. I'm seeing stories. Every person has a story. All the hopes and dreams. And fears. And secrets.
In every face.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Hoped For

“And then I see what she means. Because I did have to tell her, just like she had to tell me all of this. I had to trust her. Sometimes you have to tell someone else what it's like. Because if you don't, you'll go nuts.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Not Seen

“It's about 65 degrees, so it feels like when the air conditioner is up on high. I can bear it, so I'm going for a walk. Today. Right now. In the sunshine. Because I can.

Because I want to. Because I'm not going to just sit around and wait for stuff to happen anymore. I'm still me, and I have a life. It's a weird life, but it's still mine.

It's still mine.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Not Seen

“But of course, all of this is just a silly fad, and when you add an "e" to fad, you get fade. And I predict this fad will fade.”
― Andrew Clements, Frindle

“Robert said, "This is great, huh? Sorry to butt in and everything, but I really need the extra points. For my grade."

Ben nodded and tried to smile. Right, for his grade. He probably wanted to get an A++ in social studies instead of just an A+”
― Andrew Clements, We the Children

“And I love Jane Austen's use of language too--the way she takes her time to develop a phrase and gives it room to grow, so that these clever, complex statements form slowly and then bloom in my mind. Beethoven does the same thing with his cadence and phrasing and structure. It's a fact: Jane Austen is musical. And so's Yeats. And Wordsworth. All the great writers are musical.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Hoped For

“Then he read the first sentence from the introduction: Without question this modern American dictionary is one of the most surprisingly complex and profound documents ever to be created, for it embodies unparalleled etymological detail, reflecting not only superb lexicographic scholarship, but also the dreams and speech and imaginative talents of millions of people over thousands of years—for every person who has ever spoken or written in English has had a hand in its making.”
― Andrew Clements, Frindle

“Darkness is only light's absence.
-Things that Are”
― Andrew Clements

“A singing goat is like reading books, I love goats and dinosaurs."-Albert Einstein”
― Andrew Clements

“All the kids loved lunchtime. But the awful part of lunch was the eating part - school food.”
― Andrew Clements, Frindle

“thirty-five words long, sometimes longer.”
― Andrew Clements, Frindle

“I almost tell him that I'd never be able to do something like that, just take out my instrument and begin playing on a street corner. But it feels to personal. Yes, I'm shy, but why bring it to his attention? I'm too shy to talk about how shy I am.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Hoped For

“FIFTH GRADE WAS different. That was the year to get ready for middle school. Fifth grade meant passing classes. It meant no morning recess. It meant real letter grades on your report cards. But most of all, it meant Mrs. Granger.”
― Andrew Clements, Frindle

“That was the second thing—understanding what Mrs. Granger had said.”
― Andrew Clements, Frindle

“This item belongs to Mrs. Granger and she may call it anything she likes.
-With love from Nicholas Allen”
― Andrew Clements

“my”
― Andrew Clements, The Janitor's Boy

“Okay heres the deal a whole day of NO TALKING IN SCJHOOL.Not in class,not in the halls, not on the plaground nowhere.No talking at all. And its a contest- BOYS AGAINST GIRLS. Whichever side talks less, wins.”
― Andrew Clements, No Talking

“We both hang up, but it's like there's still a connection. I can feel it.

And it feels good.”
― Andrew Clements, Things Not Seen

“All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce
The Black Cauldron (The Chronicles of Prydain) by Lloyd Alexander
The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak
Brian’s Hunt by Gary Paulsen
Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The High King (The Chronicles of Prydain) by Lloyd Alexander
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I Am LeBron James by Grace Norwich
I Am Stephen Curry by Jon Fishman
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
LeBron’s Dream Team: How Five Friends Made History by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger
The Lightning Thief  (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The River by Gary Paulsen
The Sailor Dog by Margaret Wise Brown
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
Star Wars Expanded Universe novels (written by many authors)
Star Wars series (written by many authors)
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann D. Wyss
Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess (Dork Diaries) by Rachel Renée Russell
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle”
― Andrew Clements, The Losers Club