Joan Bauer Quotes

My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn't have any excuse to be stupid.

When the going gets tough, the tough get a librarian.

You've got to love yourself with all your short comings, and you've got to love the world no matter how bad it gets.

Almost. It’s a big word for me. I feel it everywhere. Almost home. Almost happy. Almost changed. Almost, but not quite. Not yet. Soon, maybe. I’m hoping hard for that.

When we don't have the words chocolate can speak volumes.

We read to learn and to grow, to laugh, to be motivated, and to understand things we've never been exposed to. We read for strength to help us when we feel broken, discouraged or afraid. We read to find hope. We read because we're not just made up of skin and bones, and a deep need for chocolate, but we're also made up of words, words which describe our thoughts and what's hidden in our hearts.

I've never said this to a girl before." I bit my lip, waiting. "Well..." He looked down. "I'm not sure how to say this." He took a deep breath and announced, "I really like fighting evil with you.

...motherhood should be like driving a car -- you should have to pass a test before you can do it legally.

You cannot measure the loss of a human life. It's all the things a person was, all their dreams, all the people who loved them, all they hoped to be and could give back to the world.

You don't know which way a thing will come at you, but you need to welcome it with your whole heart which ever way it arrives.

I hope you'll have the kind of life where what you stand for is so important that it makes some people outright hostile. You won't know how strong your beliefs really are until you have to defend them.

It was probably easier in the old days when the bad guys rode into town wearing black capes or whatever bad guys wore and the milk cows were ownded by honest people. Right off the bat, you'd know who you were dealing with. Now everybody dresses alike.

Staring down hard truth takes guts.

I'll tell you something about tough times. They just about kill you, but if you decide to keep working at them, you'll find your way through.

And we learned that you don't have to be famous or rich or physically healthy to be a leader. You just have to try to be a true person. We learned that helping other people brings out the good in everybody.

Everyone needs fudge, Hildy. It's how God helps us cope.

When you have something so important, something that you'll stay awake for, something you know that you were designed to do, well, it's worth getting a few dark circles, don't you think?

You don't understand how much light you have until the lights go out.

Some things go too deep for words.

...Difficult relationships come into our lives for a reason. No one would choose them, certainly. But if we let them, they can teach us how to be flexible with others and more forgiving.

when hope gets released in a place, all kinds of things are possible

The problem with the heart is how it can have so many opposite feelings coursing through it all at the same time. It's really an inconsistent thing- appreciating something one minute and hating it the next.

It was February sixth: eight days until Valentine's Day. I was dateless, as usual, deep in the vice grip of unrequited love. It was bad enough not having a boyfriend for New Year's Eve. Now I had to cope with Valentine datelessness, feeling consummate social pressure from every retailer in America who stuck hearts and cupids in their windows by January second to rub it in.

You know where we got stuck? We were looking for faithfull, loving and perfect relationships-males who were always glad to see us." "So?" "We already have that!" "What do you mean?" "We've got dogs!

New places always help us look at life differently

...It isn't the problems along the way that make us or break us. It's how we learn to stand and face them that makes the difference.

Have you ever noticed that it takes a textbook dozens of pages to say what normal people can cover fast? Example: What was the full impact of World War II? Clear-cut teenage answer: we won.

Cope or die.

I don't do normal. I have a reputation to uphold. (Thwonk)

My father always told me that in this world we are going to make a truckload of mistakes, but the best mistake we can ever make is to err on the side of mercy

When you can carry five full dinner platters on your left arm, you should be able to vote, even if you're not eighteen.

Like my grandmother always said, 'you never know the blessings that come from suffering.

Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a person is to have a puppy lick your face.

Sometimes just getting up in the morning and standing at the gate can bring the gate down.

Librarians understand about power - they know how to find anything.

It was bad enough not having a boyfriend for New Year's Eve. Now I had to cope with Valentine datelessness, feeling consummate social pressure from every retailer in America who stuck hearts and cupids on their windows by January second to rub it in. (Thwonk)

If you worry about every little thing you're going to have one thoroughly miserable life.

it's a complete rush to get what you've been hoping for - to get it so full and complete that it fills your senses.

Know why I plant trees?" "No." "I like thinking that they'll be here long after I'm gone. All those fine memories pushing up to the sky.

You need a negative charge and a positive one to get something moving. We've got the negative; we're going to find the positive if it kills us.

Mom put dense cheddar bread into a bag for a man who said this was his wife's favorite - he'd driven all the way from New Jersey to buy it because today was their anniversary. Several women in the store jabbed their husbands on hearing this. I hung my head - Peter Terris wouldn't cross the street to buy me a Twinkie.

Teenagers are like bees at night, I think. We don't like waking up and we don't always get with the program immediately, but once we figure out our mission, we'll see it through.

It seemed to me that the people who made the rules of the road had figured out everything that would help a person drive safely right down to having a sign that tells you you're passing through a place where deer cross. Somebody should stick up some signs on the highway of life. CAUTION: JERKS CROSSING. Blinking yellow lights when you're about to to something stupid. Stop signs in front of people who could hurt you. Green lights shining when you're doing the right thing. It would make the whole experience easier.

I had taken the photograph from afar (distance being the basic glitch in our relationship), using my Nikon and zoom lens while hiding behind a fake marble pillar. I was hiding because if he knew I'd been secretly photographing him for all these months he would think I was immature, neurotic and obsessive. I'm not. I'm an artist. Artists are always misunderstood.(Thwonk)

Everything's got a purpose, really - you just have to look for it. Cats are good at keeping old dogs alive. Loss helps you reach for gain. Death helps you celebrate life. War helps you work for peace. A flood makes you glad you're still standing. And a tall boy can stop the wind so a candle of hope can burn bright.

They marched. Not for themselves. They marched to remember the ones who didn't make it back. They marched because seeing so much loss can teach you about life. they marched because we're all fighting a war whether we know it or not...a war for our minds and souls and what we believe in.

Will we have bodyguards?" "We're not quite set up for that. But with all these mothers, you don't need them.

If she's really psychic," Zack said when he saw Tanisha's photo at school, "why does she need a doorbell?

Sometimes you've got to shout the truth and wake people up.

sometimes a kid has to act older than they are

Now I see that it isn't the problems along the way that make us or break us. It's how we learn to stand and face them that makes the difference.

I had expected the well to be full for some reason. Not that it had ever been before. I kept looking for signs of water in the dark insides. I heard my bucket clank as it hit Against the walls that held nothing. I look at the bucket that came up empty And made a decision that changed my life. I will keep my bucket and find another well.

He stood up, put the tree back under the grow light. 'There. That's what's going to happen to us. It's called grafting. Taking something from one place and fixing it to another until they grow together. We didn't start from the same tree, but we're going to grow together like we did.

The sad heart needs work to do.

You know what it's like to move from being happy to being not? It's like swinging as high as you can and someone stops you as you come back down.

It takes a great cook to pull life truth from poultry.

Perchance, I would listen. Have you said anything?

But then Macon smiled at me. "Just be yourself, Foster. That's the best thing in the world.

Almost. It’s a big word for me. I feel it everywhere. Almost home. Almost happy. Almost changed. Almost, but not quite. Not yet. Soon, maybe.

Harrison wrote a two-page poem about his deep feelings of loss when his dog Filbert died, and Mrs. Minerva, the creative writing teacher, gave it a B-minus. Do you know what that does to a a person to get a B-minus in Grief?

She shoved her can right under his chin. "Don't mess with seniors," she growled at him.

If you can't find an answer at the mall or the library, what does that say about the world?

Almost Home by Sugar Mae Cole Home isn’t always a place you picture in your mind With furniture and cookies and music playing and people laughing. Home is something you can carry around like a dream And let it grow in your heart until you’re ready for it. Losing things helps you appreciate when you find them again And finding things gives you hope that when you lose things It might not be forever. Once, long ago, a girl lost her home, but she didn’t lose her dream. She hung on to it as the wind kept trying to blow it away, But that just made it stronger. So now she has keys and walls of many colors And people around her who think she’s something.

I've got my Replogle globe, because you've got to keep a world view, you can't just live like you're the only person on the planet who matters

Divorce casts so many shadows.

You got to laugh Tree, if you don't you'll cry.

Ellie: "You could lie to me. You could tell me to be encouraged, that good will triumph over evil." Richard: "Good will triumph over evil." Ellie: "Liar.

Toys "R" Us. Zack put on a wool cap and sunglasses. "You look like a bank robber," I observed. "No toy is safe.

How could a man with so much heart die from a heart attack?

You think all teenagers care about are musicians and movie stars? Spend some time in Wisconsin. We'll blow your socks off.

Was it alright?" "It was fine." "What aspect of the definition of fine was it?" "We had a decent time." I've been to Walgreens and had a decent time.

i hate leaving places i love i was never at one place long. am i selfish?

I looked at her from the corner of my eye. Some people are hard to imagine as children.

To quote Shirley Polanski, head waitress at the Humdinger Diner: "Beware of a big man whose stomach doesn't move when he laughs." I think a Chinese philosopher said it first, but these things trickle down to the food service community.

When you listen to G. T. Stoop, you understand the importance of being a honorable person, you get charged to fight for the truth, you get angry that so many politicians are playing games with people's trust.

Addie always keeps her promises. That's why my mother gave me to her.

Parents just concentrate on the thing that drives them nuts and all the other good stuff you do goes out the window.

I regarded the pumpkin thief's worst nightmare: splotchy coat, tattered ears, sleeping death rattle. "He gums robbers to death?" I asked. "What if they bring biscuits?

Elden started toward me, "I think that's enough!" The man I almost knocked down bolted from his chair and shouted, "Let her speak!" Yield, rat boy!

There's a lot of cheese where you're going, Hope. I'm not sure how this affects people long term.

Mountains draw you to a deeper place in yourself

Huevos up. Swing up to the window, swing back to Al B. Hall, who says, "Bless you," and would I get him a bottle of Satan's Red-Hot Revenge for the eggs? Sure thing, Pastor.

You don't understand how much light you've got until the lights go out

I held it over my heart. Mrs. Worth smiled. "That's where a book should be carried.

I'm working hard to have a good life. You don't need fancy things to feel good. You can hug a puppy. You can buy a can of paint and surround yourself with color. You can plant a flower and watch it grow. You can decide to trust people, the right people. You can decide to start over and let other people start over, too.

But through it all I held Mrs. Pettibone's words in my heart-the ones she spoke to me after the funeral when she took my hand, looked into my face and said, "You've got your father's eyes.

We were having the best time working together, too, except when he'd make a mistake on an order and I'd have to be an advocate for my customer. I always mentioned it sweetly. "You didn't say hold the bacon, Hope." "Barverman, I said it twice." "You must have said it to someone else." "I said it to you." Clang. "Don't clang pots at me.

We've got so much in this life that all we know how to do is want more. So we concentrate on the wrong things--things we can see--as being the measure of a person. We think if we win something big or buy something snazzy it'll make us more than we are. Our hearts know that's not true, but the eyes are powerful. It's easier to fix on what we can see than listen to the still, small voice of a whispering heart.

Not all vegetables are this draining. Lettuce doesn't bring heartache. Turnips don't ask for your soul. Potatoes don't care where you are or even where they are. Tomatoes cuddle up to anyone who'll give them mulch and sunshine. But giants like Max need you every second. You can forget about a whiz-bang social life.

Guys don't understand great art. They don't care that sometimes the camera has power beyond the photographer to record emotion that only the heart can see. They're threatened when the camera jumps ahead of me. Todd Kovich was pissed when I brought my Nikon to the prom, but I'd missed too many transcendent shots over the years to ever take a chance of missing one again. A prom, I told him, had a boundless supply of photogenic bozos who could be counted on to do something base.

Mom has the Touch. She knows what flowers go with what occasions, what hors d'oeuvres work with what people. She believes passionately in the power of food to heal, restore, and stimulate relationships, and she has built a following of loyal customers who really hope she's right. If she's wrong, says Sonia, no one wants to know.

Mom's note on the dining room table to me and Faith read: Daughters of mine, In case you haven't noticed, no one has seen the top of our dining room table in months. I seem to recall it is oak, but as the days dwindle by, I'm less and less sure. Perhaps this is because your school books, files, papers, magazines, letters, underwear, etc., are shielding it from normal use. My goal for you, dear offspring, to be accomplished in twenty-four hours (no excuses), is the clearing/exhuming of this space so that we may gather around it once again and spend quality time. Even though I am working the night shift, I will still be watching. Do it or die. Your loving mother

I flopped on the overstuffed kitchen couch and watched him go. I wondered what would happen to all his films and photographs in the upstairs closet - the documentaries on homelessness and drug addiction, the funny short subjects, the half-finished romantic comedy, the boxes of slice-of-life photographs that spoke volumes about the human condition. I wondered how you stop caring about what you've ached over, sweated over. (Thwonk)

now i believe that the way to anyone's heart is through their stomach, and, my boy, i'm here to tell you, we ware in the heart business. we're going to reach deep past the menu and into the emotional power of food because a person comes back to a restaurant again and again for one reason only - to fee their soul.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a pumpkin spice muffin with walnuts that was as moist as anything. "It can be plain for breakfast or I can top it with cream cheese frosting. I like a muffin that can go from day to evening." I gave it to her. She sniffed it, nodded, and held it up. "How do I know you're not trying to poison me?" I wasn't expecting that question. "Ms. Morningstar, I swear, if I was going to poison you, I wouldn't ruin a perfectly fine muffin to do it.

We've got a bozo who likes rubbing fear and lies in people's faces. He's the only media source in town except us. Who are we writing for?" Elizabeth waved her hand emotionally. "The American people!" Baker clasped his brow. "Let's narrow that." Darrell stood. "We're writing for the community." "And they deserve the facts," Baker warned. "Don't ever forget it.

What's wrong with the world," Nana explained, "is that people stopped listening to their hearts... "Not everybody stopped listening," she continued, "but enough people did to make a difference. We've go so much in this life that all we know how to do is want more. So we concentrate on the wrong things--things we can see--as being the measure of a person. We think if we can win something big or buy something snazzy it'll make us more than we are. Our hearts know that's not true, but the eyes are powerful. It's easier to fix on what we can see than listen to the still, small voice of a whispering heart." Nana turned her eyes on me like a vet looking for fleas: "A heart will say amazing things if it's given half a chance.

Finally he said, "Hope, do you want to have dinner with me sometime?" I dropped a plastic bottle of Gulden's. We looked at it on the floor. Neither of us picked it up. "I mean, I know we have dinner a lot when we're working. I meant out someplace. Together." Braverman picked up the Gulden's bottle, handed it to me. He coughed. "A date." I said, "What is this, an epidemic?" I backed out the door and left Braverman in the supply closet. I don't get asked out too much either.

I'll tell you something about tough things. They just about kill you, but if you decide to keep working at them, you'll find the way through. On the Food Network they have these shows where cooks have to put a meal together with all these weird ingredients. That's a lot like my life-dealing with things you wouldn't think ever go together. But a good cook can make the best meal out of the craziest combinations.

Why do you think, A.J.," they say in unison, "that you find these boys so attractive?" I didn't say that this fiery chemical explosion leaps from somewhere inside me. Parents don't want to hear these things. I shrugged and said nothing. "Maybe you should try sitting on the intensity," Mom suggests, "just until your feelings catch up with reality." "We could chain you to the water heater," Dad offers, "until these little moments pass." You see what I'm up against.