Joan Bauer > Quotes

“My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn't have any excuse to be stupid.”
― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“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.”
― Joan Bauer

“When the going gets tough, the tough get a librarian.”
― Joan Bauer

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled

“...motherhood should be like driving a car -- you should have to pass a test before you can do it legally.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“When we don't have the words chocolate can speak volumes.”
― Joan Bauer

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Stand Tall

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Best Foot Forward

“...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.”
― Joan Bauer

“Some things go too deep for words.”
― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“Staring down hard truth takes guts.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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. ”
― Joan Bauer, Best Foot Forward

“...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.”
― Joan Bauer

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“ 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.”
― Joan Bauer

“New places always help us look at life differently”
― Joan Bauer

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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. (Thwonk)”
― Joan Bauer

“Everyone needs fudge, Hildy. It's how God helps us cope.”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled

“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”
― Joan Bauer, Best Foot Forward

“Like my grandmother always said, 'you never know the blessings that come from suffering.”
― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“When you can carry five full dinner platters on your left arm, you should be able to vote, even if you're not eighteen.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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!”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Stand Tall

“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?”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled

“when hope gets released in a place, all kinds of things are possible”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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)”
― Joan Bauer

“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. ”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“You don't understand how much light you have until the lights go out.”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“Sometimes you've got to shout the truth and wake people up.”
― Joan Bauer, Stand Tall

“Sometimes just getting up in the morning and standing at the gate can bring the gate down.”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled

“If she's really psychic," Zack said when he saw Tanisha's photo at school, "why does she need a doorbell?”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled

“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. (Thwonk)”
― Joan Bauer

“i hate leaving places i love i was never at one place long. am i selfish?”
― Joan Bauer

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

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

“Librarians understand about power - they know how to find anything.”
― Joan Bauer, Best Foot Forward

“She shoved her can right under his chin. "Don't mess with seniors," she growled at him.”
― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“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”
― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Stand Tall

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“Perchance, I would listen. Have you said anything?”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“I looked at her from the corner of my eye. Some people are hard to imagine as children.”
― Joan Bauer, Rules of the Road

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Hope Was Here

“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.”
― Joan Bauer, Peeled