James Howe > Quotes

“Life is short and there will always be dirty dishes, so let's dance.”
― James Howe, Totally Joe

“Another Thing I'm Sick of Hearing:

If I started that gay rights group,
I must be gay.

So if i start an animal rights group,
what does that make me?

A giraffe?”
― James Howe, Addie on the Inside

“I hated that the soldier doll had my name. I mean, please. I didn't play with him much. He was another Christmas present from my clueless grandparents. One time when they were visiting, my grandpa asked me if G.I. Joe had been in any wars lately. I said, "No, but he and Ken got married last week." Every Christmas since then, my grandparents have sent me a check.”
― James Howe, Totally Joe

“Another thing I think about names is that they DO hurt. They hurt because we believe them. We think they are telling us something true about ourselves, something other people can see even if we don't. —Bobby Goodspeed”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit. —Bobby Goodspeed”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“A day can start out ordinary and end up being in the top ten. —Joe Bunch”
― James Howe, Totally Joe

“This business of really knowing people, deep down, including your own self, it is not something you can learn in school or from a book. It takes your whole being to do it—your eyes and your ears, your brain and your heart. Maybe your heart most of all. —Bobby Goodspeed”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“Sometimes kids just act impulsively, but it's because we have strong feelings, not because we're trying to make trouble.”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“There's no such thing as a wasted wish.”
― James Howe, Totally Joe

“[Button] If Gay and Lesbian people are given civil rights, soon everyone will want them”
― James Howe, Totally Joe

“So, this is a rabbit, I thought. He sort of looks like Chester, only he's got longer ears and a shorter tail. And a motor in his nose.”
― James Howe, Bunnicula

“I am who I say I am,
I'm not some fantasy
of how you think you think you know
or who I ought to be.
I am a girl who is growing up
in my own sweet time,
I am a girl who knows enough
to know this life is mine.
I am this and I am that and
I am everything in-between.
I'm a dreamer, I'm a dancer,
I'm a part-time drama queen.
I'm a worrier, I'm a warrior,
I'm a loner and a friend,
I'm an outspoken defender
of justice to the end.
I'm the girl in the mirror
who likes the girl she sees,
I'm the girl in the gypsy shawl
with music in her knees.
I'm a singer and a scholar,
I'm a girl who has been kissed.
I'm a solver of equations
wearing bangles on my wrist.
I am bigger than i ever knew,
I am stronger than before,
I am every girl I have ever been,
and all that are in store.
I am who I say I am.
I'm not some fantasy.
I am the me I am inside.
I am who
I chose
to be.”
― James Howe

“The way I look at it, love does not necessarily make for a happy ending any more than winning does. What makes for a happy ending is what Addie said all along: freedom. The freedom to be who you are without anybody calling you names. —Bobby Goodspeed”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“I never thought I could write this much and now that it's coming to an end, I feel sad that I have to stop, sort of the way you feel at the end of a really good book and you know you're going to miss the main character. But in this case, the main character is me! Myself. Joe (formerly JoDan) Bunch. —Joe Bunch”
― James Howe, Totally Joe

“The future is a trickster rabbit, full of surprises. Only the past is predictable. -Bobby Goodspeed”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“Crying can help, too. People are often afraid to cry because they are told that crying is for babies. Crying does not make you a baby, no matter what anyone says. There are times when people feel so bad that they can't express their feelings in words. At those times, crying helps.”
― James Howe, The Hospital Book

“Dear Skeezie, Today I ran after a boy as he was trying to get away. I tackled him and we both landed in the mud. Do you think I appeared desperate?-Joe Bunch”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“The point is that something I thought was perfect has been broken, and I'm having to find the beauty in what is there instead of what I thought was there. Like this shell. I can either spend all my time wishing it were perfect, trying to imagine it the way it was or might have been, or I can see how beautiful it is just like this. ”
― James Howe, The Watcher

“If getting is the key to your happiness your key will open few doors. If giving is the key to your happiness you will find few doors locked.”
― James Howe

“And that's an even greater love: to love somebody when he's a little...worn at the edges.

—Teddy Bear”
― James Howe, Teddy Bear's Scrapbook

“Sometimes I think it's easier to stand up to the whole school -- or the whole world even -- than it is to stand up to one person, especially if that person really matters to you.”
― James Howe, Totally Joe

“We all start out thinking that there is such a thing as perfection and that there's something wrong with us if we settle for less. First we won't eat the food with the brown spots. Then we hate ourselves because we have our own brown spots—pimples or ears that are too big or legs that are too skinny.”
― James Howe, The Watcher

“Sometimes kids just act impulsively, but it's because we have strong feelings, not because we're trying to make trouble. —Bobby Goodspeed”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“You can spit until you're dry, but you'll never make a lake”
― James Howe

“Why, if I were to believe what everyone says about me, I would think myself quite, quite ugly. But I don't believe everyone, you see...I believe you because you are my friend. You think I'm beautiful, and so I am.

—The Old One”
― James Howe, I Wish I Were a Butterfly

“What's wrong
with being out there, out there like a star
shining in the night when that's the only way
the star can be seen? You never tell a star:

Hey
Tone it down.”
― James Howe, Addie on the Inside

“Harold (about max): he looks kinda like a football couch
Chester (sarcastically): Yay team rah rah. if he says anything athletic i'll scream
max: want to jog?
(chester screams).

”
― James Howe, Howliday Inn

“When you're living through it, though, especially when you are twelve and you think the whole world is changing until you realize it isn't the world, it's you, no piece seems little. It's all so big you think it can kill you. But it doesn't. Which is why the story goes on.”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“Sometimes I wish I were a character in a book and there was a writer out there giving me things to say.”
― James Howe, The Misfits

“I am about to stop being a get-along kind of guy and turn into somebody who makes a difference.”
― James Howe, The Misfits