quotes by Julius Lester

"It ain't how long you know somebody that means anything. It's what that person mean to you in your heart."
— Julius Lester (Day of Tears)

"How can I love you if I don't know what hurts you?"
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"Silence was not the absence of sound but was itself a sound that could be loud or soft, soothing or disturbing, complex or simple."
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"Being a failure at living your own life as best as you can is better than being a success living the life somebody else says you should live
—Maureen"
— Julius Lester (Guardian)

"...part of the mind's job was to cast doubt on what the heart knew to be true, and the heart, because it had no words, often lost the argument"
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"Goodness was not a trait you acquired; it was a value you practiced when you were on the verge of doing evil."
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"But I want you around even when I don't need you.
—Jeremy Richards"
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"Some wounds go so deep that you don't even feel them until months, maybe years, later.

—Rachel Richards"
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"But there are times when a tree can no longer withstand the pain inflicted on it, and the wind will take pity on that tree and topple it over in a mighty storm. All the other trees who witnessed the evil look down upon the fallen tree with envy. They pray for the day when a wind will end their suffering. I pray for the day when God will end mine."
— Julius Lester (Guardian)

"'If I canot know your name, may I light a lamp so I can see your face?'
'If you sould ever see my face, you will lose me forever.'
'Why?' Psyche wanted to know. 'Are you ugly? Are you afraid I won't love you if I see your face?'
'Perhaps I am afraid that if you see my face, it will be THAT that you will love and not me.'
'I understand, believe me. I know what that feels like.' "
— Julius Lester (Cupid: A Tale of Love and Desire)

"The young accept the extraordinary as normal because they do not compare their lives with those of others when everyone is like them."
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"Often, the human animal dresses terror in rage, and expresses both in a way unlike either."
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"... the object of learning was not to build a better mousetrap but to ask a better question."
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"There was an end to weeping. Mourning, however, ebbed and surged but never ceased flowing."
— Julius Lester (The Autobiography of God: A Novel)

"To give good hugs you have to have some soft places.
—Jeremy Richards"
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"We remember with our emotions. The things that were important in our emotional life, that's what we remember."
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"Books, and especially fiction, do not proceed from ideas. They are born from feelings "
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"Perhaps one of the writer's tasks is to weave himself into others' pain."
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"I'm tired of thinking and I'm really tired of Feeling.

—Jenna Richards"
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"What would they do if I said I hurt so much I feel like I want to die?

—Jeremy Richards"
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"Just because she's dead it doesn't mean I stopped loving her or that she stopped loving me. It's just her body that left. The love didn't.

—Jenna Richards"
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"But I want you around even when I don't need you.
—Jeremy Richards"
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)

"Perhaps one of the writer's task is to weave himself into others' pain."
— Julius Lester (When Dad Killed Mom)