Katherine Applegate > Quotes

“But even I have enough sense to know the words “we have to win” are the first four steps on the road to hell.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Underground

“Today, tomorrow, sooner or later, you will meet someone who is lost, just as you yourself have been lost, and as you will be lost again someday. And when that happens, it is your duty to say "I've been lost, too. Let me help you find your way home.”
― Katherine Applegate, Home of the Brave

“I've always believed that to some extent you get to decide for yourself what your life will be like. You can either look at the world and say "Oh, isn't it all so tragic, so grim, so awful." Or you can look at the world and decide that it's mostly funny.

If you step back far enough from the details, everything gets funny. You say war is tragic. I say, isn't it crazy the way people will fight over nothing? People fight wars to control crappy little patches of empty desert, for crying out loud. It's like fighting over an empty soda can. It's not so much tragic as it is ridiculous. Asinine! Stupid!

You say, isn't it terrible about global warming? And I say, no, it's funny. We're going to bring on global warming because we ran too many leaky air conditioners? We used too much spray deodorant, so now we'll be doomed to sweat forever? That's not sad. That's irony.”
― Katherine Applegate

“Fun fact, Jackson. You can't see sound waves, but you can hear music.”
― Katherine Applegate, Crenshaw

“I laughed. 'You almighty Andalites. There is no limit to your arrogance, is there? Well, let me tell you something: we may be simple people. But we don't use biology to invent monsters. And we don't enslave other species. And we don't unleash a plague of parasites on the galaxy, endangering every other free species, and then go swaggering around like the lords of the universe. No, we're too simple for that. We're too stupid to lie and manipulate. We're too stupid to be ruthless. We're too stupid to know how to build powerful weapons designed to annihilate our enemies. Until you came, Andalite, we were too stupid to know how to kill.' -Dak Hamee”
― Katherine Alice Applegate, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

“It’s not so bad, I wanted to tell the little boy. With enough time, you can get used to almost anything.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

“...I didn't want to miss a moment of what little life I had left. I wanted to drink in the stars. I wanted to feel the fuzzy wings of the owlets. I wanted to stretch my roots just a tiny bit farther before the night was through. I wanted to indulge in some quiet contemplation about life and love and what it all meant... "I've been thinking... There's no point in my worrying about tomorrow. It will come soon enough.”
― Katherine Applegate, Wishtree

“There is beauty in stillness and grace in acceptance.”
― Katherine Applegate, Wishtree

“People don't understand the word ruthless. They think it means "mean." It's not about being mean. It's about seeing the bright, clear line that leads from A to B. The line that goes from motive to means. Beginning to end.
It's about seeing that bright, clear line and not caring about anything but the beautiful fact that you can see the solution. Not caring about anything else but the perfection of it.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Reunion

“You know a guy is funny when a week later you can still feel the little knives he stuck in you.”
― Katherine Applegate, Search for Senna

“My favorite color is rainbow.”
― Katherine Alice Applegate, Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs

“My family tree spreads wide as well. I am a great ape, and you are a great ape, and so are chimpanzees and orangutans and bonobos, all of us distant and distrustful cousins.

I know this is troubling.

I too find it hard to believe there is a connection across time and space, linking me to a race of ill-mannered clowns.

Chimps. There's no excuse for them.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

“Days have a way of slipping past like raindrops in a river.”
― Katherine Applegate, Wishtree

“Jake, our fearless leader. On a crazed kamikaze mission. I’d never seen him like this. Even in our lowest moments, he’d always been steady. Resolute. He weighed the costs, made a decision, forged ahead.
And I’d always wondered how he did it. How he kept it straight in his mind. Yeerks. Visser One. Aliens conquering humans, conquering the planet. Fighting the enemy without becoming like them. How did he sort through all that? The emotions, the ethical dilemmas, the moral crises? How did he wrap his brain around it all so he could make logical decisions? Smart decisions. The kind that saved the lives of his team. The kind that set the enemy back a small step or two.
But now I knew.
Jake didn’t understand any of it better than the rest of us did. If he defeated the Yeerks, freed humanity, rescued Earth, that was good. But that was just a bonus. His main goal was much simpler. To save his family. That goal was what had given him strength. That goal was what had kept him sane. Allowed him to retain a center of calm focus amid the awful chaos.
His family.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Diversion

“I've fought for more than three years. I was just thirteen when I started. I'm sixteen now, though that fact, like so many facts, has been deliberately obscured in the secret accounts we've kept.
I'm a sixteen-year-old kid named Jake Berenson, and I am the leader of the Animorphs.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Answer

“Don't be so sure,' Cassie said. 'We're fighting for Mother Earth. She has some tricks up her sleeves.'
'Good grief,' Marco said. 'Let's all buy Birkenstocks and go hug some trees.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Invasion

“friendship doesn’t have to be hard. That sometimes we let the world make it hard.”
― Katherine Applegate, Wishtree

“Trees can’t tell jokes. But we can certainly tell stories. And if all you hear is the whisper of leaves, don’t worry. Most trees are introverts at heart.”
― Katherine Applegate, Wishtree

“I like not knowing everything. It makes things more interesting.”
― Katherine Applegate, Crenshaw

“Interesting. Claws and teeth and ferocity mixed with the subtlety to manipulate creatures larger than itself. A worthy creature.”
― K.A. Applegate

“Old age," she says, "is a wonderful disguise.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

“If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance.”
― Katherine Applegate, Home of the Brave

“I felt exalted.
It was my moment. This was my place and my
time and my own perfection.
I was no longer afraid. Weird. If I'd had a
mouth I'd have smiled.
I said.
No one moved.
I asked.
No answer.
I said, almost laughing.”
― Katherine Alice Applegate

“Maybe it's easier to forgive others once you've learned how to forgive yourself.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“Imagine being the only two free humans in all the world”
― Katherine Applegate, The Change

“Not long ago, a little boy stood before my glass, tears streaming down his smooth red cheeks. “He must be the loneliest gorilla in the world,” he said, clutching his mother’s hand. At times like that, I wish humans could understand me the way I can understand them. It’s not so bad, I wanted to tell the little boy. With enough time, you can get used to almost anything.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan

“When you’ve been through the worst with someone, you appreciate the best.”
― Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Bob

“Life changes, so you must hope.”
― Katherine Applegate, Home of the Brave

“Here’s the thing, Jackson. Life is messy. It’s complicated. It would be nice if life were always like this.” He drew an imaginary line that kept going up and up. “But life is actually a lot more like this.” He made a jiggly line that went up and down like a mountain range. “You just have to keep trying.”
― Katherine Applegate, Crenshaw

“Human humour often consists of pretending to wish something does not really wish.”
― Katherine Applegate, The Decision