ShimonYaakov Laxer > ShimonYaakov's Quotes

“Jake, you are our leader. You are the one who can bring us all together and help us defeat the Controllers. We have the ability to be much more than we are, to have the stealth of a cat, and... and the eyes of eagles, and the sense of smell of a dog, and... and the speed of a horse or a cheetah. We're going to need it all, if we have any hope of holding out against the Controllers."

I wanted it not to be true. I wanted none of it to be true. But I knew that it was. I nodded slowly. It felt like I was agreeing to something awful. Like I was volunteering for a trip to the dentist or something much worse. It felt like a million pounds of weight had just landed on my shoulders.

- Animorphs #1, The Invasion page 31”
― K. A. Applegate

“I waited till the bell rang for first period, which was English class. When everyone else was out of the hallway, I just climbed into my locker. I tried to act cool about it, just in case anyone was watching.

-Animorphs #1, The Invasion page 60”
― K. A. Applegate

“We have to do something," Rachel said.

"Yeah, let's rush right down there," Marco said. "Then it can be us screaming."

I realized I had lost my appetite for nachos.

"Marco, you can't just ignore what's going on," Rachel said.

"Sure I can," he said. "All I have to do is remind myself that hey, guess what? i don't want to die."

-Animorphs #1, The Invasion page 65”
― K. A. Applegate

“Only Cassie had remained silent. She was looking dreamily off over the heads of the mall crowd. "You know, back in the old says - I mean, the real, real old days - the Africans, the early Europeans, the Native Americans... they all believed animals had spirits. And they would call on those spirits to protect them from evil. They would ask the spirit of the fox for his cunning. They'd ask the spirit of the eagle for his sight. They would ask the lion for his strength. I guess what we're doing is sort of basic. Even though it was Andalite technology that made it possible. We're still just scared little humans, trying to borrow the mind of the fox, and the eyes of the eagle... or the hawk," she added, smiling at Tobias. "And the strength of the lion. Just like thousands of years ago, we're calling on the animals to help protect s from evil."

"Will their strength be enough?" wondered.

"I don't know," Cassie admitted solemnly. "It's like all the basic forces of planet Earth are being brought into the battle."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Nice story, Cassie. But we're five normal kids. Up against the Yeerks. If it was a football game, who would you bet on? We're toast."

Don't be so sure," Cassie said. "We're fighting for Mother Earth. She was some tricks up her sleeves."

"Good grief," Marco said. "Let's all buy Birkenstocks and go hug some trees."

-Animorphs #1, The Invasion page 66”
― K. A. Applegate

“I think he's noticed us," Marco said. "I think he knows we're here, Jake. I think hes looking right at us! Look at his teeth!"

"Don't freak! I have an idea. The morphing. If I acquire him, it'll put him in a trance."

"Acquire? Acquire what? You can't acquire anything about him. He's the acquirer, and your'e the acquiree. He's going to acquire your butt for dinner! He's going to acquire you and spit out the bones."

-Animorphs #1, The Invasion page 77”
― K. A. Applegate

“Your problem isn't with people seeing you too well, it's with people hearing you too well. You look like a fairly smart guy. Then you open your mouth..."

-Animorphs #2, The Visitor page 11”
― K. A. Applegate

“Now I'm really mad at the Yeerks," Marco said. "They're getting in the way of my showbiz career. I could be a millionaire. I could be trading funny lines with Dave. I could have beautiful Hollywood supermodels all over me."

"Uh-huh," I said, with a wink at Cassie. "Lots of women love animals. But sooner or later you'd have to change back into your actual self, Marco. An then, boom, they'd be outta there."

-Animorphs #2, The Visitor, page 13”
― K. A. Applegate

“We need to find another way to get at them," I said angrily.

"Get at who?" Marco asked suspiciously.

"The French, Marco," I said sarcastically. "Who do you think? The Yeerks, duh."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Marco said. "We tried that, remember? We went down into the Yeerk pool after them and got our butts kicked. Yeerks ten, humans zero."

... "We gave them a reason to be afraid at least."

"Yeah, they're terrified of us. Visser Three probably can't sleep at night, he's so worried about five kids," Marco said sarcastically. "Look, Visser Three doesn't think we're a threat. He thinks we're lunch."

-Animorphs #2, The Visitor page 15”
― K. A. Applegate

“Jake had to stay home," Marco said. "Some thing about his dad grounding him."

"Why would his dad ground him?"

"How do I know?" Marco said, sounding grouchy. "You know how parents are. Don't ask me to explain them."

-Animorphs #2, The Visitor page 67”
― K. A. Applegate

“I drifted over to the bulletin board and read '"Don't think there are no crocodiles just because the water is calm" - Malayan Proverb.'

Just beside that was, "' If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles," - Sun Tzu."

It made me a little sad. In the good old days, Rachel would have had a bunch of quotes about being a good person or whatever. It just showed how much our lives had changed. In a very short time we had all grown accustomed to a world of fear and danger. We had arrived at Rachel's house separately. We had each checked to make sure we weren't being followed. We had planed the afternoon in advance to be sure that Rachel's mom and her two sisters would be out. We had even had Tobias fly over the area looking for anything unusual.

That's what our lives had become. That and quotations full of paranoia and battle.

-Animorphs #4, The Message page 10”
― K. A. Applegate

“I guess no one else watched the news last night?"

"I was busy watching my taped reruns of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," Marco said, giving Rachel a sly look. "Last night it was the one where it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

Jake rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, the way he'd done a million times before when Marco said something irrelevant or annoying.

-Animorphs #4, The Message page 11”
― K. A. Applegate

“So let me get this straight, - we are now making decisions based on Tobias and Cassie's dreams, right?" Marco said. "And yet my dreams are totally ignored. The fact that I once dreamed about staying home and watching TV in total safety, that means nothing, right?"

"Right," Jake said flatly.

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 16”
― K. A. Applegate

“But at that moment the most incredible part of an incredible day happened. My mind, human, dolphin, both minds, opened up like a flower opening to the sun. And a silent, but somehow huge, voice filled my head, it spoke no words. It simply filled every corner of my mind with a simple emotion.

Gratitude.

The whale was telling me that it was grateful. We had saved it. Now it would save our schoolmate.

I told Rachel and Jake.

...

The humpback rose beneath a sputtering Marco. The broad leathery back lifted him up. And when I looked again, I saw Marco, sitting nervously on what could have been a small island, high and dry above the choppy waves.

...

The whale called me to him.

Listen, little one, he commanded, in a silent voice that seemed to fill the universe.

I listened. I listened to his wordless voice in my head. I felt like it went on forever. Tobias said later it was only ten minutes. But during that ten minutes, I was lost to the world. I was being shown a small part of the whale's thoughts.

he had lived eighty migrations. He had many mates, many mothers, who had died in their turn. His children traveled the oceans of the word.

He had survived many battles, traveled to the far southern ice and the far northern ice. He remembered the days when men hunted his kind from ships that belched smoke. He remembered the songs of the many fathers who had gone before. As others would remember his song.

But in all he had seen and all he had known, he had never seen one of the little ones become a human.

Marco, I realized. He means Marco. And little ones? Is that what the whales call dolphins?

We are not truly... little ones.

No. You are something new in the sea. But not the only new thing.

I wasn't sure what he was telling me. He spoke only in feelings, in a sort of poetry of emotion, without words. Part of it was in song. Part of it I could only sense the same way I could sense echolocation.

Something new?

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 41”
― K. A. Applegate

“I have a more important question," Rachel said. "How do we know when we're there? You know, our destination."

Jake made a "who knows?" face. "I figure this ship is going like, what, twenty miles per hour? Figure an hour, and that puts us twenty miles out, right?"

Rachel pointed a finger at her forehead and said, "Jake's a total mathematical genius. One hour at twenty miles per hour. Right away he figures out that's twenty miles."

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 51”
― K. A. Applegate

“Marco? Are you with us?" I asked.

"Oh sure. Where else would I be? What could possibly be more fun than running around the sand dunes getting shot at and then jumping into the ocean and turning in to a trout, who, incidentally, can't live in saltwater? I wouldn't miss it or anything."

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 21”
― K. A. Applegate

“Okay," Jake said, Here's what we know. Or at least, what we think we know."

We were all at Rachel's house again. It was a few hours after I had gone to see Marco. Tobias was perched on the windowsill. He didn't feel all that comfortable being inside for long. He liked the feel of the wind and the open air.

...

"Second, Cassie believes she can find this Andalite, thanks to the information from the whale."

Everyone kept a straight face for about ten seconds. Then, all at once, everyone cracked up.

"Information from a whale," Marco repeated, giggling.

"Have our lives gotten really weird, or is it just me?" Tobias asked.

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 46”
― K. A. Applegate

“And that we call enos ermarf."

"What?" I didn't see what he was pointing at.

"That. The way the lake curves forward into t grass, framed by derrishoul trees."

"You have a word for something like that?" I asked.

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 63”
― Katherine Applegate, The Visitor

“He started to move on, but I held his arm tightly. "Wait, wait. I don't think I understand you. What do you mean, they eliminate species?"

"They eliminate them. They will make Earth as much like the Yeerk home world as possible. They will destroy most of the plants and all of the animal species except those they eat."

I let go of his arm. I rocked back and grabbed at the air for balance. I felt like I'd been hit by a far. "No," I whispered. "That can't be. You're just saying that because you don't like Yeerks."

The others were staring. No one was moving.

Ax looked around at us. His eyes narrowed. "Don't you know? Don't you know whom you're fighting?"

"We know they take over people's minds," Rachel said weakly.

"Yes. And that is one of their great crimes. But the Yeerks are more than that. Yeerks are killers of worlds. Murderers of all life. Hated and feared throughout the galaxy. They are a plague that spreads from world to world, leaving nothing but desolation and slavery and misery in their wake."

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 64”
― K.A. Applegate

“Scientists believe that sharks are one of the oldest species of animals still in existence. Nature built them as perfect predators. Perfect killing machines. Nature hasn't had to revise or update them much. They were built right the first time.

Dolphins are very different. Scientists say that millions of years ago, dolphins were land animals. Sea mammals not very different from humans and other mammals. They evolved their way back into the ocean. Part of that evolution included learning to cope with predators, with killer whales and sharks.

I don't now what sea the Taxxon race evolved in. I don't know what natural predators they faced there. But they were not ready for this ocean. They were not ready to go one-on-one with the masters of Earth's deep seas. They were no match for dolphin or shark.

-Animorphs #4, The Visitor page 69”
― K.A. Applegate

“More clothing? Clo. Clo-theeeeing. Clo-theeing?" Ax said.

"Ax? Dont do that," I said.

"What? Wha wha wha. Tuh."

"That. Where you play with the sounds. Just say what you need to say, and stop."

...

"People are going to think he's weird," Rachel said, sounding exasperated.

"Fortunately, it's the mal on a Saturday morning," I pointed out. "It'll be full of weird people."

"Not this weird," Rachel said. "This could be trouble."

"isn't it a little late for you to admit that I was right and this idea is insane?" I saked her. "Besides, no need to worry. I'll be there."

"Great, then it's sure to be a disaster."

...

"So far so good," Jake said as we headed into the mall.

I rolled my eyes. "Jake? Do me a favor. Don't ever say 'so far, so good.' The only time ayone ever says 'so far, s good' is right before everything blows up in his face."

"So far. So far. Farrrrrr. Faaaar," Ax said, trying out the sounds. "So. Sssso far so so so good."

"Oh, man," I said.

-Animorphs #5, The Predator page 16”
― K.A. Applegate

“Then he drank the coffee.

"Ahhh! Ohh! Oh, oh, oh, what? What? What is that?!"

"What?" I asked, alarmed. I swiveled my head back and forth, looking for some danger.

"A new sense. It... I cannot explain it. It is... it comes rom this mouth." He pointed at his mouth. "It happened when I drank thsi liquid. It was pleasant. Very pleasant."

-Animorphs #5, The Predator page 19”
― K.A. Applegate

“Must I carry this?" he asked, indicating his empty coffee cup.

"No, you can just throw it away."

Bad choice of words. Ax threw the coffee cup. He threw it hard. It hit one of the cashiers in the head.

"Hey!"

Sorry, it was an accident, man," I yelped.

-Animorphs #5, The Predator page 20”
― K.A. Applegate

“Well, I'm guessing hat in about two centuries or so, humans will discover zero space and make transponders. Whatever they are. But in the meantime, I'm going to have a sandwich."

-Animorphs #5, The Predator page 34”
― K.A. Applegate

“Jake, I don't want to be a bug. I've been a gorilla, an osprey, a dolphin, a seagull, a trout, of all things, a lobster... and I'm probably forgetting a few. Gorilla was fun. Dolphin was fun. Osprey was fun. Ant? Not fun. Basically, bugs are a bad idea."

Jake shrugged. "I was a flea. That was no big thing.

...

"Jake? Do you ever listen to yourself?"

-Animorphs #5, The Predator page 36”
― K.A. Applegate

“I saw Jake in the hallway at school. I pretended not to notice him.

I saw Rachel, too. She had a dark look in her eyes. Like she hadn't slept. Like something was really wrong.

Even Cassie seemed grim. It had gotten to all of us. It's not so easy to just forget terror. It's not easy to just ignore the memory of your leg being ripped off. Of being dismembered. Torn apart.

One of these days, I thought, one of us is going to go crazy. Totally lock-me-up-in-a-rubber-room nutso. It was too much. This wasn't how life was supposed to be.

One of us would snap. One of us would lost it. It could happen, even to strong people.

-Animorphs #5, The Predator page 52”
― K.A. Applegate

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. a”
― Anonymous, Holy Bible: King James Version