Girlchild Quotes

“No matter how smart you might appear to be later with your set of diplomas on their fine white parchment, the mistakes you made before the real lessons sunk in never fade. No matter how high you hang those official documents with their official seals and signatures, how shinning and polished the frame, your reflection in the glass will never let you forget how stupid you felt when you didn't know any better.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“I may not have been born captain of this boat, but I was born to rock it.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“Take this one to the bank: birds are hatched from eggs and are always egg-shaped. Maybe there's no escaping the shape that molds you, no getting around how you got started even if you do break out.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“You've done a thing you can't clean up, found a place you can't reach with mop or apology. The forever you've created branches like the hairline fracture in a pelvic bone, hides like a dirty Polaroid stored under a mattress, rises like hot blood to burn cheeks pretty with shame. Places you didn't even know you were signing your name will always be marked by your hand, but despite every new day's resolution to never do it again, you will. You'll look away from your own face in the mirror, pull the chain twice to hide from yourself in the dark, and when it's all over you won't say anything. You won't fucking say anything to anyone ever.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“It's an old copy and it's starting to fall apart, but I hold on to my Handbook because nothing else makes promises like that around here, promises with these words burning inside them: honor, duty, and try.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“But once in a while one loses his heart and once I think I did too, but never Mama. Her heart stays right in place and it's wham-bam-don't-give-a-damn every single time. Whatever she's got, that thing that can say good-bye like good-byes don't mean anything, I didn't get that. And the glass unicorn with the shiny gold horn and hooves that sits by my bed proves it, proves that I can't let go of things like Mama can.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“You'll look away from your own face in the mirror, pull the chain twice to hide from yourself in the dark, and when it's all over you won't fucking say anything. You won't fucking say anything to anyone ever.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“I can hear all I want about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll on the playground, but only the Girl Scouts know the step-by-steps for limbering up a a new book without injuring the binding and the how-tos of packing a suitcase to be a more efficient traveler. The only thing harder to come by around here than a suitcase is a brand-new book, but I keep the Girl Scout motto as close to my heart as the promise anyway: Be Prepared.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“But if you just got your first car and you're feeling around for the seat lever and find "Desolation Angels" instead, the beautiful people on the cover so lazily entwined, well, that's the type of experience that can turn your head around.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“6. Sleep with a bra on every night in fear of your boobs dropping should you forget. Intermediate: Don't wear a bra in the daytime. Advanced: Forget bras and wear the Hear Comes Trouble T-shirt you got for your eighth birthday. Act offended if anyone stares at the new shape of the word Trouble. Wear the shirt until your mother asks what smells.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“In the fairy tales there's only one Big Bad Wolf and the little girl takes only one trip through the Dark Forest and fights only one fight for her life before the story ends in happily and ever after. But life on the Calle is real, not make-believe, and every Calle girl knows that once the My-What-Big-Paws-You-Have fall on her skin, Little Red will carry that scent no matter how hard she scrubs. From that point on, every wolf in the every forest of her very real life will recognize her and they'll do their Biggest and Baddest to get into her basket anytime she drops her guard. So be prepared. We're not out of the woods yet.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“I look through the birds from every continent section in the encyclopedia, searching for one kind whose body doesn't look like an egg, upright or sidewise. But from loon to bluejay, ostrich to starling, all their shapes agree. Take this one to the bank: birds are hatched from eggs and are always egg-shaped. Maybe there's no escaping the shape that molds you, no getting around how you got started even if you do break out... Except for one thing: wings are born from that shape. They don't come from any other.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“You've done a thing you can't clean up, found a place you can't reach with mop or apology. The forever you've created branches like the hairline fracture in a pelvic bone, hides like a dirty Polaroid shoved under a mattress, rises like hot blood to burn cheeks pretty with shame.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“Fifty-two pick-up. Suicide kings and one-eyed jacks face off on orange shag. Calle girls cry uncle through clenched teeth and past his shoulder the sirens flash redneck blues across the white-stucco, nicotine-yellow ceiling.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“Grandpa had a gun and it ruined Mama's hearing. He was an angry man and he liked to celebrate it. He liked best to have Mama and her sisters dress up, line them all up, and make them stand close while he'd fire his shotgun off, the blast cracking through the air above their heads as sure and painful as if he'd emptied the barrel right into their bones. She still has dreams about it, gingham and butterfly-collar nightmares that scream through the house.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“In her head, she never stopped being a rotten-mouthed girl.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild

“Which statements are true according to the passage?
A) Science, governments, and your doctor should be trusted.
B) 'Comforting her deep into the night' is a euphemism for sneaking candy.
C) The ugliest phrase used in this passage is 'female.'
D) Bad things really do come in threes.”
― Tupelo Hassman, Girlchild