Runaway Quotes

“Sometimes I get so caught up in my own problems that I forget how amazing the world is.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“I miss school.
What’s wrong with me?”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“You told us over and over that you don’t think you could live without books, but the ironic thing is, you’d probably die before you’d think to rip pages out of one to start a fire. Am I right?
Well, get over it already. Better to be warm then well-read.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“I operate under the assumption that people don't notice the good in me. That's just how things always seem to play out. I get blamed, while con-artist kids like Venus, and Camille, and Gemma get believed. But the rescue lady noticed. In the background, just observing, she noticed.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“(Actually now I’m remembering that the goodbye chow isn’t spelled that way. It’s ciao or something weird like that. It’s Italian, right? But I’m not an Italian gypsy, I’m a hungry gypsy. So spelling it chow makes total sense.)”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Holly, I understand that you are upset because Gemma pulled down your ants, but why did you think pouring motor oil inside her backpack is the way to solve the problem?”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Blue Face
Disgusting taste
Flush it
Shush it
Cold disgrace”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“I don’t think you’re aloud to be homeschooled if you don’t have a home.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Okay that’s it. Now I’m torching this.
I just need to score a match.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“It’s funny to hear priests and nuns argue with each other.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Street people use cardboard all the time, and bum alleys are just shanties or lean-tos, though. They’re nothing like my house! Mine is deluxe! It’s a big, thick, super sturdy refrigerator box that I found at an appliance store!”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“scraps of love
torn and tattered
faded, scattered
trashed

threads of hope
frayed and tangled
broken, mangled
dashed

backing, buttons
yarn and batting
quilted tenderly
wrapped up in
this warm repair
my patchwork family”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Thank you for helping me turn the page.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“She was married to my dad, and everything was fine until he got killed in some freak tractor accident.
Yeah, that’s what I said, a freak tractor accident.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Words can't fix my life.
Words can't give me a family.
Words can't do jack.
You may be a teacher, Ms. Leone, but face it: You don't know squat.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Summers there are awful! Winters there are awful! Why do you stay? You ought to run away! Hop a train! Stow away on a bus!
What am I saying? You could just buy yourself a ticket.
It would be interesting to talk to you if you did it the other way, though.
We could compare scars and bruises.
It might be fun.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“I’m not going to be able to sleep a wink tonight.
I hate shelters.
People coughing and snoring and hacking up who-knows-what.
It’s a nightmare.
But I do have clean teeth.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Food in the trash is like the tossed-and-found.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“I've decided this is all your fault, Ms. Leone. I've run away before, you know, but stowed away or jumped trains or broke into buildings, I just ran away and got caught. But I think all that stuff you told us about the Underground Railroad got lodged in my subconscious, and somewhere inside it gave me the strength or courage or insanity to really get away. So see? This is all your fault.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Backup backpacks.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Maybe that's what happens if you get comfortable someplace. Maybe you need some motivation to move on. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe it's not just being comfortable. Maybe it's being used to. A place can be very uncomfortable, but if you're used to it, it gives you a strange sense of comfort.
Did that make any sense? For example, why do people stay in places on jobs or relationships that they hate? Why don't they just leave?
Because they're used to it, that's why.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“I’d way rather defend myself against a man with a stick than a social worker with good intentions.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“Counselors also like to interject "I understand" into your rages. They think saying "I understand…” while you're yelling and trying with everything you've got not to cry will calm you down. How stupid is that? It just makes you madder! How can they even let you finish telling your side of things yet!
But the most irritating way counselors use
“I understand" is as a proclamation of their vast knowledge of you. You can have said barely anything, and there they go, telling you, "I understand!" They say it all knowingly, with a deep, calm voice like they're channeling God, "I understand."
Give me a break.
I actually think people telling me "I understand" is why I started lying about what happened to my parents. Lying was easy, and a lot less painful than the truth.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“10:05 p.m.
I don't want your SYMPATHY
your PITY
your BAND-AID on my MISERY
I don't want your WELFARE
your "I CARE"
your SHE'S-NOT-LOOKING-NOW-LET'S-STARE
Just give me a CHANCE
a FAIR
FIGHTING
CHANCE”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway

“In some ways it feels like forever ago. There's that ebb and flow in my mind about other things, too. Where it feels close, then far away. The Benders, the train, the bus, Louise, the library, my mother...waves of memories that wash in, then out. Close, then far.
Fear's like that, too.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Runaway