Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books Quotes

“When you have everything, the only luxury left is taking things away from others.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

“What matters is never letting people tell you what to think. Don't let them convince you that one way is right and another way wrong. Gather as much knowledge as you can, because information is power. And choosing how to use it is freedom. The more you know, the freer you will be.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

“Once Jesus arrived on the scene, all those Old Testament laws no longer applied. The New Testament tells us we’re supposed to follow Christ, not the old ways. And as far as I know, Jesus never said a damn thing about gay folks or barbecue. But he sure did talk a lot about love.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“When you’re very old, people want to know—what’s the secret to a good, long life? Bernice would tell them: live and let live. Be true to yourself and let others do the same.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“If you have a family that loves each other and children who want to spend time with you, then you've been a good parent.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

“if your faith was shaken by foul words or sex scenes, then you must not have had very much to begin with.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“How do you improve yourself without challenging your mind? How do you leave a better world for your children? Delvin wondered. Then he remembered that was the point. People like Lula didn’t want change. They were perfectly happy with the way things were.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“Fighting the forces of evil – whether Black, gay, feminist, or fabulous – would take drastic measures, the hate-mongers told their followers. Books would need to be banned and laws broken. Some parts of the Constitution might no longer apply to everyone. And there were sections of the Bible they'd have to ignore, starting with love thy neighbor.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

“stories are the most powerful things in this world. They can mend broken hearts, bring back good memories, and make people fall in love.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“Gather as much knowledge as you can, because information is power. And chosing how to use it is freedom. The more you know, the freer you will be.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

“There is no need to make magic. There is magic all around us. We need only to recognize it and make use of what is already there.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“First I went to see the principal to tell him the code was old-fashioned and unfair. He said dress codes are necessary because if girls are allowed to wear what we want, the boys won’t be able to focus. I said why not let the girls dress comfortably and send the boys home until they can show self-control?”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“there are plenty of good folks around here. They just haven’t been shouting as loud as the others.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“He said it’s easier for girls to dress modestly than for boys to behave. And so I told him I wasn’t interested in following rules that make life harder for girls so it can be easier for boys.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“I grew up in a small town in rural North Carolina and no matter where I live, I will always consider myself a Southerner. My complicated relationship with the South is something I think about every day. There is so much to love about the Southeastern states—and so much that hurts my soul. But I want to make it perfectly clear that the issues addressed in this novel—book banning, white nationalism, anti-Semitism, etc.—are by no means unique to the South. These are American problems. Pretending they only occur in the South has allowed them to flourish unchecked elsewhere in the United States.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“How do you improve yourself without challenging your mind?”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“The Nazis were monsters to kill little girls.” “I know that’s what people say,” Mr. Stempel told her. “But most of them weren’t. They were just ordinary people. That’s what makes them so terrifying. Monsters you can fight. But when the people who come for you in the night are your neighbors and coworkers and classmates . . . When you never know who’s sick and who’s not . . .” He shrugged. “Sick?” “Hate is a disease, Dawn.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“Bella leaned in as if sharing a scandalous secret. “I wore a tank top to school on Monday.” Wilma blinked. “That’s it? That’s why you’re under house arrest? Were your lady bits exposed or something?”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“But listen—why are you letting a bunch of old Greek men tell you what a hero ought to be?”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“When you’re very old, people want to know—what’s the secret to a good, long life? Bernice would tell them: live and let live.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“What matters is never letting people tell you what to think. Don’t let them convince you that one way is right and another way wrong. Gather as much knowledge as you can, because information is power. And choosing how to use it is freedom. The more you know, the freer you will be.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“you, then you’ve been a good parent.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“When you have everything, the only luxury left is taking things away from others. It was”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“But listen - why are you letting a bunch of old Greek men tell you what a hero ought to be? They'll have you thinking you got to go to war and kill people to prove yourself. Women have always known better than that.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

“This glorious antebellum South they yearned for never featured any of the ugly realities of the past—body odor, hookworm, rape, cesspools, death, disease, and whippings, not to mention the unrelenting poverty of the folks called white trash.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“Maybe some folks in town were supervillains in disguise. But somewhere out there, at least one person was fighting for good. And that was a fight Delvin Crump had been looking for all of his life.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“Someone in Troy, Georgia, had smuggled a story about the dark legacy of slavery into Lula Dean’s pretty purple library.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“How do you improve yourself without challenging your mind? How do you leave a better world for your children?”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“Fine,” he’d finally agreed. “You can check out books. But you pass them by me before you start reading. You have no idea what kind of damage the wrong books will do to a weak mind.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

“In case you were wondering, there is an upside to spending time with old ladies.” Wilma tried to catch a glimpse of the text as she set a plate down in front of her great-granddaughter, but Bella closed the book. “We buy people’s love with pie.”
― Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books