Ann, Not Annie Quotes

“I think it would be best if, when you’re having suicidal thoughts of stabbing yourself, that you try to think of rainbows instead.”
“Rainbows?” Ann said hugging a pillow.
“Yeah,” Lisa said, standing back to look at her wall art. “Ya know—happy, bright, refreshing, the calm after the storm, God’s gift to the earth.”
“Or the aliens’ gift,” Ann added.
“Course,” Lisa agreed. “Can’t rule that out.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“Ann did detention like Whitney Houston did cocaine—frequently and without consideration of the consequences.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“He just wasn’t into flaunting his awesomeness, but sometimes a person’s awesomeness simply flaunts itself, even when you politely ask it not to.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“In retrospect, I suppose it might be difficult to develop early as a girl. Guys talking to your chest rather than your face is one thing. Then you’re also surrounded by a bunch of girls with pre- adolescent bodies who wrongly think that no breasts and no ass are a good thing. Plus, if you own your sexuality at all as a teen girl you’re a slut with a capital S. God, I’m glad those days are over. Not like adulthood is void of sexist platitudes, it’s just easier to talk about. In high school, though, if you call someone out on their shit you get bullied. It’s really a horrible time in life. Honestly, I don’t even know why there is an entire genre of books dedicated to it.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“Nothing monumental happened, the earth didn’t shake, and lightning didn’t strike. There was just a simple moment of raw emotion, unbridled and exposed to the daylight.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“That, after all, is what the great stories are written about: How people manage to find themselves in love. Well let me just say that how a person falls in love is more important than who they fall in love with, for to truly fall in love with someone else, you must first fall in love with yourself. The process a person goes through to break down his or her outer shell and let love in is often as miraculous as the mystery of falling in love.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“You know how some people develop addictions to manage their overwhelming emotions? Some people become alcoholics, coke fiends, potheads, pill-poppers, over-eaters, sex addicts or meth-heads. Well, Ann seemed to have a similar addiction to anger, he concluded. Feeling angry served the dual purpose of keeping others at a safe distance while drowning out all other competing and overwhelming emotions.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“A memory of her father flitted through her consciousness. The time he played a slow, melodic tune on the saxophone in the misty rain of the yard on a summer’s night, surrounded by the patio’s twinkling lights. She remembered peering out the window and feeling like she was catching a glimpse of another world. One that was timeless and majestic. She touched his saxophone after that as if she were touching the hand of God, wishing to hold onto that feeling forever.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“Jacob offered Ann pot, this time from a bowl. She shook her head no.
“You gotta keep doing it and eventually it will start to feel good, and your body will adapt,” he encouraged. It was the same thing her mom’s yoga instructor had said to her once and her answer was the same both times.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie

“In high school, though, if you call someone out on their shit you get bullied. It’s really a horrible time in life. Honestly, I don’t even know why there is an entire genre of books dedicated to it.”
― Sage Steadman, Ann, Not Annie