Out of the Dust Quotes

“the way i see it, hard times aren't only about money, or drought, or dust. hard times are about losing spirit, and hope, and what happens when dreams dry up.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“And I know now that all the time I was trying to get
out of the dust,
the fact is,
what I am,
I am because of the dust.
And what I am is good enough.
Even for me.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“The way I see it, hard times aren't only about money,
or drought,
or dust.
Hard times are about losing spirit,
and hope,
and what happens when dreams dry up.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“I hear the first drops. Like the tapping of a stranger at the door of a dream, the rain changes everything.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“Apples

Ma's apple blossoms
have turned to hard green balls.

To eat them now,
so tart,
would turn my mouth inside out,
would make my stomach groan.

But in just a couple months,
after the baby is born,
those apples will be ready
and we'll make pies
and sauce
and pudding
and dumplings
and cake
and cobbler
and have just plain apples to take to school
and slice with my pocket knife
and eat one juicy piece at a time
until my mouth is clean
and fresh
and my breath is nothing but apple.

June 1934”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“When I rode the train west,
I went looking for something,
but I didn't see anything wonderful.
I didn't see anything better than what I already had.
Home.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“I have a hunger,
for more than food.
I have a hunger
bigger than Joyce City.
I want tongues to tie, and
eyes to shine at me
like they do at Mad Dog Craddock.
Course they never will,
not with my hands all scarred up,
looking like the earth itself,
all parched and rough and cracking,
but if I played right enough,
maybe they would see past my hands.
Maybe they could feel at ease with me again,
and maybe then,
I could feel at east with myself.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“each day after class lets out,each morning before it begins, i sit at the school piano and make my hands work. in spite of the pain, in spite of the stiffness and scars. i make my hands play piano.i have practiced my best piece over and over till my arms throb.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“...the morning with the whole day waiting,
full of promise,
the night
of quiet, of no expectations, of rest.
And the certainty of home, the one I live in,
and the one
that lives in me.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“I don't want to die,
I just want to go,
away,
out of the dust.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“His mother is wishing her boy would come home."

Lots of mothers wishing that these days,
while their sons walk to California,
where rain comes,
and the color green doesn't seem like such a miracle,
and hope rises daily, like sap in a stem.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“And she knows how to come into a home
and not step on the toes of a ghost.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“I turn my back on him as he goes,
and settle myself in the parlor,
and touch Ma's piano.

My fingers leave sighs
in the dust.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“The way I see it, hard times aren't only about money, or drought, or dust. Hard times are about losing spirit, and hope, and what happens when dreams dry up.
And I'm learning, watching Daddy, that you can stay in one place and still grow.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“By the summer I turned nine Daddy had given up about having a boy. He tried making me do.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“When I point my fingers at the keys, the music springs straight out of me. Right hand playing notes sharp as tongues, telling stories while the smooth buttery rhythms back me up on the left.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“Mr. Noble and Mr. Romney have a bet going as to who can kill the most rabbits. It all started at the rabbit drive last Monday over to Sturgis”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“I can't be my own mother,”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“, "It's best to let the dead rest,”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“You'd leave the farm?" I asked. He nodded. "You'd leave school?”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“Billie Jo's father brought in a pail of kerosene put it next to the stove, Billie Jo's ma thought it was water so she used it and ending up catching the pail on fire ma went to get pa and Billie Jo thought she was doing a good thing by getting rid of the pail that was on fire not knowing her mom was coming back into the house and caught her mom on fire and Billie Jo put out the flames on her mom with her hands.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“Just because I'm tall doesn't mean I can play basketball, or even that I want to.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“You've got what it takes, Billie Jo. Look at the size of those hands," he'd say. "Look at how tall.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“I'm good at digging,”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“The blossom opened at midnight, big as a dinner plate. It took only moments to unfold.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“Billie Jo threw the pail," they said. "An accident," they said.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“His mother is worrying about him," Ma said. "His mother is wishing her boy would come home.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“now and again, to keep a person hoping. But even if it didn't your daddy would have to believe. It's coming on spring and he's a farmer.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“I can turn the fields over, start again. It's sure to rain soon. Wheat's sure to grow.”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

“The potatoes are peppered plenty tonight, Polly," and "Chocolate milk for dinner, aren't we in clover!”
― Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust