The Labors of Hercules Beal Quotes

“So I'm not telling you not to be angry, Beal. That would be telling you not to be a human being. I'm telling you not to act when you're angry. There's a difference" -Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“We are here to help you carry the sky when you have to, and we are here to help you put it down when you need to. Why else would anyone ever become a teacher?”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“You know, Beal, you've been fighting a whole lot of monsters this year, monsters much more real than any the mythical Hercules fought. And you've been fighting stuff that's come at you out of the blue. And one of it is fair, and none of it is right, and none of it is anything you've deserved. That's the world, Beal. But you haven't crumbled, have you? And you haven't disappeared. You're still here. And the truth is, no matter what happened with your parents, and no matter what happens with Elly, you're still going to be here." -Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“I know this doesn't sound like some sort of earth-shattering new idea that's going to change the universe. But I wonder if what Hercules was most afraid of when he was holding up the sky wasn't that he was going to have to hold it up forever. It was that he was going to have to hold it up forever while he was by himself. THat's a kind of scary thing to think about.

Maybe, the stuff we hold up, we don't have to hold up by ourselves all the time. Maybe sometimes we can let someone else hold is up too. Maybe that's how we can get by. Maybe.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Sometimes being still is the hardest thing to do - but in fact, the most productive." -Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Here's the first rule: Bad things happen that you can't fix.
Here's the second rule: You have to live with the first rule.
Here's the third rule: The first two rules stink.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Isn’t one of those Labors going down to hell?”

“There and back,” said Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer. “As I indicated to Ms. de la Peña, it’s a tough world, Beal.”

He leaned down over me and whispered, so quietly that no one else could hear, “But I think you already know that.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Maybe, the stuff we hold up, we don’t have to hold up by ourselves all the time. Maybe sometimes we can let someone else hold it up too. Maybe that’s how we can get by. Maybe that’s how we can do a whole lot better than just get by.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Here's what it's like to go into hell: anything horrible that came before this crash is replayed for you, at rapid speed, with heightened lightning, with louder sound, with brighter colors, with higher production values than you can imagine. You can't stop it, and you can't stop it, and you can't stop it.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“It's a tough world, Sugimoto.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“But hell is like a storm, you know. You can't predict everything it's going to do.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“When you don't have much choice, you can't waste time on regrets.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Courage is shown in what we do, not in what we’re feeling. I think you showed real courage.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Everyone should have their fourth grade teacher live down the street from them.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“You know, Beal, you've been fighting a whole lot of monsters this year, monsters much more real than any the mythical Hercules fought. And you've been fighting stuff that's come at you out of the blue. And none of it is fair, and none of it is right, and none of it is anything you've deserved. That's the world, Beal. But you haven't crumbled, have you? And you haven't disappeared. You're still here.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“Most people don't think we even look like brothers," I said.
"You do when you're asleep," she said. "Your face relaxes, and you stop worrying, and all that grit you two carry around falls away, and you're just you.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“And when Achilles went inside the Vampire said to me, "You all right?"
I nodded. "I'm okay."
"Okay is good enough for now," she said.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“We are here to help you carry the sky when you have to, and we are here to help you put it down when you need to. Why else would anyone ever become a teacher? Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“I have six. May I have seven?”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“The question is, why?” he said. “Because maybe sometimes,” I said, “you can get something back even when you think it’s lost.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“We are here to help you carry the sky when you have to, and we are here to help you put it down when you need to.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal

“It's a tough world, Beal.”
― Gary D. Schmidt, The Labors of Hercules Beal