84 Quotes by Robert Cormier

When he ran, he even loved the pain, the hurt of the running, the burning in his lungs and the spasms that sometimes gripped his calves. He loved it because he knew he could endure the pain, and even go beyond it. He had never pushed himself to the limit but he felt all this reserve strength inside of him: more than strength actually – determination. And it sang in him as he ran, his heart pumping blood joyfully through his body.

You seldom get a censorship attempt from a 14-year-old boy. It’s the adults who get upset.

I’ve had aunts and uncles who not only haven’t read my books but could hardly believe that I was a writer.

I simply write with an intelligent reader in mind. I don’t think about how old they are.

Archie became absolutely still, afraid that the rapid beating of his heart might betray his sudden knowledge, the proof of what he’d always suspected, not only of Brother Leon but most grownups, most adults: they were vulnerable, running scared, open to invasion.

He hated to think of his own life stretching ahead of him that way, a long succession of days and nights that were fine – not good, not bad, not great, not lousy, not exciting, not anything.

Archie believed in always doing the smart thing. Not the thing you ached to do, not the impulsive act, but the thing that would pay off later.

They tell you to do your thing but they don’t mean it. They don’t want you to do your own thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too. It’s a laugh, Goober, a fake. Don’t disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say.

Happiness is a way of traveling and not a destination.