The collection / 22 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01Undated

Some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up and touch everything. If you never let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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02Undated

I've been the oldest child since before you were born

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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03Undated

Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place, but there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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04Undated

Nathan, how can you stand playing the same piece over and over again?" And Grandpa Nate answered, "Why don't you ask me how I can stand making love to the same woman over and over again?

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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05Undated

Friendship depends on interlocking time, place, and state of mind.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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06Undated

...I didn't run away to come home the same. -Claudia

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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07Undated

It takes more courage to disturb the neighborhood than it takes to disturb the universe. And the price is often higher.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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08Undated

In some way, every creative action disturbs the universe.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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09Undated

Because we are human we have a long childhood, and one of the jobs of that childhood is to sculpt our brains. We have years--about twelve of them--to draw outlines of the shape we want our sculpted brain to take. Some of the parts must be sculpted at critical times. One cannot, after all, carve out toes unless he knows where the foot will go. We need tools to do some of the fine work. The tools are our childhood experiences. And I'm convinced that one of those experiences must be children's books. And they must be experienced within the early years of our long childhood.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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10Undated

I want all the books on the she

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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11Undated

Since language is the only tool with which writers can reflect and shape a culture, it must be transformed into art. Language is not a limitation on the art of literature; it is a glorification. It has been the scaffolding inside which nations and philosophies have been built, and the language of literature has added the ornamental pediment by which the culture is remembered.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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12Undated

It is sometimes necessary to use unnecessary words like thank you and please just to make life prettier.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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13Undated

I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside of you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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14Undated

But lying in bed just before going to sleep is the worst time for organized thinking; it is the best time for free thinking. Ideas drift like clouds in an undecided breeze, taking first this direction and then that.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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15Undated

I waited for her to catch up, and when I did, she slowed down, and I missed seeing the light in her hair. I never told Nadia how much I liked seeing the halo the sunlight made of her hair. Sometimes silence is a habit that hurts.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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16Undated

He also learned to regard each port of call as part of the journey and not as destination. Every voyage begins when you do.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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17Undated

The way I see it, the difference between farmers and suburbanites is the difference in the way we feel about dirt. To them, the earth is something to be respected and preserved, but dirt gets no respect. A farmer likes dirt. Suburbanites like to get rid of it. Dirt is the working layer of earth, and dealing with dirt is as much a part of farm life as dealing with manure. Neither is user-friendly but both are necessary.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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18Undated

Sometimes it takes more courage to be the passenger than to be the driver.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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19Undated

Secrets are the kind of adventure she needs. Secrets are safe, and they do much to make you different. On the inside where it counts.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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20Undated

Before you can be anything, you have to be yourself. That's the hardest thing to find.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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21Undated

Because after a time having a secret and nobody knowing you have a secret is no fun. And although you don't want others to know what the secret is, you want them to at least know you have one.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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22Undated

Let me first talk about our brains as a personal radio telescope. Let me talk first about its wonderful built-in wiring for tuning out the static of our civilization in order to better tune in its symphony.

E.L. Konigsburg / quote

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