Jenny Downham Quotes

Quotes about:

Birds Choices Dying Heart Hurt Kissing Metals

I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish he lived in the wardrobe on a coat hanger. Whenever I wanted, I could get him out and he'd look at me the way boys do in films, as if I'm beautiful.

Jenny Downham

Beautiful, Boys, Wish

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

46 Copy quote
It was strange how words meant something when they came out of your mouth. Inside your head they were safe and silent, but once they were outside, people grabbed hold of them.

Jenny Downham

People, Mouths, Safe

Jenny Downham (2010). “You Against Me”, p.13, Random House

15 Copy quote
All I know is that I have two choices – stay wrapped in blankets and get on with dying, or get the list back together and get on with living.

Jenny Downham

Two, Choices, Together

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

9 Copy quote
Don't think you have to be good because you're the only one left. Be as bad as you like.

Jenny Downham

Thinking, Be Good, Left

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote
I'm me and you're you, and all of them out there are them. And we're all so different and equally unimportant.

Jenny Downham

Different, Unimportant

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote
Nurses never tell you what they know. They're hired for their cheeriness and the thickness of their hair. They need to look alive and healthy, to give the patients something to aim for.

Jenny Downham

Hair, Nurse, Giving

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote
There's a terrible stillness. I notice a small tear in the wallpaper above her shoulder. I notice finger marks grimed on the light switch. Somewhere down in the house, a door opens and shuts. As Zoey turns to face me, I realize that life is made up of a series of moments, each one a journey to the end.

Jenny Downham

Journey, Light, Doors

7 Copy quote
Perhaps I'm dead. Perhaps this is all it will be. The living will carry on in their world – touching, walking. And I'll continue in this empty world, tapping soundlessly on the glass between us.

Jenny Downham

Glasses, Touching, World

6 Copy quote
Humans are made from nuclear ash of dead stars

Jenny Downham

Stars, Ashes, Nuclear

4 Copy quote
It's utterly beautiful not to know my own edges.

Jenny Downham

Beautiful, My Own, Knows

Jenny Downham (2012). “Now is Good (Also published as Before I Die)”, p.212, Random House

4 Copy quote
I want to die in my own way. It's my illness, my death, my choice. This is what saying yes means.

Jenny Downham

Mean, Choices, Saying Yes

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

30 Copy quote
Life is made up of a series of moments, each one a journey to the end.

Jenny Downham

Journey, Life Is, Moments

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote
It's really going to happen. I really won't ever go back to school. Not ever. I'll never be famous or leave anything worthwhile behind. I'll never go to college or have a job. I won't see my brother grow up. I won't travel, never earn money, never drive, never fall in love or leave home or get my own house. It's really, really true. A thought stabs up, growing from my toes and ripping through me, until it stifles everything else and becomes the only thing I'm thinking. It fills me up like a silent scream.

Jenny Downham

Falling In Love, Brother, Jobs

Jenny Downham (2012). “Now is Good (Also published as Before I Die)”, p.54, Random House

4 Copy quote
We make patterns, we share moments.

Jenny Downham

Patterns, Moments, Share

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

10 Copy quote
If I learnt anything at all about terminal illness in my research, it's that the experience is different for everyone. I do believe that life becomes concentrated when it's boundaried and that death is the biggest boundary of all.

Jenny Downham

Believe, Different, Research

4 Copy quote
Her face crashes. She hasn't dealt with a single transfusion or lumbar puncture. She wasn't allowed near me for the bone-marrow transplant, but she could have been there for any number of diagnoses, and wasn't. Even her promises to visit more often have faded away with Christmas. It's her turn to taste some reality.

Jenny Downham

Reality, Numbers, Promise

5 Copy quote
Cal says that humans are made from the nuclear ash of dead stars. He says that when I die, I'll return to dust, glitter,rain. If thats true, I want to be buried right here under this tree. Its roots will reach into the soft mess of my body and suck me dry. I'll be re-formed as apple blossom. I'll drift down in the spring like confetti and cling to my family's shoes. They'll carry me in their pockets to help them sleep. What dreams will they have then?

Jenny Downham

Dream, Stars, Spring

13 Copy quote
I want you to be with me in the dark. To hold me. To keep loving me. To help me when I get scared. To come right to the edge and see what's there.

Jenny Downham

Love, Dark, Want

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote
She'd never in her whole life bunked school, smoked dope, or kissed a boy whose name she didn't know, and yet in the last few days, she'd done all these things.

Jenny Downham

School, Boys, Dope

4 Copy quote
I love you. I love you. I send this message through my fingers and into his, up his arm and into his heart. Hear me. I love you. And I'm sorry to leave you.

Jenny Downham

Sad, Sorry, Love You

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

7 Copy quote
How late is it? How long have we been sitting here? I look at my watch – three thirty and the day is almost ending. It’s October. All those kids recently returned to classrooms with new bags and pencil cases will be looking forward to half term already. How quickly it goes. Halloween soon, then firework night. Christmas. Spring. Easter. Then there’s my birthday in May. I’ll be seventeen. How long can I stave it off? I don’t know. All I know is that I have two choices – stay wrapped in blankets and get on with dying, or get the list back together and get on with living.

Jenny Downham

Easter, Halloween, Spring

11 Copy quote
It's all right, Tessa, you can go. We love you. You can go now.' 'Why are you saying that?' 'She might need permission to die, Cal.' 'I don't want her to. She doesn't have my permission.

Jenny Downham

Love You, Needs, Want

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

7 Copy quote
Instructions for Adam Look after no one except yourself. Go to university and make lots of friends and get drunk. Forget your door keyes. Laugh. Eat pot-noodles for breakfast. Miss lectures. Be irresponsible.

Jenny Downham

Doors, Drunk, Laughing

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote
Maybe I’ll come back as somebody else. I’ll be the wild-haired girl Adam meets in his first week at university. ‘Hi, are you on the horticultural course as well?

Jenny Downham

Girl, Firsts, Week

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote
It's a shame i can't be there myself - i like parties. Text me if you think of any good hymns!

Jenny Downham

Party, Thinking, Hymns

Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

4 Copy quote

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Born: 1964
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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