Cynthia Rylant Quotes

• It is when we are most lost that we sometimes find our truest friends.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Friendship, Inspiring, Novelists

  73 Copy quote

• I learned to write from authors. I didn't know any, but I read their books.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Book, Writing, Knows

  33 Copy quote

• Every person is able to add beauty, whether by growing flowers, or singing, or cooking luscious meals, or raising sweet pets. Every part of life can be art.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Beauty, Sweet, Art

  28 Copy quote

• I want to do something important in my life, and I think that adding beauty to the world with books... really is important.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Book, Thinking, Important

  28 Copy quote

• God turns clouds inside out to make fluffy beds for the dogs in Dog Heaven, and when they are tired from running and barking and eating ham-sandwich biscuits, the dogs find a cloud bed for sleeping. God watches over each one of them. And there are no bad dreams.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Running, Dream, Religious

  44 Copy quote

• I love being a writer because I want to leave something here on earth to make it better, prettier, stronger.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Love Is, Stronger, Earth

  22 Copy quote

• They say that to be a writer you must first have an unhappy childhood. I don't know if unhappiness is necessary, but I think maybe some children who have suffered a loss too great for words grow up into writers who are always trying to find those words, trying to find a meaning for the way they have lived

  Cynthia Rylant

  Children, Growing Up, Loss

  21 Copy quote

• Writing stories has given me the power to change things I could not change as a child. I can make boys into doctors. I can make fathers stop drinking. I can make mothers stay.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Mother, Children, Father

  16 Copy quote

• It is odd how we sometimes deny ourselves the very pleasure we have longed for and which is finally within our reach.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Sometimes, Odd, Pleasure

  26 Copy quote

• I am so grateful to be a writer. I hope every child grows up and finds something to do that will seem important and that will seem precious. Happy living and, especially, happy playing.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Children, Growing Up, Grateful

  17 Copy quote

• In November, the trees are standing all sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Dancer, Tree, Lovely

  Cynthia Rylant (2015). “In November”, p.9, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  21 Copy quote

• But those with an evil heart seem to have a talent for destroying anything beautiful which is about to bloom.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Beautiful, Heart, Evil

  22 Copy quote

• But what is it that makes a person want to stay here on this earth anyway, and go on suffering the most awful pain just for the sake of getting to stay? I used to think it was because people fear death. But now I think it is because people can't bear saying goodbye.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Goodbye, Pain, Thinking

  Karen Hesse, Cynthia Rylant, Cynthia Lord, Ann M. Martin (2013). “Scholastic Newbery Collection”, p.71, Scholastic Inc.

  16 Copy quote

• That's got to be at least one of the benefits of heaven - never having to act normal again.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Heaven, Benefits, Normal

  Karen Hesse, Cynthia Rylant, Cynthia Lord, Ann M. Martin (2013). “Scholastic Newbery Collection”, p.49, Scholastic Inc.

  15 Copy quote

• When the wicked want to bring down the innocent, they aim for a loving heart.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Heart, Wicked, Want

  18 Copy quote

• In November, the smell of food is different. It is an orange smell. A squash and pumpkin smell. It tastes like cinnamon and can fill up a house in the morning, can pull everyone from bed in a fog. Food is better in November than any other time of the year.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Morning, Fog, Years

  Cynthia Rylant (2015). “In November”, p.23, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  21 Copy quote

• A lot of people think they can write poetry, and many do, because they can figure out how to line up the words or make certain sounds rhyme or just imitate the other poets they've read. But this boy, he's the real poet, because when he tries to put on paper what he's seen with his heart, he will believe deep down that there are no good words for it, no words can do it, and at that moment he will have begun to write poetry.

  Cynthia Rylant

  Real, Believe, Writing

  11 Copy quote

• [May] understood people and she let them be whatever way they needed to be. She had faith in every single person she ever met, and this never failed her, for nobody ever disappointed May. Seems people knew she saw the very best of them, and they'd turn that side to her to give her a better look.

  Cynthia Rylant

  People, Giving, Looks

  Karen Hesse, Cynthia Rylant, Cynthia Lord, Ann M. Martin (2013). “Scholastic Newbery Collection”, p.18, Scholastic Inc.

  12 Copy quote

• And, finally, I know, too. That throwing away this mess doesn't mean I'm giving something up. Or losing something I can't get back. It's just that there are too many pieces and too much dust. I'm just ready for something whole." —Pete Cassidy

  Cynthia Rylant

  Mean, Dust, Giving

  Cynthia Rylant (1996). “A Fine White Dust”, Aladdin

  13 Copy quote

• But I know now that you can't expect anything from anybody. If somebody loves you, it's because he wants to. And it's never because it's what he's supposed to do." —Pete Cassidy

  Cynthia Rylant

  Love You, Want, Knows

  8 Copy quote

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