Wintergirls Quotes

• You’re not dead, but you’re not alive, either. You’re a wintergirl.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Alive

  "Wintergirls". Book by Laurie Halse Anderson, 2009.

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• You’re not dead, but you’re not alive, either. You’re a wintergirl, Lia-Lia, caught in between the worlds. You’re a ghost with a beat- ing heart. Soon you’ll cross the border and be with me. I’m so stoked. I miss you wicked.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Heart, Missing, Wicked

  94 Copy quote

• I want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don’t want to die.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Sleep, Wake Up, Want

  89 Copy quote

• We held hands when we walked down the gingerbread path into the forest, blood dripping from our fingers. We danced with witches and kissed monsters. We turned us into wintergirls, when she tried to leave, I pulled her back into the snow because I was afraid to be alone.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Blood, Hands, Snow

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.78, Penguin

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• There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Self Esteem, Mirrors, Laughing

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.208, Penguin

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• Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care... -Wintergirls

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Hurt, Pain, Cutting

  80 Copy quote

• We turned us into wintergirls, and when she tried to leave, I pulled her back into the snow because I was afraid to be alone.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Snow, Gingerbread

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.78, Penguin

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• I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Self Esteem, Inspiration, Pounds

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.230, Scholastic UK

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• They yell at me because I can't see what they see. Nobody can explain to me why my eyes work different than theirs.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Eye, Different, Because I Can

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.150, Penguin

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• Why? You want to know why? Step into a tanning booth and fry yourself for two or three days. After your skin bubbles and peels off, roll in coarse salt, then pull on long underwear woven from spun glass and razor wire. Over that goes your regular clothes, as long as they are tight.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Glasses, Two, Clothes

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.124, Penguin

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• So, she tells me, the words dribbling out with the cranberry muffin crumbs, commas dunked in her coffee.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Coffee, Muffins, Cranberries

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “The Impossible Knife of Memory”, p.297, Penguin

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• In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Believe, Ghost, Aspect

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.208, Scholastic UK

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• Dead girl walking” the boys say in the halls. “Tell us your secrets” the girls whisper, one toilet to another. "I am that girl. I am the spaces between my thighs, daylight shinning through. I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Girl, Boys, Space

  32 Copy quote

• I breathe in slowly. Food is life. I exhale, take another breath. Food is life. And that's the problem. When you're alive, people can hurt you. It's easier to crawl into a bone cage or a snowdrift of confusion. It's easier to lock everybody out. But it's a lie.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Hurt, Lying, People

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.206, Penguin

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• Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living was hardest.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Breathing, Eating, Hardest

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.232, Scholastic UK

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• Who wants to recover? It took me years to get that tiny. I wasn't sick; I was strong.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Strong, Years, Sick

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.33, Scholastic UK

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• I believe that you've created a metaphorical universe in which you can express your darkest fears. In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves, and sometimes we do such a good job, we lose track of reality.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Jobs, Believe, Reality

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.185, Penguin

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• I failed eating, failed drinking, failed not cutting myself into shreds. Failed friendship. Failed sisterhood and daughterhood. Failed mirrors and scales and phone calls. Good thing I'm stable.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Drinking, Cutting, Sisterhood

  25 Copy quote

• For one moment we are not failed tests and broken condoms and cheating on essays; we are crayons and lunch boxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Cheating, Clouds, Sneakers

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.19, Penguin

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• What do I want? The answer to that question does not exist.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Doe, Answers, Want

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.92, Scholastic UK

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• I wish I had cancer. I will burn in hell for that, but it's true.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Cancer, Anorexia, Wish

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.32, Scholastic UK

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• I inscribe three lines, hush hush hush, into my skin. Ghosts trickle out.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Skins, Lines, Three

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.60, Scholastic UK

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• Here stands a girl clutching a knife. There is grease on the stove, blood in the air, and angry words piled in the corners. We are trained not to see it, not to see any of it. . . . Someone just ripped off my eyelids.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Girl, Air, Blood

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “The Impossible Knife of Memory”, p.298, Penguin

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• I won the wintergirl trip over the border into dangerland.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Borders

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2014). “Wintergirls”, p.181, Scholastic UK

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• I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Space, Shining, Daylight

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2009). “Wintergirls”, p.21, Penguin

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