Top 93 Sharon Draper Quotes
#1. [A] person is so much more than the name of a diagnosis on a chart.
Sharon M. Draper
#2. Each grabbing one silver-wrapped chocolate from Mrs. Cooper's basket, it struck Stella that everyone got the same thing, no matter which school they went to.
Sharon M. Draper
#4. It's hard to imagine you and Daddy as ever being young and foolish. I figured you just appeared one day, fully grown and knowing all the answers, she teased.
Sharon M. Draper
#6. Bad writers don't practice, Stella. It's the good ones who care enough to try, who worry about getting the words just right. You are probably better than you think -Papa
Sharon M. Draper
#7. Stella's father hesitated. "Georgia supports me, but she was a mite trembly this morning. I brought Stella though."He squeezed her shoulders affectionately. "I don't want to just tell her about bravery--I want to show her what it looks like.
Sharon M. Draper
#8. She talked to me like I was just like any other student, not a kid in a wheelchair.
Sharon M. Draper
#9. I like how a book feels when I turn the pages, and how the ink smells - almost like something good to eat.
Sharon M. Draper
#10. Earthquake report: Call the paramedics. A girl in fifth grade is about to explode.
Sharon M. Draper
#11. One series of notes, high and delicate, sang of a sweet moonlight kiss gone sour; another line of music rippled with regret over opportunities forever lost.
Sharon M. Draper
#13. Delete, delete, delete. No way am I letting their negativity mess me up. I have enough to worry about.
Sharon M. Draper
#15. The class laughed. I can tell the difference between people making fun of us and people being nice to us.
Sharon M. Draper
#17. It's like I've always had a painted musical sound track playing background to my life. I can almost hear colors and smell images when music is played.
Sharon M. Draper
#18. Mom I can' read and the school might be open in three weaks
Sharon M. Draper
#19. Look at that amazing display of sparkle! And feel that wind? It's trying to tickle your toes,
Sharon M. Draper
#20. Teachers must be celebrated for moving civilization from ignorance to enlightenment, from apathy to responsibility.
Sharon M. Draper
#21. I can't talk. I can't walk. I can't feed myself or take myself to the bathroom. Big bummer.
Sharon M. Draper
#23. If Maria is our hugger, Gloria is our rocker. She rocks for hours in the corner under one of the dumb smiling flowers.
Sharon M. Draper
#24. Do you know what courage is? I guess you don't. Do you know that the courage it took at that moment - to actually blow yourself away - was more than enough courage to keep on living?
Sharon M. Draper
#25. What's right isn't always popular, and whats popular isn't always right.
Sharon M. Draper
#26. All the salve in the world can't cure what gets broken in somebody's soul -Mama
Sharon M. Draper
#27. I know people will say that it's because of the accident that I came back to church-well, they're right. I'm not too proud to know when a problem is bigger than I am.
Sharon M. Draper
#28. A library filled with thousands of books waiting for a thirsty kid like me to gulp them down.
Sharon M. Draper
#29. When students ask me today, 'What do you think we should learn from this book?' I tell them, 'Whatever you got out of it.'
Sharon Draper
#30. Finally he said, "Bad writers don't practice, Stella. It's the good ones who care enough to try, who worry about getting the words just right. You are probably better than you think.
Sharon M. Draper
#31. Without the local library in my neighborhood, I don't think I would have grown up to be a writer or a teacher.
Sharon M. Draper
#32. Dad also has the loudest, stinkiest farts in creation. I don't know how he manages to control them at work, or even if he does, but when he'd get home, he'd let them loose. They'd start as he walked up the stairs.
Sharon M. Draper
#35. I worked at Sears as a salesperson when I was in college. Makes me nicer to folks to have to stand all day and be nice to picky people.
Sharon Draper
#36. Don't aim for riches, child. Aim for happiness. -Mrs. Mills
Sharon M. Draper
#38. Everybody uses words to express themselves. Except me. And I bet most people don't realize the real power of words. But I do. Thoughts
Sharon M. Draper
#39. I'd love to dance with grace and style, to move as easily as I write.
Sharon Draper
#40. I do research for every single book, regardless. For 'Double Dutch,' I learned to jump and learned the scoring system. For 'November Blues,' I interviewed pregnant teens. I like to get up close and personal with the kids involved in the situations I write about.
Sharon Draper
#41. I believe in me. And my family does. And Mrs. V.
It's the rest of the world I'm not so sure of.
Sharon M. Draper
#42. A couple of weeks later my dad and I were in the car and we passed by a McDonald's. I screeched and kicked and pointed like Godzilla was coming down the street. Dad must have thought I was nuts. Finally, he said, "Would you like to stop and get a Big Mac and a shake for dinner tonight as a treat?
Sharon M. Draper
#43. I was just thinking about me having children. Or being a grandma!" She giggled. "Think I'll be fat and have gray hair?"
"I sure hope so," her father said, laughing himself.
Sharon M. Draper
#44. I start with an idea or a problem or a conflict, or even a situation that might be pertinent to the lives of young people, then the characters grow from that point. I try to make strong characters that change and develop and learn from their mistakes.
Sharon Draper
#45. Writing, for me, is a very fluid process. I sit down and wait for the words to come. They usually do - in buckets and waves. I look upon it as a blessing because the words come so easily.
Sharon Draper
#46. She's, like, really, really beautiful, but I don't think she sees that when she looks in the mirror.
Sharon M. Draper
#47. Earthquake report: Expect big aftershocks - nothing like this has ever been seen before.
Sharon M. Draper
#50. A good book ought to bring out lots of different responses from those that read it - none of them pre-planned, and all of them very personal. Whatever they take away from the reading of the book is valuable.
Sharon Draper
#51. I don't want it!" I finally type. Then, turning the volume as loud as it will go, I add, "You deserve it!"
Still laughing, I click on the power to my chair, do a smooth turn, and roll myself out of the classroom.
Sharon M. Draper
#52. By the way, there is nothing cute about a pink wheelchair. Pink doesn't change a thing.
Sharon M. Draper
#53. What's the sense of living if you're ashamed of yourself? Stella's father said almost to himself.
Sharon M. Draper
#54. Trust me. The older you get, the scarier the world gets to be.
Sharon M. Draper
#55. Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It's the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps.
Sharon Draper
#56. And the machine speaks the words I've never been able to say. I love you.
Sharon M. Draper
#57. What's Mr. Dimming's first name?" "Wallace!" We all cracked up at that.
Sharon M. Draper
#58. Maybe I'm not so different from everyone else after all. It's like somebody gave me a puzzle, but I don't have the box with the picture on it. So I don't know what the final thing is supposed to look like. I'm not even sure if I have all the pieces.
Sharon M. Draper
#59. With the 'Hazelwood High' trilogy, I wasn't sure I was writing a trilogy. I would just write one book, then another, and then another, because the young adults who wrote me told me that they wanted to read more.
Sharon Draper
#60. They make computers for the special eddies?" "It talks? Mine doesn't do that." "You don't need yours to talk!" "It sounds weird." "So do you.
Sharon M. Draper
#61. I believe I'm a better writer now than I was when I started. I'm grateful that I had good guidance because you don't make it in this business without good editors and a lot of support from your publishers.
Sharon Draper
#62. She read it over one last time, not really satisfied, but it was the truth. Even if it still had some scratch-outs.
Sharon M. Draper
#63. Sometimes I just get tired of bowin' down and givin' up, you know?" It
Sharon M. Draper
#64. Music is powerful, my young friends," she said. "It can connect us to memories. It can influence our mood and our responses to problems we might face.
Sharon M. Draper
#65. Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes-each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.
Sharon M. Draper
#66. Go ahead and cry, Andy. Don't be afraid of those tears. Sometimes they help to wash the soul clean.
Sharon M. Draper
#67. There is an unseen river of communication that forever flows
dark and powerful.
Sharon M. Draper
#68. by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and The Giver by Lois Lowry. And
Sharon M. Draper
#69. I learned to dream through reading, learned to create dreams through writing, and learned to develop dreamers through teaching. I shall always be a dreamer.
Sharon M. Draper
#70. I'm always amazed at how adults assume I can't hear. They talk about me as if I'm invisible, figuring I'm too retarded to understand their conversation. I learn quite a bit this way.
Sharon M. Draper
#71. (Don't take life as a ADVANTAGE take it SERIOUSLY because it's not a game)
Sharon M. Draper
#72. I have learned to be patient with people. Once again I point to Rose's computer and then to the words me too.
Sharon M. Draper
#73. Twenty minutes later, just as Stella thought she was going to collapse with worry and anticipation, her father, the pastor, and Mr. Spencer emerged from the polling station, smiles lighting their faces. And now she saw what she'd expected to see earlier in Mr. Spencer's eyes. They were on fire.
Sharon M. Draper
#74. But I'll always love you, and I'll always miss you and I'll never forget that It's okay to put dragons in the jungle and tears on a tiger
Sharon M. Draper
#75. I try to give a voice to teens, who might be afraid to speak up about difficult issues, and a platform for parents and teachers to have frank, meaningful discussions with those young people.
Sharon Draper
#76. Her mother gave her a piece of warm biscuit and a hug before they left. "Stones don't cry, child. Remember that," was all she said.
Sharon M. Draper
#77. I just sit there. The morning started out like crystal, but the day has turned to broken glass.
Sharon M. Draper
#78. I love the smell of my mother's hair after she washes it.
I love the feel of the scratchy stubble on my father's face before he shaves.
But I've never been able to tell them.
Sharon M. Draper
#79. As another stack of two-by-fours landed by her porch, Stella couldn't help but think about how folks had come together when Spoon Man showed up. This time, however, they managed to do a cook-up for a whole house! Nobody had everything, but everybody had something to offer.
Sharon M. Draper
#80. What your body looks like has nothing to do with how well your brain works!
Sharon M. Draper
#82. Girls read a boy book, but boys don't necessarily want to read a girl book.
Sharon Draper
#85. You know, children, quilts, like stories, are part of our heritage, part of our culture. Some quilts even tell stories. Our past is a patchwork of memories and tales. You all keep that forever tucked in your pockets, you hear?
Sharon M. Draper
#86. Freedom is a delicate flower, like a pretty leaf in the air: It's hard to catch and may not be what you thought when you get it, she observed quietly.- Polly from Copper Sun
Sharon M. Draper
#88. But Penny was born perfect and copper-bright, just like her name. From the minute she came home from the hospital, she was a really happy baby. Mom truly did carry a little bundle of joy into the house. But
Sharon M. Draper
#89. Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round, Turn me round, turn me round. Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round. Gonna keep on walkin', keep on talkin' Marching up to freedom land.
Sharon M. Draper
#90. I don't think they get paid very much, because they never stay very long. But they should get a million dollars. What they do is really hard, and I don't think most folks get that. It
Sharon M. Draper
#91. Words fall out of the sky like leaves, girl. Grab a couple and write 'em down.
Sharon M. Draper
#92. Stella expected to see fire in Mr. Spencer's eyes, fire like the flames that had made tinder of his house. Instead his eyes were soft, gentle, and brown like the earth. "I have to show them they didn't destroy me," he said simply.
Sharon M. Draper
#93. There's an unseen river of communication that forever flows - dark and powerful. Tonight was about food and laughter, yes. But it was also about navigatin' that river." A
Sharon M. Draper
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