---
title: "5 Began Quotes By Walter Dean Myers"
description: "5 Began quotes by Walter Dean Myers. Plus more from Walter Dean Myers and more Began sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/walter-dean-myers-2582_began_once-i-began-to-read-i-began-to-exist-27_276974.png"
---

> [“once i began to read I began to exist”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/once-i-began-to-read-i-began-to-exist/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/walter-dean-myers-2582_began_once-i-began-to-read-i-began-to-exist-27_276974.png)

> [I began going to juvenile prisons. And some of these kids face some very, very tough lives. How do they handle these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/i-began-going-to-juvenile-prisons-and-some-of-these-kids-face-some/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c3/walter-dean-myers-2582_bad_i-began-going-to-juvenile-prisons-and-so_337437.jpg)

> [There was a time I was no longer going to be black. I was going to be an 'intellectual.' When I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/there-was-a-time-i-was-no-longer-going-to-be-black-i-was-going-to-be/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a9/walter-dean-myers-2582_about_there-was-a-time-i-was-no-longer-going-t_2579334.jpg)

> [I was a good student, but a speech impediment was causing problems. One of my teachers decided that I couldn't pronounce certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/i-was-a-good-student-but-a-speech-impediment-was-causing-problems-one/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/162/walter-dean-myers-2582_began_i-was-a-good-student-but-a-speech-impedi_2693575.png)

> [When I began to read, I began to exist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/when-i-began-to-read-i-began-to-exist/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef0/walter-dean-myers-2582_began_when-i-began-to-read-i-began-to-exist-28_2859659.png)

## More by Walter Dean Myers

> [There is a crisis involving reading in certain communities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/there-is-a-crisis-involving-reading-in-certain-communities/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [When we think of war, the tendency is to picture young soldiers only in their military roles. To a large extent this dehumanizes the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/when-we-think-of-war-the-tendency-is-to-picture-young-soldiers-only/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [The most difficult idea to reconcile in war is the notion that anything is going to be solved by killing a stranger, or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/the-most-difficult-idea-to-reconcile-in-war-is-the-notion-that/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't guilty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/he-was-trying-to-convince-himself-that-he-wasn-t-guilty/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [Within the black community, roughly 60 percent of children are born to single moms. Moms don't have the emotional wherewithal to deal with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/within-the-black-community-roughly-60-percent-of-children-are-born-to/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [“pain is the only real emotion. Everything else can be taken away. Love,happiness,joy can always be taken away. Even old sadness can be dissipated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/pain-is-the-only-real-emotion-everything-else-can-be-taken-away-love/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [“People who want to hate you can find something in you they don't like. They have a talent for doing that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/people-who-want-to-hate-you-can-find-something-in-you-they-don-t-like/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [One of the lessons learned during the Vietnam War was that the depiction of wounded soldiers, of coffins stacked higher than their living guards,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/one-of-the-lessons-learned-during-the-vietnam-war-was-that-the/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [I am very much interested in getting parents to read to children, and trying to get people mentoring children. If I can do both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/i-am-very-much-interested-in-getting-parents-to-read-to-children-and/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/we-need-to-tell-kids-flat-out-reading-is-not-optional/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [We need to tell young people that America was built by men and women of all colors and that the future of this country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/we-need-to-tell-young-people-that-america-was-built-by-men-and-women/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [“Sometimes everybody touches in the dark. You touch to see what you can stand to touch, what you can to feel with your fingers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/sometimes-everybody-touches-in-the-dark-you-touch-to-see-what-you-can/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [Yeah, that's funny, huh?...Something hurts you real bad and you get used to it. Like being hurt becomes part of who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/yeah-that-s-funny-huh-something-hurts-you-real-bad-and-you-get-used/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [“Love came to me, but it Just wasn't for me. It touched my heart and left it Lying on the shore, and Love smiled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/love-came-to-me-but-it-just-wasn-t-for-me-it-touched-my-heart-and/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

> [“That night the mosquitoes ate us up. I had bites all over my body. Back home I thought mosquitoes never bit black people. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/that-night-the-mosquitoes-ate-us-up-i-had-bites-all-over-my-body-back/)

[Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/)

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