Jack Gantos

It wasn't that I hated being asked a bunch of questions. I had nothing against questions. I just didn't like listening to…

— Jack Gantos

“School was finally out and I was standing on a picnic table in our backyard getting ready for a great summer vacation…

— Jack Gantos

Don't ever go to war. Even if you win, the battle is never over inside you.

— Jack Gantos

Don't ever forget your history," she sang, "or any wicked soul can lie to you and get away with it.

— Jack Gantos

“My youthful dream of becoming a writer has been realized. I am so pleased I did not let my young self down.”

— Jack Gantos

“Be suspicious of history that is written by the conquerors.”

— Jack Gantos

“Money is just a way of measuring work, but you don’t need money if everyone agrees that trading one kind of work…

— Jack Gantos

You know, Joey, the medication has helped settle you down, but you have been a good kid all along. You are naturally…

— Jack Gantos

“Not romantic," she disagreed. "To me it would be romantic if Antony properly fell on his sword and kicked the bucket and…

— Jack Gantos

When Patti Fox broke up with me, I typed her name over a thousand times on my manual Olivetti until the entire…

— Jack Gantos

“chair wouldn’t rock. So I heaved myself from side to side. It still didn’t move. I gripped the arms and jerked myself…

— Jack Gantos

“Granny was right,' I said. 'When you forgive someone it does make you stronger. It makes your heart bigger than your hate.”

— Jack Gantos

If you have an orderly mind, you'll be a winner no matter where you end up. If your mind is a jumble…

— Jack Gantos

“You’re a fast learner,” she remarked. “You’ve gone from slowpoke to safety hazard in one day.”

— Jack Gantos

It's like when you read a book and you know that the words are important, but the images blossoming in your imagination…

— Jack Gantos

“You're supposed to feel sorry for me," I said. "What I feel for you and what I can afford are two different…

— Jack Gantos

Since I was trying so hard to make books lead my life, I didn’t want to read them and then just put…

— Jack Gantos

“Miss Volker,” I said about as politely as I knew how, “do you think you will outlast the rest of these original…

— Jack Gantos

“But it was the kind of story that doesn't go away after the first time you tell it so you have to…

— Jack Gantos

Because each book has its own special perfume.

— Jack Gantos

“Do you think I'm weird because I'm wired, or wired because I'm wierd?”

— Jack Gantos

“I’d slink back to my room and curl up on the bed like a fish-hook and cry until I was rusty.”

— Jack Gantos

“pooped all over the carpet, eaten the slippers, and attacked the mailman, and was now being sent to obedience school.”

— Jack Gantos

Each time I read a book, I cataloged the parts that struck me dumb with envy and admiration for their beauty and…

— Jack Gantos

Someone once said anyone can be great under rosy circumstances, but the true test of character is measured by how well a…

— Jack Gantos