Be very, very careful not to let the facts get mixed up with the truth. Jerry Spinelli More Quotes by Jerry Spinelli More Quotes From Jerry Spinelli Everybody has an angel hiding inside. When you die, your angel comes out. You can die, but not your angel. Your angel never dies. Jerry Spinelli milkweed hiding angel To a person who expects every desert to be barren sand dunes, the Sonoran must come as a surprise. Not only are there no dunes, there's no sand. At least not the sort of sand you find at the beach. The ground does have a sandy color to it, or gray, but your feet won't sink in. It's hard, as if it's been tamped. And pebbly. And glinting with -- what else -- mica. Jerry Spinelli color feet beach I went to Gettysburg College, where the famous Civil War battle was fought. I majored in English. I would've liked to major in writing, but they didn't offer a major in that. Jerry Spinelli college writing war The desert seems to be a brown wasteland of dry, prickly scrub whose only purpose is to serve as a setting for the majestic saguaros. Then, little by little, the plants of the desert begin to identify themselves: the porcupiny yucca, the beaver tail and prickly pear and barrel cacti, buckhorn and staghorn and devil's fingers, the tall, sky-reaching tendrils of the ocotillo. Jerry Spinelli dry devil sky The earth is speaking to us, but we can't hear because of all the racket our senses are making. Sometimes we need to erase them, erase our senses. Then - maybe - the earth will touch us. The universe will speak. The stars will whisper. Jerry Spinelli stars life needs It’s really hard to do nothing totally. Even just sitting here, like this, our bodies are churning, our minds are chattering. There’s a whole commotion going on inside us. Jerry Spinelli body sitting mind Kids still can be said to live in their own little world. Even if their parents are helicoptering around them, assigning play dates and so forth, I think they're still living in some sense of their own little perceptual worlds. Jerry Spinelli play kids thinking Nobody knows who said it first, but somebody must have: 'Kid's gotta be a maniac. Jerry Spinelli said kids firsts Nothing’s more fun than being carried away. Jerry Spinelli stargirl carried-away fun Usually it takes me about nine to 12 months to write a book. Jerry Spinelli months writing book Don't confine yourself to a select group of friends, often known as a clique. Cliques by definition leave people out. Lock yourself into one, and you'll never know how many terrific friendships you may be missing. Jerry Spinelli groups missing people I became a children's author by accident. Jerry Spinelli accidents children Now I don't really write for adults or kids - I don't write for kids, I write about them. I think you need to do that, otherwise you end up preaching down. Jerry Spinelli writing kids thinking I seem to have a natural tendency to want to share my own observations and feelings with other people, and writing seems to be the way I'm best equipped to do that. Jerry Spinelli feelings writing people His smile was so wide he’d have had to break it into sections to fit it through a doorway Jerry Spinelli his-smile fit doorways Letter from Mr. B: Why does a back scratch feel better coming from somebody else than if you do it yourself? Jerry Spinelli scratches feel-better doe The kids who leave their favorite authors behind do not in fact leave us utterly abandoned, but in due time drive children of their own to the bookstore and the post office. Jerry Spinelli office kids children I grabbed her, right there outside the lunch room in the swarming mob. I didn't care if others were watching. In fact, i hoped they were. I grabbed her and squeezed her. I had never been so happy and so proud in my life. Jerry Spinelli lunch care proud Best friends are always together, always whispering and laughing and running, always at each other's house, having dinner, sleeping over. They are practically adopted by each other's parents. You can't pry them apart. Jerry Spinelli sleep running laughing I’m not my name. My name is something I wear, like a shirt. It gets worn. I outgrow it, I change it. Jerry Spinelli stargirl shirts names