I prayed to trees. This was easier than praying directly to God. There was nearly always a tree nearby. Sharon Creech More Quotes by Sharon Creech More Quotes From Sharon Creech What I have since realized is that if people expect you to be brave, sometimes you pretend that you are, even when you are frightened down to your very bones. Sharon Creech courage fear people You can't keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair. Sharon Creech moving-on sad life I love the way that each book -- any book -- is its own journey. You open it, and off you go. You are changed in some way, large or small, by having traveled with those characters. Sharon Creech journey character book Life is like a bowl of spaghetti. Every once in a while, you get a meatball. Sharon Creech spaghetti meatballs life-is-like Sometimes you know in your heart you love someone, but you have to go away before your head can figure it out. Sharon Creech going-away heart love Read a lot, live your life, and listen and watch, so that your mind fills up with millions of images. Sharon Creech live-your-life mind watches You know, maybe that's all anybody wants, is to be useful. And have somebody else notice it. Sharon Creech usefulness knows want A person isn't a bird. You can't cage a person. Sharon Creech cages freedom bird One thing I'm interested in is what shapes us: the people? The place where we live? It's both of those and more. That's what I keep coming back to. Sharon Creech coming-back shapes people Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins. Sharon Creech moon caring men I cannot just write a frivolous book, a la-di-da book. Everything isn't la-di-da. There is something that's going to pull you up short. I want to reassure young readers. I want to comfort them, to not fear the unexpected. Sharon Creech comfort writing book I once fell 20 feet from a tree, was knocked unconscious, and when I picked myself up and straggled home, my parents thought I was making it up. However, when my brother and I fabricated a story about an encounter with a bear, they believed that! So maybe I learned very early on that fiction was more interesting to listeners! Sharon Creech brother feet home I wondered about Mrs. Winterbottom and what she meant about living a tiny life. If she didn't like all that baking and cleaning and jumping up to get bottles of nail polish remover and sewing hems, why did she do it? Why didn't she tell them to do some of the things themselves? Maybe she was afraid there would be nothing left for her to do. There would be no need for her and she would become invisible and no one would notice. Sharon Creech nails jumping would-be When I read good stories, I want to write good stories too. Sharon Creech stories want writing It can't be dead. It was alive just a minute ago. Sharon Creech minutes alive A library is the door to many lives. Sharon Creech library doors Then I thought, boy, isn't that just typical? You wait and wait and wait for something, and then when it happens, you feel sad. Sharon Creech waiting love boys how can you love a little cat so much in such a short short time? Sharon Creech short-time cat littles ...but it doesn't feel crazy to us. It feels like what we do. Sharon Creech crazy feels Maybe it was the same with people: if you studied them,you'd see new and different things. But would you like what you saw? Did it depend on who was doing the looking? Sharon Creech saws different people