Home > Author > E.L. Konigsburg
21 " How can you know what is missing if you’ve never met it? You must know of something’s existence before you can notice its absence. "
― E.L. Konigsburg , The View from Saturday
22 " The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you. It's the same as going on a vacation. Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time. They don't pause to let the vacation enter inside of them and take that home. "
― E.L. Konigsburg , From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
23 " The eyes are the windows of the soul.... If someone was to look into your eyes, what would you want them to see? "
24 " Ninety percent of who you are is invisible." - Mrs. Zender "
― E.L. Konigsburg , The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World
25 " Every now and then, a person must do something simply because he wants to, because it seems to him worth doing. And that does not make it worthless or a waste of time. "
― E.L. Konigsburg , The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
26 " Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away. That is, running away in the heat of anger with a knapsack on her pack. She didn't like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes. Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere. "
27 " A nasty letter or a sarcastic one can make you righteously angry, but what can you do about a polite letter of rejection? Nothing, really, except cry. "
28 " I believe in courtesy. It is the way we avoid hurting people's feelings. She thought that maybe, just maybe, western civilization was in decline because people did not take time to take tea at four o'clock. "
29 " Talk was like the vitamins of our friendship: Large daily doses kept it healthy. "
― E.L. Konigsburg , Silent to the Bone
30 " Whenever someone makes out a guest list, the people not on it become officially uninvited, and that makes them the enemies of the invited. Guest lists are just a way of choosing sides. "
31 " He learned to read the ocean by a cupful. He also learned to regard each port of call as part of the journey and not as the destination. Every voyage begins when you do. "
32 " Nathan, how can you stand playing the same piece over and over again?" And Grandpa Nate answered, "Why don't you ask me how I can stand making love to the same woman over and over again? "
33 " If you think of doing something in New York City, you can be certain that at least two thousand other people have the same thought. And of the two thousand who do, about one thousand will be standing in line waiting to do it. "
34 " Sometimes we even have to risk making fools of ourselves. "
35 " Never have a long conversation with anyone who says "between you and I. "
― E.L. Konigsburg , Up from Jericho Tel
36 " By the time they get to 6th grade honor roll students won't risk making a mistake, and sometimes to be successful, you have to risk making mistakes. "
37 " Silence does for thinking what a suspension bridge does for space -- it makes connections. "
38 " They called themselves The Souls. They told Ms. Olinski that they were The Souls before they were a team, but she told them that they were a team as soon as they became The Souls. Then after a while, teacher and team agreed that they were arguing chicken-or-egg. Whichever way it began--chicken-or-egg, team-or-The Souls--it definitely ended with an egg. Definitely, an egg. "
39 " ...just because I don't have on a silly black costume and carry a silly broom and wear a silly black hat, doesn't mean that I'm not a witch. I'm a witch all the time and not just on Halloween. "
― E.L. Konigsburg , Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth
40 " There's something nice and safe about having money. "