Ellen Hopkins

Living means taking chances. Risks. Playing safe all the time is being dead inside, even if you happen to still be breathing.

So you try to think of someone else you're mad at, and the unavoidable answer pops into your little warped brain: everyone.

Words have power. The power to soothe. The power to skewer someone through the heart. The power to render someone speechless.

I had never kissed a boy, had never even considered that I might enjoy such an unclean thing, until literature opened my eyes.

She's no longer afraid to die. What she's afraid of is living, accepting the status quo.

Back turned, you don't have to look at what you've left behind. And the person who first turned their back on you can't watch you break down and cry. Never allow an enemy to see weakness in you.

Girls get Screwed. Not that kind of screwed, what I mean is, they're always on the short end of things. The way things work, how guys feel great, but make girls feel cheap for doing exactly what they beg for

How far we claim to have come - accepting all men as created equal. Gender being the requisite qualifier, as women are not reviewed in the same fashion - their fashion hopefully better suited to the bedroom than the boardroom. And, you know, homosexuals not really being 'men,' cannot be judged equivalent to their stiffer-wristed brethren. On religion, well, some Christians are willing to make room for a Jew or two in their inner circles. But Mecca-facing prayer must be met with flaming crosses. Close your eyes to the details, the big picture can still be viewed through rose-colored glass. But go any distance beyond the rhetoric, truth becomes a shadowed lens.

God wasn't love, couldn't be love. Because for me, love was a corpse.

In a woman's womb another chance to makethe world a better place.

Fireworks. Snowflakes. Sunstroke and frostbite. It was all that I could ask for and completely unexpected. I expected demands. He gifted me with tenderness. I expected ego. He let me experiment. I expected disrespect. He called me beautiful. I expected him to expect perfection. He taught me all I needed to know.

Might as Well Laugh...remember...when...Life...made...sense

Possibilities...in the closet...itching...to break out...but afraid of...the fallout

I'll Stay...leave...me....I'll...follow...you.

Home...Home....the word,...has...no...meaning

Once...Why...lie?...when...truth is...the easier path

When You Weren't Looking...why....Can't you...care...more...about...me.

Have to Find...life...is...a_...gamble...after ...all.