Jenny Downham Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• There's a gang of boys on bikes blocking the road ahead. They've got their hoods up, cigarettes shielded. The sky's a really strange colour and there's hardly anyone else about. I slow right down. "What shall I do?" "Reverse," Zoey says. "They're not going to move." I wind down the window. "Oi!" I yell "Move your arses!" They turn languid, shift lazily to the edge of the road and grin as I blow kisses at them. Zoey looks stunned, "What's got into you?" "Nothing- I just haven't learned reversing yet.

  Jenny Downham

  Block, Moving, Kissing

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  6 Copy quote

• Maybe I’ll come back as somebody else. I’ll be the wild-haired girl Adam meets in his first week at university. ‘Hi, are you on the horticultural course as well?

  Jenny Downham

  Girl, Firsts, Week

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• I want the people I love to get up and speak about me, and even if you cry it'll be OK. I want you to say honest things.

  Jenny Downham

  People, Want, Honest

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• I'm here, Tess. I'm right here, holding your hand. Adam's here, too, he's sitting on the other side of the bed. And Cal. Mum's on her way, she'll be just a minute. We all love you, Tessa. We're all right here with you.

  Jenny Downham

  Love You, Hands, Bed

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Don't pretend to care. I don't need you as an anesthetic.

  Jenny Downham

  I Don't Need You, Needs, Care

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  6 Copy quote

• I love you. It hurts more than anything ever has, but I do. So don't you dare tell me I don't. Don't you ever say it again!

  Jenny Downham

  Hurt, Love You, Dare

  Jenny Downham (2012). “Now is Good (Also published as Before I Die)”, p.261, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• a little bird moves a mountain of sand one grain at a time it picks up one grain every million years and when the mountain has been moved the bird puts it all back again and that's how long eternity is and that's a very long time to be dead

  Jenny Downham

  Moving, Years, Long

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Bye, Tess. haunt me if you like. I don't mind.

  Jenny Downham

  Bye, Mind, Tess

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  7 Copy quote

• Do you want this to be a love story?

  Jenny Downham

  Stories, Want, Love Story

  4 Copy quote

• That slow smile again. I love that smile! DId I think he was ugly just now? No, his face is transformed.

  Jenny Downham

  Thinking, Ugly, Faces

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  5 Copy quote

• I lean back on the pillows and look at the corners of the room. When I was a kid, I always wanted to live on the ceiling - it looked so clean and uncluttered, like the top of a cake.

  Jenny Downham

  Kids, Cake, Ceilings

  4 Copy quote

• "I like you," he said. He made it sound as if she was bound to disagree with him. She nodded. His face said he was telling her something very important. He said, "I mean it. Whatever happens, you have to believe that."

  Jenny Downham

  I Like You, Believe, Mean

  "You Against Me". Book by Jenny Downham, 1998.

  4 Copy quote

• Death straps me to the hospital bed, claws its way onto my chest and sits there.I didn't know it would hurt this much. I didn't know that everything good that's ever happened in my life would be emptied out by it.

  Jenny Downham

  Hurt, Cancer, Bed

  Jenny Downham (2008). “Before I Die”, p.253, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• But all that is warm will go cold. My ears will fall off and my eyes will melt. My mouth will be clamped shut. My lips will turn to glue. ...No taste or smell or touch or sound.Nothing to look at. Total emptiness for ever.

  Jenny Downham

  Fall, Eye, Smell

  Jenny Downham (2012). “Now is Good (Also published as Before I Die)”, p.141, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• Statement: A girl and a boy jump into a river. The boy swims over to the girl and says, "God, it's cold." Question: What's the probability they will kiss?

  Jenny Downham

  Girl, Math, Kissing

  Jenny Downham (2010). “You Against Me”, p.327, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• Maybe you should say goodbye, Cal.' 'No.' 'It might be important.' 'It might make her die.

  Jenny Downham

  Goodbye, Important, Might

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• I shrug him off. 'Can't you just go away?" There's a moment. It has a sound in it, as if something very small got broken.

  Jenny Downham

  Broken, Going Away, Sound

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Keep breathing. Just keep doing it. It's easy. In and out.

  Jenny Downham

  Breathing, Breathe, Easy

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  7 Copy quote

• Dad, you played rounders with me, even though you hated it and wished I'd take up cricket. You learned how to keep a stamp collecion because I wanted to know. For hours you sat in hospitals and never, not once, complained. You brushed my hair like a mother should. You gave up work for me, friends for me, four years of your life for me. You never moaned. Hardly ever. You let me have Adam. You let me have my list. I was outrageous. Wanting, wanting so much. And you never said, 'That's enough. Stop now.

  Jenny Downham

  Mother, Dad, Hair

  Jenny Downham (2008). “Before I Die”, p.307, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• I said I wouldn't leave her.

  Jenny Downham

  Said

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Every few years we disappear, Zoey. All our cells are replaced by others. Not a single bit of me is the same as when I was last in this room.

  Jenny Downham

  Cells, Years, Lasts

  4 Copy quote

• I can see inside planes!' he yells. 'Come and look!' It's difficult climbing in a mini dress...I haul myself up even though my arms ache. I want to see inside planes too. I want to watch the wind and catch birds in my fist.

  Jenny Downham

  Climbing, Wind, Bird

  4 Copy quote

• when I was four I almost fell down the shaft of a tin mine and when I was five the car rolled over on the motorway and when I was seven we went on holiday and the gas ring blew out in the caravan and nobody noticed I've been dying all my life

  Jenny Downham

  Holiday, Car, Dying

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• She'll understand what I already know - that death surrounds us all. And it tastes like metal between your teeth.

  Jenny Downham

  Teeth, Taste, Metals

  4 Copy quote

• Adam strokes my head, my face, he kisses my tears. We are blessed. Let them all go. The sound of a bird flying low across the garden. Then nothing. Nothing. A cloud passes. Nothing again. Light falls through the window, falls onto me, into me. Moments. All gathering towards this one.

  Jenny Downham

  Blessed, Fall, Kissing

  4 Copy quote

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