Melvin Burgess Quotes

• Sometimes maybe you need an experience. The experience can be a person or it can be a drug. The experience opens a door that was there all the time but you never saw it. Or maybe it blasts you into outer space...All that negative stuff. All the pain...It just floted away from me, I just floated away from it...up and away.

  Melvin Burgess

  Pain, Doors, Space

  "Junk". Book by Melvin Burgess, 1996.

  51 Copy quote

• Try it. You don't have to do it ever again if you don't want to. But try it once. Try everything once.

  Melvin Burgess

  Trying, Want, Smack

  Melvin Burgess (2010). “Smack”, p.160, Macmillan

  19 Copy quote

• It's mind control, see. You have to go to school, get those exams, get to university or college, get a job, get married, don't miss the boat, do it now or you'll shoot your life down the drain. Yeah. They got you as soon as you were born. They never risked a second of your life. When you have kids they'll be telling them they have to wear a plastic mask and put a penny in the slot about their nose before they can breathe in.

  Melvin Burgess

  Jobs, School, Kids

  21 Copy quote

• It wasn't a love story." -Tar's dad It was a love story. Me, Gemma, and junk." -Tar

  Melvin Burgess

  Dad, Junk, Stories

  12 Copy quote

• The only thing that isn't free is you. You do as you're told. You sit in your seat until they say 'Stand'. You stay put til they say 'Go'. Maybe that's the way you like it. It's easy. It's all there. You don't have to think about. You don't even have to feel it.

  Melvin Burgess

  Thinking, Way, You Like It

  Melvin Burgess (2014). “Junk”, p.100, Random House

  9 Copy quote

• I've done everything. All of it. You think it, I've done it. All the things you never dared, all the things you dream about, all the things you were curious about and then forgot because you knew you never would. I did 'em, I did 'em yesterday while you were still in bed. What about you? When's it gonna be your turn?

  Melvin Burgess

  Dream, Thinking, Yesterday

  Melvin Burgess (2010). “Smack”, p.167, Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

  10 Copy quote

• That's her secret, I suppose. Everything that happens to her she's proud of. She makes it special by it happening to her.

  Melvin Burgess

  Secret, Special, Proud

  Melvin Burgess (2014). “Junk”, p.122, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• Being a teenager is as difficult as living with one. And we've all been there. Perhaps that's the reason we're so hard on them.

  Melvin Burgess

  Teenager, Reason, Difficult

  "Then, thank God, we grew up". www.theguardian.com. May 26, 2006.

  4 Copy quote

• She didn't have to be offered anything; it was already hers. She was more herself than anyone else ever was and as soon as I clapped eyes on her I knew I wanted to be myself just as much as she was herself.

  Melvin Burgess

  Eye, Wanted

  Melvin Burgess (1999). “Junk: Adapted for the Stage”, p.33, A&C Black

  8 Copy quote

• He'd come back, all open and helpless, and I suppose that's what won her around in the end. But it was so sad, because it was being himself that he found so difficult to cope with.

  Melvin Burgess

  Ends, Found, Difficult

  Melvin Burgess (2010). “Smack”, p.278, Macmillan

  7 Copy quote

• Anarchy loves theatre. That's the whole point. People forget that. You have to laugh at the devil, not fight him. They'll always have more guns, they'll always have more bombs that go off with a bigger bang. No matter how revolting you become they'll always be willing to be more revolting to you. They've had so much more practice.

  Melvin Burgess

  Fighting, Gun, Practice

  Melvin Burgess (2010). “Smack”, p.95, Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

  9 Copy quote

• Love is a secret society, a community for two.

  Melvin Burgess

  Love Is, Two, Community

  7 Copy quote

• The magic girl licked the wet off her arms and looked over to me as if to say, See? You don't have to behave like them, you don't have to behave like anyone.

  Melvin Burgess

  Girl, Magic, Arms

  Melvin Burgess (2010). “Smack”, p.132, Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

  8 Copy quote

• When I was a child I used to read books by Gerald Durrell, who founded Jersey Zoo. He had a job collecting animals for zoos and for a long time that is what I wanted to do. Later when I was a teenager I had a fantastic English teacher called Mrs. Stafford. Her enthusiasm made me decide to be a writer.

  Melvin Burgess

  Teacher, Jobs, Zoos

  7 Copy quote

• She wrote, 'Dandelion, I love you.' And I thought that was magic. It's not in you, it's between you. It's bigger and stronger than you are

  Melvin Burgess

  Love You, Magic, Stronger

  9 Copy quote

• I get up between 6:30 and 8 am. I used to make a cup of coffee first thing, but now I have warm water with a bit of lemon juice in it. I've cut down on things as I was getting fat.

  Melvin Burgess

  Coffee, Cutting, Water

  4 Copy quote

• I read all the time so it's difficult to say who my all-time favourites are. One is George Orwell, because he makes political writing so simple a child could understand it.

  Melvin Burgess

  Children, Writing, Simple

  4 Copy quote

• In terms of sheer writing I might have done most of my work by 11. If you get up at 6:30 or 7 you can get a huge amount done by 11 and have the rest of the day off if you want to, though I have to check my accumulating e-mails. No one ever sends me horrible e-mails. Although some of my books are supposed to be hated, no one ever tells me.

  Melvin Burgess

  Book, Writing, Mail

  4 Copy quote

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