Top 200 R. J. Palacio Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “I’ve always thought that good teaching is about illumination. Sure, we teach things kids might not know, but a lot of the time, we’re just shedding light on the stuff they already know.”

— R. J. Palacio

102. “Chewbacca are being applauded for destroying the Death Star. I could almost.”

— R. J. Palacio

103. “And if she was sleeping, was she dreaming about me? And I wondered how it would feel to be in heaven someday and not have my face matter anymore. Just like it never, ever mattered to Daisy.”

— R. J. Palacio

104. “We change plans, go to plan B, interrupt conversations, go back on promises depending on his moods, his whims, his needs. That was fine when he was little. But he needs to grow up now. We need to let him, help him, make him grow up. Here’s what I think: we’ve all spent so much time trying to make August think he’s normal that he actually thinks he is normal. And the problem is, he’s not.”

— R. J. Palacio

105. “But the good thing about life, Julian,” she continued, “is that we can fix our mistakes sometimes. We learn from them. We get better. One mistake does not define you.”

— R. J. Palacio

106. “A big sister who cries over being human over you. A gravelly voiced kid who’s friends left him over you. And a pink-haired girl who keeps your picture in her wallet.”

— R. J. Palacio

107. “They can try to forecast the odds, but they can’t guarantee them. They use terms like “germline mosaicism,” “chromosome rearrangement,” or “delayed mutation” to explain why their science is not an exact science. I actually like how doctors talk. I like the sound of science. I like how words you don’t understand explain things you can’t understand. There are countless people under words like “germline mosaicism,” “chromosome rearrangement,” or “delayed mutation.” Countless.”

— R. J. Palacio

108. “Listen to the whispers.”

— R. J. Palacio

109. “The shadows were really long on the grass, and the clouds were pink and orange. It looked like someone had taken sidewalk chalk and smudged the colors across the sky with their fingers. It’s.”

— R. J. Palacio

110. “Teachers need the freedom to teach – freedom they can’t have if they’re only teaching so their students can pass tests. I’m pretty sure my students won’t find anything about Hector on the Common Core tests. I’m equally sure that what they learned about Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Temperance may stay with them for the rest of their lives. – Mr. Browne.”

— R. J. Palacio

111. “If you don’t know what to do, just be kind.”

— R. J. Palacio

112. “I’ve been in enough playgrounds to know kids can be mean. I know, I know, I know.”

— R. J. Palacio

113. “I opened the box. Inside was the cutest little puppy I’ve ever seen in my life. It was black and furry, with a pointy little snout and bright black eyes and small ears that flopped down.”

— R. J. Palacio

114. “Just goes to show, everyone really does have a story to tell. And most people, at least in my experience, are a little more noble than they think they are.”

— R. J. Palacio

115. “Mommy’s okay, Auggie. She’s fine.” Mom and Dad came home two hours later. We knew the second they opened the door and Daisy wasn’t with them that Daisy was gone. We all sat down in the living room around the pile of Daisy’s toys. Dad told us what happened at the animal hospital, how the vet took Daisy for some X-rays and blood tests, then came back and told them she had a huge mass in her stomach. She was having trouble breathing.”

— R. J. Palacio

116. “It is only with one’s heart that one can see clearly. What.”

— R. J. Palacio

117. “Just leave me alone, okay? You’ve been really good about leaving me alone my whole life.”

— R. J. Palacio

118. “And as I walked up the steps to the stage, the most amazing thing happened: everyone started standing up. Not just the front rows, but the whole audience suddenly got up on their feet, whooping, hollering, clapping like crazy. It was a standing ovation. For me.”

— R. J. Palacio

119. “And I wondered how it would feel to be in Heaven and not have my face matter anymore. Just like how it never, ever mattered to Daisy.”

— R. J. Palacio

120. “Sometimes friendships are hard.”

— R. J. Palacio

121. “While she was saying this, I was thinking, We just finished the freakin’ Egypt project, now we have to start a whole new thing? And then in my head I was going, Oh noooooo! like that kid in Home Alone with his mouth hanging open and his hands on his face. That was the face I was making on the inside. And then I thought of those pictures of melting ghost faces I’ve seen somewhere, where the mouths are open wide and they’re screaming.”

— R. J. Palacio

122. “I was so bummed when it got lost,” I said. “Oh, it didn’t get lost,” he answered casually. “I threw it out.”

— R. J. Palacio

123. “That is a trick of human nature. We get used to things.”

— R. J. Palacio

124. “I think when people die, their souls go to heaven but just for a little while. Like that’s where they see their old friends and stuff, and kind of catch up on old times. But then I actually think the souls start thinking about their lives on earth, like if they were good or bad or whatever. And then they get born again as brand-new babies in the world.”

— R. J. Palacio

125. “I know some kids actually like school, but I honestly can’t say I do. I like some parts of school, like PE and computer class. And lunch and recess. But all in all, I’d be fine without school. And the thing I hate the most about school is all the homework we get. It’s.”

— R. J. Palacio

126. “No, sweeties, don’t let them do that to you. You were there for more than forty-eight hours, and that awful part lasted one hour. Don’t let them take that away from you, okay?”

— R. J. Palacio

127. “It’s so weird how that can be, how you could have a night that’s the worst in your life, but to everybody else it’s just an ordinary night. Like, on my calendar at home, I would mark this as being one of the most horrific days of my life. This and the day Daisy died. But for the rest of the world, this was just an ordinary day. Or maybe it was even a good day. Maybe somebody won the lottery today.”

— R. J. Palacio

128. “You are a wonder.”

— R. J. Palacio

129. “Solo se detiene la maldad cuando por fin las personas se unen para acabar con ella.”

— R. J. Palacio

130. “Like breathing and swallowing, crying comes automatically to most kids, too.”

— R. J. Palacio

131. “I love it when I’m the one who makes Dad laugh, since he’s usually the funnyman that gets everybody else laughing.”

— R. J. Palacio

132. “Every person’s story weaves in and out of someone else’s story.”

— R. J. Palacio

133. “When I talk to parents who tell me, as a way of justifying something unkind their child has done, ‘What can I do? Kids will be kids,” it’s all I can do not to bop them on their heads with a friendship bracelet.” -Mr. Browne.”

— R. J. Palacio

134. “Time passes. That is the only thing one can be sure of in life: Time does not stop. Not for anyone. Not for anything. Time marches on, oblivious to all.”

— R. J. Palacio

135. “It was like when you’re in a room where one of the lightbulbs on the ceiling isn’t working, but you don’t realize how dark it is until someone changes the lightbulb and then you’re like, whoa, it’s so bright in here !”

— R. J. Palacio

136. “Daisy was sleeping in heaven right then. And.”

— R. J. Palacio

137. “Play the tiles you get” -Grandma Nelly.”

— R. J. Palacio

138. “The truth of the matter is this: there’s so much nobility lurking inside your souls. Our job as parents, and educators, and teachers, is to nurture it, to bring it out, and to let it shine. – Mr. Browne.”

— R. J. Palacio

139. “August is the Sun. Me and Mom and Dad are planets orbiting the Sun. The rest of our family and friends are asteroids and comets floating around the planets orbiting the Sun. The only celestial body that doesn’t orbit August the Sun is Daisy the dog, and that’s only because to her little doggy eyes, August’s face doesn’t look very different from any other human’s face. To Daisy, all our faces look alike, as flat and pale as the moon.”

— R. J. Palacio

140. “You draw Venn diagrams to see the relationships between different groups of things. Like, if you want to see the common characteristics between mammals, reptiles, and fish, for instance, you draw a Venn diagram and list all the attributes of each one inside a circle. Where the circles intersect is what they have in common. In the case of mammals, reptiles, and fish, it would be that they all have backbones.”

— R. J. Palacio

141. “Maybe he knew it and maybe he didn’t, but for someone like me, words like that are worth all the medals in the world.”

— R. J. Palacio

142. “You see, Julian, it always takes courage to be kind. But in those days, when such kindness could cost you everything – your freedom, your life – Kindness becomes a miracle. It becomes that light in the darkness that Papa talked about, the very essence of our humanity. It is hope.”

— R. J. Palacio

143. “That’s not to say there haven’t been some changes that have happened. As.”

— R. J. Palacio

144. “But the truth is, I knew things wouldn’t change much. I knew it would be the way it had been after the sleepover. Like we had taken a secret trip together. A voyage that no one else knew about. And when we returned from our journey, we each went back to our own homes. Some friendships are like that. Maybe even the best friendships are like that. The connections are always there. They’re just invisible to the eye.”

— R. J. Palacio

145. “It is always brave to be kind.”

— R. J. Palacio

146. “It is always brave to be kind, but in those days, such kindnesses could cost you your life.”

— R. J. Palacio

147. “I’ve always thought that good teaching is about illumination. Sure, we teach things kids might not know, but a lot of the time, we’re just shedding light on the stuff they already do know... Kids know how to read, but I’m trying to get them to love reading. Kids know how to write, but I’m trying to inspire them to express themselves better. In both instances, they have the materials they need already inside them: I’m just here to guide them a bit, to shed a little light. To illume.” -Mr. Browne.”

— R. J. Palacio

148. “This precept means that we should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality.”

— R. J. Palacio

149. “So, I thought: Ah-ha! So it was Auggie who told Mr. Tushman about the Post-it notes! What a turd!! Mom.”

— R. J. Palacio

150. “Sometimes people surprise you. Never in a million years would I have thought my mom would be the one to back down from anything, so.”

— R. J. Palacio