Top 200 R. J. Palacio Quotes (2025 Update)
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201. “And I’m never going to be one of those grown-ups that use an umbrella when it’s snowing-ever.”

— R. J. Palacio

202. “Let them fall, Mowgli. They are only tears.”

— R. J. Palacio

203. “In situations like these, baseball caps come in really handy.”

— R. J. Palacio

204. “If we don’t examinate the past, we don’t learn from it.”

— R. J. Palacio

205. “It wasn’t until she stopped that I noticed the big white cardboard box they had brought in with them. “What is that?” I said. “Open it,” said Dad, smiling, and he and Mom looked at each other like they knew a secret. “Come on, Auggie!” said Via. 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

206. “For a second, I imagined how cool it would be to be Via and Justin right then, having all these people standing up and cheering for them. I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.”

— R. J. Palacio

207. “We were just not good enough to play by ourselves.”

— R. J. Palacio

208. “They would sneak peeks at me from behind their notebooks or when they thought I wasn’t looking. They would take the longest way around me to avoid bumping into me in any way, like I had some germ they could catch, like my face was contagious.”

— R. J. Palacio

209. “Mom blew a kiss to us and closed the door. We watched the car leave and then Via closed the door. She looked at me a second, and then she hugged me very, very tight while we both cried a million tears.”

— R. J. Palacio

210. “There are so many words I can use to describe the looks on people’s faces. And for a long time I didn’t get it. I’d just get mad. Mad when they stared. Mad when they looked away. “What the heck are you looking at?” I’d say to people – even grown-ups.”

— R. J. Palacio

211. “In the end, mon cher, all that matters is that you forgive yourself.”

— R. J. Palacio

212. “Yeah, they did. Didn’t you notice they changed the theme of the New Year Art Show? In past years fifth graders painted self-portraits, but this year they made us do those ridiculous self-portraits as animals, remember?” “So big freakin’ deal.” “I know! I’m not saying I agree, I’m just saying that’s what she’s saying.” “I know, I know. This is just so messed up.”

— R. J. Palacio

213. “But for the rest of the world, this was just an ordinary day. Or maybe it was even a good day.”

— R. J. Palacio

214. “I was going to like school.”

— R. J. Palacio

215. “I plant a little notion of kindness so that at least it’s there, this seedling buried inside them. Will it take root? Will it flower? Who knows? But either way, I’ve done my deed.” -Mr. Browne.”

— R. J. Palacio

216. “The chocolate milk in the glass now had a two-inch froth on top.”

— R. J. Palacio

217. “I took a shower, like, two days ago.”

— R. J. Palacio

218. “She sounded like she was genuinely sorry, but there was something about her expression that always made you wonder if she was being completely sincere. I think it had something to do with the dimple in her left cheek. She almost couldn’t help looking mischievous.”

— R. J. Palacio

219. “I always found that it helps to get my students thinking about unexplored frontiers – be they frontiers of the imagination or geographical frontiers” -Mr. Browne.”

— R. J. Palacio

220. “We would spend hours playing pretend games about missions to deep space, or landing on Pluto. That became our favorite planet to travel to. Pluto was our Tatooine.”

— R. J. Palacio

221. “What about: How to make crystal spikes out of Epsom salt?”

— R. J. Palacio

222. “I thought you had the best grades, Charlotte,” Lina said to me. “No, Ximena does,” Maya interjected. She started counting off on her fingers. “Ximena. Charlotte. Simon. Me. And then either Auggie or Remo. Auggie’s actually got better grades than Remo in math, but he didn’t do that well in Spanish on his last few quizzes, and that’s bringing his whole grade point average down.”

— R. J. Palacio

223. “Then I start talking about the obvious benefits of the precept. If everyone adopted that quote as his or her own personal precept, I ask them, wouldn’t the world be a better place? Imagine if nations adopted it as a mandate – wouldn’t there be fewer conflicts?” -Mr. Browne.”

— R. J. Palacio

224. “She looked up. “Oh, right,” she said, nodding. I think she hadn’t expected the conversation about Daisy to be over so quickly. But I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”

— R. J. Palacio

225. “For a while, the “war” was all we talked about. February was when it was really at its worst. That’s when practically nobody was talking to us, and Julian had started leaving notes in our lockers. The notes to Jack were stupid, like: You stink, big cheese! and Nobody likes you anymore! I got notes like: Freak! And another that said: Get out of our school, orc!”

— R. J. Palacio

226. “I remember seeing tears in Isabel’s eyes as she carried Auggie home.”

— R. J. Palacio

227. “I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here.”

— R. J. Palacio

228. “Sometimes when I looked at Grans, I could see the pretty girl she used to be underneath the wrinkles. I could see the girl from Ipanema inside the old-lady walk.”

— R. J. Palacio

229. “Built with memories instead of with stone.”

— R. J. Palacio

230. “So I moved to an empty table and just waited for everyone to finish stampeding and the lunchroom teacher.”

— R. J. Palacio

231. “I mean, we’ve got so many other things going on this month! That science fair project?” “I haven’t even started mine,” said Summer. “Me, neither!” I said, though that actually wasn’t true at all. Remo.”

— R. J. Palacio

232. “It was black and furry, with a pointy little snout and bright black eyes and small ears that flopped down.”

— R. J. Palacio

233. “On the other hand, I’m really excited.”

— R. J. Palacio

234. “You are beautiful no matter what they say Words can’t bring you down You are beautiful in every single way.”

— R. J. Palacio

235. “I never faked my feelings with Miranda.”

— R. J. Palacio

236. “My hope is, as we start sixth grade, as we get older and wiser, that we all learn to trust each other enough so that we can truly be ourselves, and accept each other for who we really are. Thank you. How I Finally Introduced Myself I.”

— R. J. Palacio

237. “My parental unit who is at this moment violating my personal space and reading my text over my shoulder wants me to finish homework so I GTG. CU2moro! Gnight. Summer.”

— R. J. Palacio

238. “Never a dull moment,” Dad repeated.”

— R. J. Palacio