Ellen Hopkins Quotes

Taking no chances means wasting your dreams..

~ Ellen Hopkins

In control. Out of control. Sometimes they're the same thing. The trick is knowing it's okay to feel out of control once in a while, as long as you're sure you can regain the upper hand when you absolutely need to.

~ Ellen Hopkins

Some peopleAre worthy of a bullet straightto the heart because that is wherecruelty evolves into evil.Somehumans aren't human at all,despite how they appear.Humanity is what lives insidepeople,harbored beneath skin, flesh,and bone.

~ Ellen Hopkins

I knew from the start we were nothing like forever. Maybe because forever is such a scary place.

~ Ellen Hopkins

crawling up into daddy's lapwhen dad was stillDADDYnodding my head against his chest soaking in the comfort of his heartLISTENINGto the thump...thumpsomewhere beneath muscleand breastbone I remember his armstheir sublimeENCIRCLINGand the shawdow of his voiceI love you, little girl.Put away your bad dreams.Daddy's hereI put them away, Until Daddy became my nightmare that one that cameHOMEfrom work everyday and insteadof picking me up, chased me farfaraway

~ Ellen Hopkins

But Hey, Guess What Crazy means I'm not liablefor my actions. So screw it, I'll go home, propped up on Prozac against distractions

~ Ellen Hopkins

I've been alone since my mom met Scott.He sucked the nectar from her heartlike a famished butterfly. No nurture,no nourishment left for Kristina.A vacation is a poor substitutefor love.

~ Ellen Hopkins

It's not easy to get close to anyone.... Everyone's afraid of everybody else.... maybe because we're all afraid of ourselves.

~ Ellen Hopkins

But, though I was very much in lust with him, I knew from the start we were nothing like forever. Maybe because forever is such a scary place.

~ Ellen Hopkins

I think it’s easyto confuse love with other things.Lust, for one. Need, for another

~ Ellen Hopkins

I'm afraid it will never be perfect again. I am indelibly stained. Forever redefined, but blurred around the edges.

~ Ellen Hopkins

When did creating a flawless facade become a more vital goal than learning to love the person who lives inside your skin?

~ Ellen Hopkins

Nonfiction speaks to the head. Fiction speaks to the heart. Poetry speaks to the soul. It's the essence of beauty. The essence of pain. It pleases the eye and the ear.

~ Ellen Hopkins

A chatWith the Grim Reapershould be enough to scareaway any thought of relapse.Wish it were that easy,but not even days conversingwith death can disintegratethe claws of addiction.

~ Ellen Hopkins

It's probably weird to think about an addiction like it's a sentient being, but that's how it feels. Like it's something living inside you. Something you can't get rid of because killing it means killing you. I can't really understand addictions to drugs or alcohol. Things that control you. But an eating disorder is an addiction you control. Wait, is that paradoxical? I prefer to believe not.

~ Ellen Hopkins

I wanted to meet the monster. Why go down if you can go up?

~ Ellen Hopkins

Life was radical right after I met the monster.Later, life became harder, complicated.Ultimately, a living hell, like swimming against a riptide,Walking the wrong direction in the fast lane of the freeway, Waking from sweetest dreams to find yourself in the middle of a nightmare.

~ Ellen Hopkins

It's probably weird to think about an addiction like it's a sentient being, but that's how it feels. Like it's something living inside you. Something you can't get rid of because killing it means killing you.

~ Ellen Hopkins

I thought he'd run if he knew. Instead, he offered help, not that I believed he could possibly help. I thought he'd turn his back, close his heart, slink away. Instead, he promised sanctuary.

~ Ellen Hopkins

Have you everhad so much to saythat your mouth closed up tightstruggling to harnessthe nuclear forcecoalescing within your words?Have you everhad so many thoughtschurning inside you that you didn’tdare let them escapein case they blew you wide open?Have you everbeen so angry that youcouldn’t look in the mirrorfor fear of finding the face of evilglaring back at you?

~ Ellen Hopkins

Funny thing about the monster. The worse he treats you, the more you love him.

~ Ellen Hopkins

Life is all about change. If it were static, think about how boring it would be. You can't be afraid of it, and you can't worry that you'll mess things up.

~ Ellen Hopkins

What's the point of being a hero when everyone thinks you're a villain?

~ Ellen Hopkins

Innocence eroded into nightmare.All because of very bad touch.Love, corrupted.

~ Ellen Hopkins

...Things happenedwhen you were little. Things youdon't remember now, and don't wantto. But they need to escape,need to worm their way outof that dark place in your brainwhere you keep them stashed.

~ Ellen Hopkins

Librarians were like guardian angels, with graying hair and beady eyes, magnified through reading glasses, and always read to recommend new literary windows to gaze through.

~ Ellen Hopkins

Babies aren't born cruel or filled with sick desire. Evil is not intrinsic. It's fashioned.

~ Ellen Hopkins

...I know there's no such thing as forever. So what can we be, in the now?

~ Ellen Hopkins

What I don't like is what it sometimes takes to win. Backstabbing. Manipulation. Out-and-out bribery once in a while, and not always the monetary kind.

~ Ellen Hopkins

I don't believe in God, don't believe in the devil. Unless you want to count my mother. She might be Satan's sister, I suppose.

~ Ellen Hopkins

Something stirred beneath my skin, some being inside I'd only suspected existed, demon or angel, I couldn't say.

~ Ellen Hopkins

I Want to ShoutLeave me alone!What's wrong with you?Don't you remember who I am? Who you are?This is not a father's love! I want to scream, Can't you see what you are doing to me? What you've done to me? What you've made of me? I want to cry out, I am your little girl. I am not your girlfriend. I am not your whore. I am not my fucking mother! But he is on top of me and my shout is silenced. He is inside of me and my scream stays there too. He is finished. And I don't cry out, but I do cry a bucket of silent tears. He slithers away and at last, I quietly sob

~ Ellen Hopkins

Not even Carol knows firsthand how it feels to be hurt in such a way by someone who's supposed to protect you

~ Ellen Hopkins

For short term relaxation, I take a hot tub. It's my best way to unblock writers' block, too. For a bit longer relaxation, I enjoy camping. Just being in the wilderness, with no phones or computers or anything I have to do really refreshes my spirit.

~ Ellen Hopkins

Christmas is far and away my favorite holiday. I love everything about it, from the event that inspired it, hoping for a white one, to wrapping presents. But mostly I love having family and friends gathered, and sharing traditions.

~ Ellen Hopkins

And at some point I would like to talk my publisher into doing an anthology of my poetry alongside some teen readers' poetry. It would be fun, and really wonderful to get their stuff out there.

~ Ellen Hopkins