Melvin Burgess

“The fact is, I can’t put together the sort of feelings that I get when I’m having a dirty big wank together with the kind of feelings I get when I’m having a nice friendly chat with someone. It just doesn’t work.”

“Sex is . . . well, it’s so rude, isn’t it? You wouldn’t think girls would like sex. You’d think it’s too rude for them. Doing sex with a girl, it’s a bit like putting a frog down their backs or scaring them with dead mice or throwing worms at them. They’re such sensible, grown-up sorts of people. And yet apparently even the nice ones like you sticking the rudest thing you have on your whole body up the exact, rudest part of their body that they have. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me!”

“If it’s a choice between being shat on and pissed on and used and being a bastard, I’ll choose being a bastard any time.”

“The thing that truly amazes me about myself is that I’m actually more scared of being embarrassed than anything else.”

“Ja zrobiłam wszystko. Wszystko. Pomyśl o tym - wszystko. Wszystkie rzeczy, na które byś się nie odważył, wszystkie rzeczy, których byłeś ciekaw, a potem o tym zapomniałeś, bo wiesz, że nigdy byś nie spróbował. Zrobiłam je. Zrobiłam je wczoraj, kiedy ty ciągle tkwiłeś w swoim łóżku.”

“Wtedy trafiasz na policję i do sądu. Jeśli masz pieniądze, ukarzą cię grzywną. Jeśli nie masz pieniędzy, każą ci odpracować pewną liczbę godzin na rzecz gminy. To jest w porządku. Coś takiego nie zdarza się często. Znam ludzi, którzy przez całe lata nie zostali przyłapani, zapewniam cię… Praca dla gminy to może czterdzieści, może sto godzin. A jaką masz alternatywę? Chodzić codziennie do pracy przez resztę życia? Powiedz, jak nazwać taki wyrok?”

“Lepiej jest nie wiedzieć za dużo, przyjacielu. To znaczy, rozsądnie jest wiedzieć tyle, ile się da, ale jeszcze rozsądniej jest utrzymywać innych w niewiedzy co do własnej wiedzy.”

“And then I noticed the dandelions.”

“And in that moment, I swear we were infinite”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“Love is a secret society, a community for two.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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”

“Deborah felt his erection against her stomach and smiled up at him. She grabbed hold of his bum and moved him gently from side to side so that it rocked against her, twitching like Frankenstein's monster in an electric storm.”

“Sometimes when we were hiding behind the breakers with the crowd, he'd hold me so tight, I'd think he's not just holding me, he's holding onto me, like I'm stopping him from falling off. I'd see him looking at me and his eyes were so full of...I dunno. Like he was about to cry. And, it's stupid, I know, but I think maybe he's hurting because he loves me and I don't love him, and this great lump used to come up into my throat and I'd hold him tight and try and squeeze him as tight as I could and try as hard as I could to fall in love with him the way he loved me.And then other times I'd think, it's just the way his face is that makes him look like that.”

“Moi je vole, je plane, tandis qu'il y a pleins de gens qui sont morts de l'interieur. […] L'argent qu'ils gagnent, ils le dépensent dans une télévision neuve, alors que l'ancienne marche encore, dans une nouvelle voiture, parce que la précédente est trop vielle, ou dans des vacances pour se distraire et oublier cet affreux boulot qu'ils sont obligés de faire parce qu'ils ont besoin de cet argent…”

“It had this amazing spicy, pee-y smell.”

“Listen. You can be anything you want to be. Be careful. It's a spell. It's magic. Listen to the words. You can be anything, you can do anything, you can be anything, you can do anything. Listen to the magic. You are anything . . . everyone, anyone. Whatever you want. I'm showing you. So long as you stay yourself inside, you can eat dirt and it'll taste good because it's you that's eating it. You can even lick their arses if you have to. You listen to them, teachers, parents, politicians. They're always saying, if you steal you're a thief, if you sleep around you're a slut, if you take drugs you're a junkie. They want to get inside your head and control you with their fear. Maybe you think your mum and dad love you but if you do the wrong things they'll try and turn you into dirt. It's your punishment for being you. Don't play their game. Nothing can touch you; you stay beautiful. 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 going to be your turn?”

“I've done everything. All of it. You think it, I've done it. All the things yo 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?”

“It wasn't a love story." -Tar's dadIt was a love story. Me, Gemma, and junk." -Tar”

“You can do anything you want. You don't believe me. You think, she's out of her head. Yeah, I'm out of my head- on being me. What are you on? On being them. You don't even know. I bet you were never given a chance to know. ....Listen. You can be anything you want to be. Be careful. It's a spell. It's magic. Listen to the words.... You are anything...everyone, anyone. ...You listen to them, teachers, parents, politicians. They're always saying, if you steal you're a thief, if you sleep aroung you're a slut, if you take drugs you're a junkie. They want to get inside your head and control you with their fear. ...Don't play their game. Nothing can touch you; you stay beautiful.”

“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...”