As pathetic as it was, she'd rather hold on to the possibility of something perfect than be hit with the reality of nothing much.
Francine PascalLife's one great lesson was: Do not care. Not caring was a person's real protection.
Francine PascalLuck doesn't shine her light on each of us equally. She is arbitrary, irrational, unfair and sometimes downright cruel.
Francine PascalNo matter when you were born or where, puberty is the same. It's the same for your parents as it is for you - what's happening in your body dictates everything.
Francine PascalHe slowed down a bit more. "Gaia, how do you know these things?" She shrugged. "I'm smart." "And modest, too." "Modesty is a waste of time," she pronounced. "I'll keep that in mind.
Francine PascalShe figured if you weren't woman enough to carry your doughnuts with pride, you shouldn't be eating them.
Francine PascalAnother funny thing about having friends was that they expected things of you. they made you want to not be a terrible, awful, execrable person. They made you feel worse when you were one. It was a lot easier not to have any friends.
Francine PascalWhen I first heard the word existential, I didn't know what it meant. But then I found out that no one knows what it means, so now I use it all the time.
Francine PascalSince I was a small child, I was always writing either poems or plays... plays in which I had the starring part.
Francine PascalYou see, Suzanne, history lectures bore me, art films bore me, your friends bore me, and, if you want to know the truth, I guess you bore me too.
Francine PascalI know you think that when you're 35, 45, 55, you'll be different. But I'm going to let you in on a bit of a secret. You're going to look different, and your life is going to be different, but in your head you'll always be that 16-year-old girl.
Francine PascalI get some of my ideas from watching my three daughters, but most of them come from my own memories of growing up. I can remember how romantic I was, not just about love, but romance in the classic sense - the romantic ideals: of honor and truth, of loyalty, sacrifice and fairness. Those were the elements that made a story satisfying to me.
Francine PascalI love 'Sweet Valley,' but I love it from a different angle. There are people for whom it is their adolescence. They own it, in a way that even I don't. I've come to respect the project more because of the response than I've had. It's more important than I realized it was. I didn't understand the breadth and depth of it. now I'm beginning to more.
Francine PascalElizabeth scowled, feeling like a nobody, a nothing. She felt like her entire self had been made worthless. She could change her interests, but she couldn't change her looks. She'd never be six feet tall. She'd never look like a supermodel.
Francine PascalHumiliation, by the way, is a truly terrible emotion. It's at the bottom of the pile.
Francine PascalLove was more than blind. It was deaf and dumb, too. It was catatonic. It was vegetative.
Francine PascalElla's supersonic voice followed her all the way to Bleecker Street and then dissolved amid the noisy profusion of shops, cafes, and restaurants and the crush of people that made the West Village of Manhattan unique in the world. In a single block you could buy fertility statues from Tanzania, rare Amazonian orchids, a pawned brass tuba, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, or the best, most expensive cup of coffee you ever tasted. It was the doughnuts, incidentally, that attracted Gaia.
Francine PascalI always loved reading. Growing up, my favorite book was 'A Child's Garden of Verses,' by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Francine PascalRoger Collins wasn't the most popular teacher at school only because he was interesting in class. In fact, most of the girls would have loved a little after-class attention from this teacher.
Francine PascalElla was vapid and worthless at least nine-tenths of the time, but when she got really mad, her face became sharp and purposeful. Almost vicious. Like if Barbie were suddenly possessed by Atilla the Hun.
Francine PascalJessica walked away from Aaron and Ken, flashing them both a big smile. They were both very attractive - she had dated each of them a number of times. In fact, not too long ago she had contemplated falling in love with Ken for lack of anything better to do.
Francine PascalI am seventeen. The good things about seventeen is that youโre not sixteen. Sixteen goes with the word sweet, and I am so far from sweet.
Francine PascalShe needed to get out of there. Her brains, thankfully, were still safely in her skull, but her emotions were splattered on the pavement.
Francine PascalWhen I first thought of the idea for 'Sweet Valley High,' I loved the idea of high school as microcosm of the real world. And what I really liked was how it moved things on from 'Sleeping Beauty'-esque romance novels where the girl had to wait for the hero. This would be girl-driven, very different, I decided - and indeed it is.
Francine Pascal