I listen to the summer symphony outside my window. Truthfully, it's not a symphony at all. There's no tune, no melody, only the same notes over and over. Chirps and tweets and trills and burples. It's as if the insect orchestra is forever tuning its instruments, forever waiting for the maestro to tap his baton and bring them to order. I, for one, hope the maestro never comes. I love the music mess of it.
Jerry SpinelliWhen bad things turn good, the reason can usually be found in the human heartโsometimes in the hearts of great masses of people, sometimes in the heart of a solitary soul.
Jerry SpinelliShe's in tenth grade,' he said. 'I hear she's been homeschooled till now.' Maybe that explains it,' I said.
Jerry SpinelliLive today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Donโt rent them out to tomorrow. Do you know what youโre doing when you spend a moment wondering how things are going to turn out with Perry? Youโre cheating yourself out of today. Today is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but youโre stuck on tomorrow, and today trickles away like water down a drain. You wake up the next morning and that today you wasted is gone forever. Itโs now yesterday. Some of those moments may have had wonderful things in store for you , but now youโll never know.
Jerry SpinelliA baseball bat could not have hit me harder than that smile did. I was sixteen years old. In that time, how many thousands of smiles had been aimed at me? so why did this one feel like the first?
Jerry SpinelliI went to Gettysburg College, where the famous Civil War battle was fought. I majored in English. I would've liked to major in writing, but they didn't offer a major in that.
Jerry Spinelliof all the unusual features of Stargirl, this struck me as the most remarkable. Bad things did not stick to her. Correction: her bad things did not stick to her. If we were hurt, if we were unhappy or otherwise victimized by life, she seemed to know about it, and to care, as soon as we did. But bad things falling on her -- unkind words, nasty stares, foot blisters -- she seemed unaware of. I never saw her look in a mirror, never heard her complain. All of her feelings, all of her attentions flowed outward. She had no ego.
Jerry Spinelli