A Monster Calls Quotes!

"You're going to need to be brave for her, Con. You're going to need to be real, real brave for her."

conor and his father

"'I've got —' / 'Another family there,' Conor finished."

conor and his father

"'You and I need to have a talk, my boy,' she said, standing in the doorway… 'I have a name, you know,' Conor said… 'and it's not my boy.'"

conor and grandmother

"We have something in common… Your mum… That's what we have in common."

conor and grandmother

"His classmates kept their distance from him, too, like he was giving off a bad smell… Conor did his best to ignore it."

conor and classmates, isolation and being seen

"… before the day was out, everyone knew. Everyone. Which changed the whole world in a single day."

conor and classmates, isolation and being seen

"Mrs Marl didn't even make him hand in his Life Writing homework, even though it was due that day… Mrs Marl moved on, passing lightly over Conor."

conor and teachers, isolation and being seen

"'I see you,' it said. Written in Lily's untidy handwriting."

conor and lily

"We used to be friends" / "Used to be," Conor said without turning around.

conor and lily

"I did not come to heal her… I came to heal you." – Yew Tree Monster

conor and monster, belief vs healing

"You are the one who called me, Conor O'Malley… You are the one with the answers to these questions." – Yew Tree Monster

conor and monster

"I think, deep in your heart, you've always known."

conor and his mother

"I know, my love… I know." (final confession)

conor and his mother

"Conor O'Malley who wants to be punished… what secrets do you hide that are so terrible?"

conor and harry, isolation and being seen

"Harry leaned forward, his eyes flashing. 'I see nothing,' he said / 'Goodbye, O'Malley… I no longer see you.'"

conor and harry, isolation and being seen

"There will come a day when we'll talk about this, Conor O'Malley… But today is not that day" / "You're not punishing me?"

conor and teachers, isolation and being seen

"Are you sure everything's all right between you and those boys?" Miss Kwan said… "Because I'm not blind to how Harry works, you know."

conor and teachers, isolation and being seen

"I forgive you for lying," Lily said… "I'm not sorry," Conor said, stopping, "and I don't forgive you"

conor and lily

"It's your fault," he said. "It's all your fault."

conor and lily

"I don't want to let you go" – Conor

DDA, conor and his mother

"Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both." – Yew Tree Monster

DDA, human duality and complexity

"Because humans are complicated beasts… How can a queen be both a good witch and a bad witch? How can [a prince] be a murderer and a saviour?" – Yew Tree Monster (1st tale)

human duality and complexity

"You said you were a tree of healing! … Well, I need you to heal!" / "And so I shall," the monster said.

belief vs healing

"Goodbye, O'Malley … I no longer see you." – Harry

conor and harry, isolation and being seen

"No matter how much he'd wanted to believe it wasn't true, of course he knew."

DDA

"You do not write your life with words… You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do." – Yew Tree Monster

guilt vs action

"It's my fault… I let her go. It's my fault" – Conor tells Yew Tree Monster

guilt vs action

"Belief is half of all healing. – Yew Tree Monster

(Belief in the cure, belief in the future that awaits. And here was a man who lived on belief, but who sacrificed it at the first challenge… He believed selfishly and fearfully. And it took the lives of his daughters")

belief vs healing

"How can invisible men make themselves more lonely by being seen?"

isolation and being seen