Jonah Griggs Quotes:

Jonah Griggs. Not just a name but a state of mind I never want to revisit, although I do keep him at the back of my mind for those times I get me hopes raised about something. So then I can slap myself into reality and remind myself of what happens when you let someone into your sacred space. Jonah Griggs is my second reminder to never ever trust another human being. My mother was first.

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Mother, Reality, Names, Jonah Griggs, Jonah

The next night he asked Jonah if he could take $9.49 out of Jonah's secret stash that only Danny and his mum and Jack knew about. Jonah kept it in his sock drawer next to a photograph of Jonah and a girl with sad eyes, taken in one of those railway station photo booths.

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Girl, Taken, Eye, Jonah Griggs, Taylor Markham

I watch Raffy as she removes the pickles from her hamburger and hands them over to Santangelo without them exchanging a word and I realize again there is more to that relationship than spelling bees and being enemies. These people have history and I crave history. I crave someone knowing me so well that they can tell what I'm thinking.

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Thinking, Hands, Knowing, Jonah Griggs, Take My Hand

Don't you ever touch my car again," Santangelo says with the same fury he had on his face when Jonah Griggs made comments about his mother. Raffy touches the car with her finger in a very dramatic way. "You've just made our hit list," he says, getting a hanky out of his pocket and cleaning off some imaginary mark.

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Mother, Car, Way, Jonah Griggs, Jonah

His father's made us paint half this town and if we stick around any longer he'll make us paint the rest of it." -Jonah Griggs

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Father, Half, Towns, Jonah Griggs, Jonah

The head nerd of the Cadets is my partner and when it's over he asks me for my number. I'm very flattered and he looks a bit crestfallen when I say no. "It's because they don't have coverage out here," Griggs tells him. "No," I say, looking up at Griggs. "It's actually because my heart belongs to someone else." And if I could bottle the look on his face, I'd keep it by my bedside for the rest of my life.

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Heart, Numbers, Nerd, Jonah Griggs, Taylor Markham

What happens when she's not my memory anymore? What happens when she's not around to tell me about his belt leaving scars across my two-year-old brother's face or when he whacked her so hard that she lost her hearing for a week? Who'll be my memory?" Santangelo doesn't miss a beat. "I will. Ring me." "Same," Raffy says. I look at him. I can't even speak because if I do I know I'll cry but I smile and he knows what I'm thinking.

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Brother, Memories, Thinking, Jonah Griggs, Taylor Markham

But you pashed Jonah Griggs and he's the leader of the enemy.

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Leader, Enemy, Jonah, Jonah Griggs

Girls under the age of fourteen are the most frightening creatures I have ever come across. - Jonah Griggs

- Melina Marchetta

topic: Girl, Age, Fourteen, Jonah Griggs, Jonah

Between now and when we graduate next year there are at least ten weeks' holiday and five random public holidays. There's email and if you manage to get down to the town, there's text messaging and mobile phone calls. If not, the five minutes you get to speak to me on your communal phone is better than nothing. There are the chess nerds who want to invite you to our school for the chess comp next March and there's this town in the middle, planned by Walter Burley Griffin, where we can meet up and protest against our government's refusal to sign the Kyoto treaty." -Jonah Griggs

- Melina Marchetta

topic: School, Holiday, Phones, Jonah Griggs, Jonah