Quotes by Walter Dean Myers

About Walter Dean Myers:

Walter Dean Myers is one of the books most frequently challenged in the U.S. because of its adult language and its realistic depiction of the Vietnam War. He also sat on the Board of Advisors of the Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators (SCBWI)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I mean, if you think about doing things to people like that, if you think about it too much, it gets all up in you and you can't control it after a while. Then they really got you.

Walter Dean Myers

You are not in Disneyland,” he said. “The little people you see running around over here are not Mouseketeers. Some of them are friendly, and some of them have a strong desire to kill you. If you remember that, and manage to kill them before they...

Walter Dean Myers

All the authors I studied, all the historical figures, with the exception of George Washington Carver, and all those figures I looked upon as having importance were white men. I didn't mind that they were men, or even white men. What I did mind was t...

Walter Dean Myers

Children have adopted a consumerist attitude - I dare you to entertain me.

Walter Dean Myers

Cutting people out of your life is easy, keeping them in is hard.

Walter Dean Myers

Let me think Thinking is all I have If wisdom is a pretense Then let me pretend to be wise

Walter Dean Myers

Go. Think. Turn black into white. Night into day. I am tired of thinking. I know where it will lead me and I don’t Want to be there. Go love. Do your thinking.

Walter Dean Myers

That's what's wrong with women. They want you to wait for them until they get ready and then they don't even tell you how they feel.

Walter Dean Myers

I joined the army on my seventeenth birthday, full of the romance of war after having read a lot of World War I British poetry and having seen a lot of post-World War II films. I thought the romantic presentations of war influenced my joining and my ...

Walter Dean Myers

Yeah, it’s hard, baby It’s hard right down to the bone I said Oh, it’s hard baby It’s hard right down to the very bone It’s hard when you’re a woman And you find yourself all alone I’ve been flapping and scrapping And running from door ...

Walter Dean Myers

I read a lot of comic books and any kind of thing I could find. One day, a teacher found me. She grabbed my comic book and tore it up. I was really upset, but then she brought in a pile of books from her own library. That was the best thing that ever...

Walter Dean Myers

What I found fascinating was just how quickly the best of the young Negro League players were drafted into the major leagues once Branch Rickey broke the color line by hiring Jackie Robinson. It was clear that all of the major league owners already k...

Walter Dean Myers

I had seen the ballet of 'Swan Lake' as a child but it was as an adult, when I saw a production featuring Erik Bruhn, that I first noticed how significant a part the ever-present threat of violence played. This juxtaposition of great beauty and grace...

Walter Dean Myers

Growing up in Harlem, I had the chance to practice with a Negro League team. At fifteen, I was over six feet tall and a fair athlete, but my skills didn't come close to some of the players I saw.

Walter Dean Myers

I was teased if I brought my books home. I would take a paper bag to the library and put the books in the bag and bring them home. Not that I was that concerned about them teasing me - because I would hit them in a heartbeat. But I felt a little asha...

Walter Dean Myers

I write in a small office at home.

Walter Dean Myers

People still try to sell books that way - as 'books can take you to foreign lands.' We've given children this idea that reading and books are a nice option, if you want that kind of thing. I hope we can get over that idea.

Walter Dean Myers

As a young man, I saw families prosper without reading because there were always sufficient opportunities for willing workers who could follow simple instructions. This is no longer the case. Children who don't read are, in the main, destined for les...

Walter Dean Myers

My dad was a janitor for U.S. Radium Corporation, and he stayed there for 37 years. So he didn't read.

Walter Dean Myers

My younger brother's death in Vietnam was both sobering and cause for reflection. In 'Fallen Angels' I wanted to dispel the notion of war as either romantic or simplistically heroic.

Walter Dean Myers

Author Bio

  • NameWalter Dean Myers
  • DescriptionAmerican writer
  • AliasesWalter Milton Myers
  • BornAugust 12, 1937
  • DiedJuly 1, 2014
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist
  • WorksFallen Angels; Monster
  • AwardsMargaret Edwards Award; Michael L. Printz Award