Runaway Quotes

“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself. It’s like your shadow. It follows you everywhere. -Komura”
― Haruki Murakami, After the Quake

“Some folks call her a runaway. A failure in the race. But she knows where her ticket takes her. She will find her place in the sun”
― Tracy Chapman

“No matter how far you have run, no matter how long you have been lost, it is never too late to be found.”
― Rene Denfeld, The Child Finder

“Running away was not like it was in stories. People did not try and stop you. They did not give chase. The thing people didn't understand was that you had to decide what you were running away from. Most of the time it wasn't mothers or fathers or monsters or villains; most of the time you were running away from that little voice inside your head, the one telling you to stay where you are, that everything will turn out all right.”
― Robert Dinsdale, The Toymakers

“Sister, why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Cage the animals at night?"
"Well..." She looked up and out through the barred window before answering me."We don't want to, Jennings, but we have to. You see, the animals that are given to us we have to take care of. If we didn't cage them up in one place, we might lose them, they might get hurt or damaged. It's not the best thing, but it's the only way we have to take care of them."

"But if somebody loved one them," I asked, "wouldn't it be a good idea to let them have one? To keep, I mean?"

"Yes, it would be. But not everyone would love them and take care of them as you would. I wish I could give them all away tomorrow." She looked at me. There were tears in her eyes. "But I can't. My heart would break if I saw just one of those animals lying by the wayside uncared for, unloved. No, Jennings. It's better if we keep them together.”
― Jennings Michael Burch, They Cage the Animals at Night: The True Story of an Abandoned Child's Struggle for Emotional Survival

“runaway my phantom bride
and take your bouquet of poisonous flowers
float away specter
and take the rest of my desire”
― A.P. Sweet, The Abattoir of Silence

“You have that look -- the look of all runaways. But I will tell you what I tell my children. The caged bird sings sadly and dies quickly. Your heartstrings are not shoelaces -- they were never meant to be knotted. It is important to set things free. You begin with yourself. And maybe a tissue.”
― Angela Panayotopulos, The Wake Up

“What good's a black face if it means I'm just someone else's property? Why give me these arms and legs just to carry someone else's load, not my own?”
― Stacey Lee, Under a Painted Sky

“I run through the woods, at once applauding myself for my wit-"
"Well deserved, sir. Well deserved."
"And at the self instant, I am grinding my teeth because I am a vain, revenging idiot and shall be run down because of it.”
― M.T. Anderson, The Kingdom on the Waves

“You ask me to write you a poem,
I pen you an empty ocean,
You run away.
You ask me who I am,
I paint you a breaking sky,
You weep in the rain.”
― Jenim Dibie, The Calligraphy of God: A Collection of Love Poems

“You ever think about the noose?'

'I been thinking about the noose since I was born.”
― Stacey Lee, Under a Painted Sky

“As the bus took us north on a connection of dark farm roads and smaller highways, I started to wonder where all the cars were. How could the streets be so empty? How could people sleep when there was so much at stake, so much happening, when there were so many reasons to be awake and alive?
And I wondered how it was that I could feel both empty, like these streets, and yet so full at the same time. And those weren't the only contrasting poles inside me. I felt sad and happy. Scared and exhilarated. I felt young and old.”
― Dana Reinhardt, The Summer I Learned to Fly

“When twilight sleeps holding the night
In your arms you embrace me tight
Runaway hours clenched by kisses
More of your love my heart misses”
― Munia Khan

“I took another road, past the old sugar works and the water wheel that had not turned for years. I went to parts of Coulibri that I had not seen, where there was no road, no path, no track. And if the razor grass cut my legs and arms I would think 'It's better than people.' Black ants or red ones, tall nests swarming with white ants, rain that soaked me to the skin - once I saw a snake. All better than people.
Better, better, better than people.”
― Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

“A man on the run finds compassion or loveor even pretended innocence his greatest source of danger.”
― Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One

“What a world it is, Cora thought, that makes a living prison into your only haven. Was she out of bondage or in its web: how to describe the status of a runaway?”
― Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad

“How could I known then that failure then that failure of ambition is like a long lingering death and that disappoint with your life never goes away? It only grows stronger with the passage of time as the clock ticks off the remaining days of your life, and any residual, hope slips like sand through arthritic fingers.”
― Peter May

“I have always loved fairy tales, even now at the age when I am supposed to be too grown up and cynical for them.”
― Claire Wong, The Runaway

“The thing about life, Harry had told Lauren, was to live in the world with interest. To keep your eyes open and see the possibilities - see the humanity - in everybody you met. To be aware. If he had anything at all to teach her it was that. Be aware.”
― Alice Munro, Runaway: Stories

“Suddenly, launched in one dynamic motion, we were off, cutting like a chainsaw through the stillness of the day. The noise and the speed, ever rising, seemed to take us into another dimension where all the wind and sound in the world was our own”
― Lucy Irvine, Runaway

“When your partner/spouse shows you who they really are, you better believe it.”
― Christine Willson, The Screen Saver

“On the couch that was also my bed in the apartment I'd lived in all my life, I sat, sucking my thumb, thinking of the terrible things he'd said to me, using them to ignite a small fire, to get myself warm and moving, to get myself gone.”
― Sara Hosey, Iphigenia Murphy

“I could still turn back before I pass the last houses and really have to commit to this.”
― Claire Wong, The Runaway

“She grabbed the mouse and scrolled down through the health files marked CONFIDENTIAL until she came to the one for Tianna Moore.
Her heart beat rapidly when she read her own name. She opened the file, then studied the information on the screen. Born 1986 in Los Angeles, California. Normal immunization records and illnesses. The last line surprised her. Habitual runaway. Paranoid tendencies. Recommend counseling at Children's Hospital.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Lost One

“Shannon took her hand and squeezed it tightly. "We're here for you, Tianna. We're family now, just like Mary said."
"You were an emergency placement-" Mary began.
"Placement?" Tianna asked.
"I'm a foster mother," Mary explained.
"I have no home?" Tianna felt her heart drop, but it wasn't as much of a shock as it should have been. Part of her had known she had been running for a long time. Still, she had hoped.
"I'm sorry," Mary answered with true concern. "They called two weeks ago and asked if I could take..." She stopped.
"What?" Tianna asked, wondering if there was something wrong with her.
Mary regarded her kindly. "The social worker wanted to know if there was any way I could handle a problem teen."
Tianna waited for Mary to explain.
"She said you kept running away from your placement homes and she thought maybe I could make a difference because I had been so successful with others in the past.
Tianna knew immediately that there was something Mary wasn't saying.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Lost One

“Shannon took her hand and squeezed it tightly. "We're here for you, Tianna. We're family now, just like Mary said."
"You were an emergency placement-" Mary began.
"Placement?" Tianna asked.
"I'm a foster mother," Mary explained.
"I have no home?" Tianna felt her heart drop, but it wasn't as much of a shock as it should have been. Part of her had known she had been running for a long time. Still, she had hoped.
"I'm sorry," Mary answered with true concern. "They called two weeks ago and asked if I could take..." She stopped.
"What?" Tianna asked, wondering if there was something wrong with her.
Mary regarded her kindly. "The social worker wanted to know if there was any way I could handle a problem teen."
Tianna waited for Mary to explain.
"She said you kept running away from your placement homes and she thought maybe I could make a difference because I had been so successful with others in the past."
Tianna knew immediately that there was something Mary wasn't saying.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Lost One

“You can talk about leaving, but then you hear his voice say, “you’re just like your mother,” and next to him, that’s the last person you want to be.”
― ian kirkpatrick, Bleed More, Bodymore

“runaways barefoot
wandered the pocket universe
stone-paved,

dyeing the path red,
they were to freeze to death;
lucky to have

thorns in the cuts,
enough to build a campfire.”
― Remy Alberi, The Comprehension Watch

“There was rain.
There was thunder.
There was lightning.
And there was a knock.”
― Arushi Raj, My Little Runaway

“You're bored. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it's boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be.”
― Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel: Booktrack Edition