The Hollow Boy Quotes

“Nothing could keep me from you. Nothing in life or Death...”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“You shouldn’t have done it,” I said. “You shouldn’t have risked yourself.”
“Come off it,” Lockwood said. “You know I’d die for you.” He chuckled. “Heaven knows, I’ve come near it often enough. Scrambling down a crack in the ground is nothing…”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“I'ts how I want to remember him, the way he was that night: with horrors up ahead and horrors at our back, and Lockwood standing in between them, calm and unafraid.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“His rapier was at his belt, glittering as he swung. He reached down, ripped the sword clear.
I jumped over a slashing frond of plasm, spun round with the water bottle in my hand. I hurled it across to Lockwood.
George threw his rapier to me.
Watch this now. Sword and bottle, sailing through the air, twin trajectories, arching beautifully through the mass of swirling tendrils towards Lockwood and me. Lockwood held out his hand. I held out mine.
Remember I said there was that moment of sweet precision when we gelled perfectly as a team?
Yeah, well. This wasn't it.
The rapier shot past, missing me by miles. It skidded halfway across the floor. The bottle struck Lockwood plumb in the centre of his forehead, knocking him through the window.
There was a moment's pause.
'Is he dead?' the skulls voice said 'Yay! Oh. No, he's hanging onto the shutters. Shame. Still, this is defiantly the funniest thing I've ever seen. You three really are incompetence on a stick”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“I was having dark thoughts about waffles.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Because you're unique . You shine like a beacon, attracting the attention of all dark things." It chuckled. "Why do you think I'm chatting with you?”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Ignoring the whispers of the skull, which kept suggesting different, unlikely kitchen utensils that could be used for murder, I sketched out a map of the room.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Whatever the cost, as long as you’re in my company, be sure I’ll always be there for you.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“George had his faraway look, the one that made him look like a constipated owl.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Take me! You need a companion.” “Yep,” I said. “And I’m going with Lockwood.” In fact, I had to hurry. I could hear him putting his coat on in the hall. “Aha…Are you? Oh, I see. Better leave you to it, then.” “Right. Good.” I paused. “Meaning what?” “Nothing, nothing.” The evil eyes winked at me. “I’m no third wheel.” “I don’t”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Is mindless violence your solution to everything?” The ghost considered. “Pretty much, yeah.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Unfortunately, the body within the uniform belonged to Quill Kipps, so the overall effect was like watching a plague rat lick a bowl of caviar. Yes, the classy element was there, but it wasn’t what you focused on.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“We were a total mess. We'd been up all night. We smelled of ectoplasm, salt, and fear. We looked at one another, and grinned.

Then we began laughing.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Don’t worry. I know we have our differences, but there’s a lot of mutual respect there. If he hesitates, I’ll sweet-talk him. He won’t let us down.” “That total and utter idiot,” Lockwood growled. “That mustachioed imbecile. That benighted, blinkered jobsworth. He’s a clown! A fraud! An oaf! I hate him.” “How’s the mutual respect thing going?” George said.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“ALOOONE . . . Ooh, that was spooky,’ it added. ‘Almost frightened myself there.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Mr Lockwood,' he said slowly. 'It's like the end of the world.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“He smiled at us; we smiled at him. Three crocodiles on a muddy shore could not have smiled at each other more eloquently or with such gleaming teeth”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“We all laughed, but it wasn't really a room for laughter. Nor for tears, oddly, or for anger, or for any emotion other than a sort of solemnity. It was the place of absence; we were in the presence of something that had left. It was like coming to a valley where someone had once shouted, loud and joyously, and the echo of that shout had resonated between the hills and lasted a long time. But now it had vanished, and you stood on the same spot, and it was not the same.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“What kind of life was it, to sit dumbly in the dark, in living fear of death? Better to go out and face it, head-on.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Come off it,’ Lockwood said. ‘You know I’d die for you.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“I’d been having dark thoughts about waffles,”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“I've got one word for you: egg whisk”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“This city,' said George, 'is going to hell in a handcart.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“I don't know how old the man was... but he was definitely closer to coffin than crib.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“cannon used. The night of the grand festivity”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“That old cow gave me a right old whack. See this horrible red blob?”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Holly was staring at me. "Who were you talking to just then?"
"No one! You!"
"I don't believe you."
"Look, does it really matter right now?"
"If we're going to be working together, Lucy...."
"Oh, hell! All right! I'll tell you! It's an evil haunted skull that lives in my backpack! Happy, now?”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Yes, all the inhabitants of the store had left. But that didn't mean we were alone.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“It's everywhere. It's right on top of us. It coils around us like a snake. We're all inside it. It's already swallowed us whole.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy

“Lockwood… Through half-closed eyes I watched him now, trapping him tight between my lashes.”
― Jonathan Stroud, The Hollow Boy