Rodman Philbrick Quotes

“Freak says we can’t expect her to understand, because you can’t really get what it means to be Freak the Mighty unless you are Freak the Mighty.”

“I know about that because Freak has been showing me how to read a whole book and for some reason it all makes sense, where before it was just a bunch of words I didn’t care about.”

″‘The young man is a genius,’ Grim is saying. ‘And I don’t use that word lightly.‘”

“It all goes to show, like Grim always says, that you can’t always judge a book by the cover.”

“Freak is still holding tight to my shoulders and when they ask him for his name, he says, ‘We’re Freak the Mighty, that’s who we are.‘”

“Is it really such a big deal for a boy to look like his father? Which is typical butthead thinking, because of course it’s a big deal, if your father happens to be in prison.”

“Except that’s how it must have looked from a distance, because they never knew it was Freak who rescued me—or his genius brain and my big dumb body.”

″‘Of course you can, son,’ and it’s like woah! because he never calls me that. Always Max or Maxwell or ‘that boy.‘”

“As a matter of fact I do know the answer—the reason Johnny Tremain got mad and hateful is because he burned his hand in a stupid accident—and I know about that because Freak has been showing me how to read a whole book and for some reason it all makes sense, where before it was just a bunch of words I didn’t care about.”

“I’m telling tales, my dear, not lies. Lies are mean things, and tales are meant to entertain.”

“I don’t think it was a lie, Maxwell, do you? I think he needed something to hope for and so he invented this rather remarkable fantasy you describe. Everybody needs something to hope for. Don’t call it a lie. Kevin wasn’t a liar.”

“I won’t have the time, so you’ll have to do it. Just write it all down like you’re talking. Put in all the fun we had, the cool things we did. Our adventures.”

“He’s not that heavy. And anyhow it’s not fair everybody always says ‘Poor Kevin,’ just because he didn’t grow.”

“I like it in the down under, got the place all to myself and no fear of Gram sticking her head in the door and saying Maxwell dear, what are you doing?”

“Except later it was Freak who taught me that remembering is a great invention of the mind, and if you try hard enough you can remember anything, whether it happened or not.”

“I know it’s okay; he’s not flipped out because I picked him up and put him on my shoulders like he was a little kid.”

“You should hear him talk. I think the rest of him is so small because his brain is so big.”

″‘That stuff about my father was true,’ Freak says, studying his fingernails and acting real cool again. ‘... I know he ran away because of me.‘”

“It’s real easy, he doesn’t weigh much and I’m pretty sure I remember looking back and seeing him up in the wagon happy as can be, like he’s really enjoying the ride and not embarrassed to have me pulling him around.”

“All you got from him is your looks and your size. You’ve got your mother’s heart, and that’s what counts.”