Kat Yeh > Quotes

“Blind alleys mean you're going the wrong way. They're there so you can turn around and even try something else. Something even better.”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Pick the tomato warm from the garden. Sit right there in a sunny patch if you've got one. Brush off any dirt and bugs, but don't make yourself crazy. Sprinkle with a little salt. And don't you add one other thing, because there's just something about a tomato being a tomato. Eat it like an apple. Let the juices run down your chin, and then wipe 'em away with your shirtsleeve. You heard me. The perfect summer tomato is worth half a shirt. And that's the truth.”
― Kat Yeh, The Truth About Twinkie Pie

“People don't care what you name it, G. They like pie for what's on the inside.”
― Kat Yeh

“if I act the way
I wish I were
am I still acting...or becoming?" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Now ya'll stop sitting around wishing you were something you're not and just get on out there and be.”
― Kat Yeh, The Truth About Twinkie Pie

“Bea: It's a terrible idea. I shouldn't have said anything.
Mrs. Reegs: It's not terrible Bea. It's just an idea. Ideas mean you're thinking, and that's always good.
Bea: Always?
Mrs. Reegs: Well, some ideas are better than others, Bea, but they're all part of your journey. ood or bad, they all help you grow into who you are and what you're going to be.”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“If you don't share what's inside you, how will other people ever get to see how wonderful you are? Wouldn't you rather put yourself out there and risk it? Especially if it means a chance to connect with the people who really get you?" -Mrs. Reegs”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Walking through town with Trip, I thought about how easily he had folded me into his group. Sometimes when Didi makes peanut butter cookies, she'll get all cranky trying to blend the peanut butter in the sugar, eggs, and butter. See, the peanut butter always stays in a big clump and the eggs are all slimy and you have to really work at it before everything gets nice and smooth. But the way Trip pulled me into his buttery, sugary life, you'd never know when I was peanut butter in the first place.”
― Kat Yeh

“Drawing Conclusions

I do not know the way
to act like something that I'm not
(this haiku's off two beats now
-it's much harder than I thought)
so maybe this something else that swirls and curls and dives
and doesn't stay and wait all day
(or have a perfect rhyme)
and doesn't stay inside the maze
(a perfect one or not)
and doesn't do the things that other people think it ought
I think it might be something else that's coming from my heart
and if I dare to write in air please know it's just my art
Conclusions drawn by someone else
might leave me all alone
but here's a secret I have found...

I can draw my own.

-Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Befriend.

It's a good word.

Be-friend." -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“If someone really truly likes you, they're kind and treat you with respect. End of story.”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“I guess that's the other thing about words that you let out. When they form enough of a path, you get to a place where sometimes you don't have to say anything at all" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“It was a really good song. I liked how it made you feel like a book - and that the parts of your life you hadn't figured out yet? Well, they were just waiting to be written. And you got to be the writer" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“This is the same path that I know so well, that I've walked hundreds of times, but today, all I can think is that the more you walk down a path, the more you start to feel that you can probably handle whatever it is you find at the end" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“You're turning red," Will says,
"I'm not and I think you're wrong." I gather my stuff and back up. "I have to go.”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Everyone needs a theme song," S's mom announced. "They're like little messages to remind us who we are inside, so we don't forget when we're out in the world.”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“It made sense to me, but why did anyone have to like anyone at all? Why couldn't we just keep hanging out with our friends and not talk about who likes who or transforming or any of that? Why did I have to think about whether I was hot or cool? Why did I even have to be a temperature?”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“I guess it's nice to always look so put together, but it probably takes an awful lot of work, too. I mean, when would you ever have time left over to draw or paint or write or do anything fun?" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Something is happening inside me. It's like when you're searching for the right song that feels exactly the way you want to feel and then when you find it, it fills you up so much that it spills out and just flows everywhere around you and you can't believe how lucky you are to be in a world where there is music" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“But it doesn't even matter how different they are, because all poems begin the same way: from something you feel inside. Like being mesmerized by the sound of certain words. Or feeling sad that you're alone at the turn of a path
Or being afraid.
A poem could begin on night when you're so lost and afraid that the last thing you're even thinking about is writing one. But the words will come anyway, whether you want them to or not, and you will find yourself with your hand on your chest, just like the Pledge of Allegiance, counting out the beats." -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“And then at the bottom. penciled in"
8) Say THANK YOU to show appreciation
I almost drop it again but recover and quickly hand it all to Will.
"THANK YOU for picking up my folder and THANK YOU for bringing me lunch," he says.
I don't answer. Because my mind is going a million miles an hour and I think I know what the list means.
This list named Beatrix Lee.
Will makes lists of things that are important to him. Things he needs to practice. Like the Leland estate and how to break in. He's smart in some ways, but not others. He's Planning Smart. And Observing Smart. But the way he acts sometimes, he isn't always People Smart. And I think this list is about him practicing to be Friend Smart.
For me.”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Sometimes in the middle of the craziest moments in your life, you hear yourself say the most ridiculous thing" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“And then at the bottom. penciled in:
8) Say THANK YOU to show appreciation
I almost drop it again but recover and quickly hand it all to Will.
"THANK YOU for picking up my folder and THANK YOU for bringing me lunch," he says.
I don't answer. Because my mind is going a million miles an hour and I think I know what the list means.
This list named Beatrix Lee.
Will makes lists of things that are important to him. Things he needs to practice. Like the Leland estate and how to break in. He's smart in some ways, but not others. He's Planning Smart. And Observing Smart. But the way he acts sometimes, he isn't always People Smart. And I think this list is about him practicing to be Friend Smart.
For me.”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Because if you think about it, what is a blank page, anyway? It's a place where just about anything can happen" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“if I act
the way
I wish I were
am I still acting
-or becoming?"
-Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“...because it's not worth it to be with people who make you feel like you can't say what you want to say. Or be the way you want to be" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“There is the rustle of the leaves and the snapping of twigs. Only, this time, I am smiling as I wait for a flash of color to appear around the bend, because there's nothing better than when the person you've been waiting for finally arrives" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“I couldn't believe how many songs were out there that I'd never even heard of before. It could only mean there were tons of other incredible things out there, too, just waiting to be discovered" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea

“Cucumber Sandwiches • Mayonnaise • Cucumbers, thinly sliced • Salt and pepper • Parsley, chopped fine Spread each slice of your sandwich bread with the thinnest bit of mayonnaise you can spread. Pile 8 to 10 slices of cucumber on one side. Salt and pepper. Top with the other slice of bread. Trim off any cucumber sticking out over the edges. Then cut the sandwich into 4 triangles. Spread very thin mayo on one edge of each of the triangles and then dip that into your chopped parsley. Arrange on a plate, standing up like little sails with the parsley side showing. Pepper Jelly Triple-Decker Surprise Sandwiches • Pepper jelly • Cream cheese Spread pepper jelly on one slice of bread and cream cheese on the other. You know what to do—put them together. Now spread cream cheese on the top of that sandwich. Take another slice of bread and spread pepper jelly on that and put it on top. You should now have a triple-decker sandwich with pretty stripes. These get sliced into 4 long fingers. Pimento Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches • Pimento cheese (I know I put my pimento cheese recipe in here somewhere. Just look it up because I am not writing it down again.) • Cherry tomatoes This is a real pretty open-face sandwich. Spread your pimento cheese on a slice of bread all the way to the edges. Cut the bread into quarters. Slice 2 cherry tomatoes in half. Top each bread quarter with a tomato half, cut side up. If you have a wait before you start eating, cover the sandwiches with a wet paper towel that you’ve wrung out till it’s just damp. I like to arrange them all nice and fancy on my pressed-glass plate that I got from my mama. Then I call a girlfriend over for a chat and some sweet tea. What occasion could be more special than that? Serves 2.”
― Kat Yeh, The Truth About Twinkie Pie

“if I act the way I wish I were
am I still acting...or becoming?" -Bea”
― Kat Yeh, The Way to Bea