I’ve known I wanted to be a writer as long as I knew what a writer was, which means as far back as the first time I read Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy. Published in 1964, Harriet the Spy is a classic work of children’s literature. It was adapted for TV in a feature film in 1996 starring Michelle Trachtenberg as Harriet M. Welsch, Rosie O’Donnell as Ole Golly, and Earth Kitt as the bedridden diva Agatha K. Plummer, but I loved it long before then. This year, I’ve been rereading some classics from my childhood in 2018: My Year of Rewind and partly as preparation before I start my graduate program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at VCFA. It was such a fascinating experience to reread Harriet the Spy and be able to trace so much of my thoughts on writing, truth telling, and life, not to mention my fear of abandonment, to this one novel.
Rereading it was like finding one of the most formative documents in my life, and I could literally connect the notebook I carry everywhere with me to this novel.
Analyzing this will take a whole other post. This article, at least, will get you started with the ten best quotes from Harriet the Spy. These quotes focus specifically on writing, and are from Harriet and other characters around her.
The best quotes from Harriet the Spy about writing
1.
“What are you writing?” Sport asked.
“I’m taking notes on all those people who are sitting over there.”
“Why?”
“Aw, Sport”—Harriet was exasperated—because I’ve seen them and I want to remember them.”
2.
“Cook settled herself with a cup of coffee. ‘How long you been a spy?’ “Since I could write. Ole Golly told me if I was going to be a writer, I better write down everything. So I’m a spy that writes down everything.”
3.
“MY FATHER IS ALWAYS SAYING STARVING ARTIST OR STARVING WRITER. MAYBE I BETTER REDUCE.” — from Harriet’s notebook
4.
“My father says you have to catch the reader’s attention at first and then hold it.” — Sport
5.
“When you’re big and you sell your first book, I’ll come into the bookstore and get a signed copy. How ’bout that?” Ole Golly gave her old smile.
“Wow! You mean you’ll ask for my autograph?”
“I guess you could put it that way.”
6.
“Everyone always sidled up to her and asked: ‘What are you writing in that notebook?’
Harriet would just smile slyly. It drove them crazy.”
7.
“IS OLE GOLLY RIGHT? IS IT TERRIBLE TO GET WHAT YOU WANT? I WANT TO BE A WRITER AND I’LL BE FINKED IF I’LL BE UNHAPPY WHEN I AM. SOME PEOPLE JUST DON’T THINK THINGS OUT.” — from Harriet’s notebook
8.
“WHEN I GROW UP I’M GOING TO FIND OUT EVERYTHINGA BOUT EVERYBODY AND PUT IT ALL IN A BOOK. THE BOOK IS GOING TO BE CALLED SECRETS BY HARRIET M. WELSCH. I WILL ALSO HAVE PHOTOGRAPHS IN IT AND MAYBE SOME MEDICAL CHARTS IF I CAN THEM.” — from Harriet’s notebook
9.
“She found that when she didn’t have a notebook it was hard for her to think. The thoughts came slowly, as though they had to squeeze through a tiny door to get to her, whereas when she wrote, they flowed out faster than she could put them down.”
10.
“Dear Harriet,
I have been thinking about you and I have decided that if you are ever going to be a writer it is time you get cracking. You are eleven years old and haven’t written a thing but notes. Make a story out of some of those notes and send it to me.” — Ole Golly’s letter to Harriet
