"Speak" Alternative Book Report

"The Wisdom of Mr. Freeman"

"Welcome to the only class that will teach you how to survive. Welcome to art."

“This is where you can find your soul, if you dare. Where you can touch that part of you that you’ve never dared look at before. Do not come here and ask me to show you how to draw a face. Ask me to help you find the wind.”

“Are words or numbers more important than images? Who decided this? Does algebra move you to tears?”

“If you don’t learn art now, you will never learn to breathe!!!”

"The opportunities are endless."

“You just chose your destiny, you can’t change that.”

"Enough! Please turn your attention to the bookshelves."

“Kahlo, Monet, O’Keeffe. Pollock, Picasso, Dali. They did not complain about subject, they mined every subject for the root of its meaning.”

“Want me to tell you what I see? I see a girl caught in the remains of a holiday gone bad, with her flesh picked off day after day as the carcass dries out.”

“Art is about making mistakes and learning from them.”

“Art without emotion is like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.”

“The next time you work on your trees, don’t think about trees. Think about love, or hate, or joy, or rage—whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat or your toes curl. Focus on that feeling. When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You’d be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside—walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It’s the saddest thing I know.”

"I think you have a lot to say. I'd like to hear it."

“You are getting better at this, but it’s not good enough. This looks like a tree, but it is an average, ordinary, everyday, boring tree. Breathe life into it. Make it bend—trees are flexible, so they don’t snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch—perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree.”