Holes Quotes

The 7 most famous lines from Louis Sachar’s Holes (1998), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.

• “It was all because of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!”

  - the narrator, on Stanley. Part 1, Chapter 3 (p. 7) - the book's most-quoted line, arriving in the second paragraph.

• “I see you're looking at my gun. Don't worry. I'm not going to shoot you.”

  - Mr. Sir. Part 1, Chapter 4 (p. 14) - the camp's welcome speech to a frightened new boy.

• “This is for yellow-spotted lizards. I wouldn't waste a bullet on you.”

  - Mr. Sir. Part 1, Chapter 4 (p. 14) - the venom rifle that makes the lizards matter.

• “The law will punish Sam. And God will punish you.”

  - the sheriff, to Kate Barlow. Part 1, Chapter 26 (p. 114) - the sentence that turns a schoolteacher into an outlaw.

• “That all happened one hundred and ten years ago. Since then, not one drop of rain has fallen on Green Lake.”

  - the narrator. Part 1, Chapter 26 (p. 115) - the drought as verdict, waiting the whole book to lift.

• “He's a genius, all right! He's so stupid, he doesn't even know he's stupid.”

  - Mr. Pendanski, about Zero. Part 2, Chapter 30 (p. 138) - the counselor's cruelty that the ending turns into the book's biggest lie.

• “No one cares about Hector Zeroni.”

  - Mr. Pendanski. Part 2, Chapter 31 (p. 144) - the sentence the whole rescue exists to answer.

Why these lines survive

Louis Sachar’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 7 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.

Quote collectors: pair this page with the Holes quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 3 hours and 17 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like Holes list is next.

How to use a quotes page

Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of Louis Sachar are an invitation, not a summary.

More quote collections

The Odyssey quotes, Moby-Dick quotes, Don Quixote quotes, Alice in Wonderland quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.

Frequently asked questions