Louis Sachar's key quotes chapter-by-chapter for the novel Holes written by Louis Sachar, completed, researched, and performed by Year 7 students. A useful guide to begin student’s annotation of their novels, though it is not a complete guide for annotation in preparation to completing an essay or assessment task. Refer to these videos for a guide through each of the quotes for this novel: Chapters 1-10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfRTbkjEQSU Chapters 11-30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhGo-obF2hY Chapters 31-50: https://youtu.be/juP_DRSBECA

1. Holes – Key quotes per
chapters
7B – English - 2016

2. Chapter 1
Page Number: 1
Key Quote:
“There used to be a town of Green Lake as well. The town shriveled and
dried up along with the lake, and the people who lived there.”
Theme: Ancestry
Location: Top middle corner

3. Chapter 2 – Page 5

4. Chapter 3
• Key Quote: “Not every Stanley Yelnats has been a failure.” Stanley’s
mother often pointed out, whenever Stanley or his father became so
discouraged that they actually started to believe in the curse. The first
Stanley Yelnats, Stanley’s great grandfather, had made a fortune in
the stock market. “He couldn’t have been to unlucky”
• Page number: 9
• Location on Page: Bottom middle quarter.
• Theme: Ancestry

5. Chapter 4
• Key Quote: “Be Careful”
• Page number: 11
• Location on Page: 4th line down
• Theme:

6. Chapter 5
• Key Quote:
“There is only one rule at Camp Green Lake, don’t upset the Warden”
• Page number: 16 and 17
• Location on Page: Left Bottom Quarter and Right Top Quarter
• Theme: Justice

7. Chapter 6
• Key Quote: “ I stole a pair of sneakers.”
• Page number: 22
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
• Theme: Crime

8. Chapter 7
• Key Quote: “ Well, the first hole’s the hardest” Magnet said.
• Page number: 35
• Location on Page: Bottom middle quarter,
• Theme: Crime

9. Chapter 8
• “A lot of people don't believe in curses.”
• Page Number: 41
• Location: First line
• Theme: Ancestry

10. Chapter 9
• Key Quote:” This was the one place in camp where the boys could
enjoy themselves, and what’d they do? They wreaked it.”
• Page number:46
• Location on Page: Top quarter
• Theme:

11. Chapter 10
• Quote: “The second holes was the hardest. It would take a miracle.”
• Page: 49
• Location: 4th Line

12. Chapter 11
• ‘’You’re a good guy, caveman.’’
• Friendship
• Page 53

13. Chapter 12
• Theme: Fate
• Page 58
• “That person is you, Stanley. You’re the reason you are here. Your
responsible for yourself. You messed up your life, and it’s up to you to
fix it. No one else is going to do it for you-for any of you.”

14. Chapter 13
• Key Quote: “He figured that in a year and a half he’d be either in great
physical condition or else dead.”
• Page number: 59
• Location on Page: middle quarter.
• Theme: Justice

15. Chapter 14
• Key Quote: “does X-ray get the day off?” asked squid. “just keep
digging until someone says otherwise,” Mr. Pendanski said. Then he
smiled. “But if I were you, Rex, I wouldn’t dig too hard.”
• Page number:66
• Location on Page: Top quarter
• Theme: Fate

16. Chapter 15
• Key Quote: “She watches us all the time,” said Zig Zag.
• Page number 71
• Location on page: Top Quarter
• Theme: N/A

17. Chapter 16
• Key Quote: “Well, I have a letter here for someone named Stanley
Yelnats,” said Mr Pendanski
• Page number: 74
• Location on Page: Bottom middle quarter.
• Theme: Friendship

18. Chapter 17
• Key Quote: For the next week and a half, the boys continued to dig in
and around the area where X-Ray had supposedly found the gold
tube.
• Page number: 77
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
• Theme: Karma

19. Chapter 18
• Key Quote: I’ll be careful, it’s not all fun and games here, but I think
I’m getting a lot out of it. It builds character.
• Page number: 81
• Location on Page: Bottom quarter.
• Theme: Justice & Karma

20. Chapter 19
• Key Quote:
“You open your mouth again, and I’ll break your jaw.”
• Page number:
Page 83.
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
Bottom.
• Theme:
Justice

21. Chapter 20
• Key Quote: “While Mr Sir was filling the canteens, I snuck into the
truck and stole his sack of sunflower seeds.”
• Page number: 89
• Location on Page: Top middle quarter.
• Theme: Justice

22. Chapter 21
• Key Quote: “He won’t die” the Warden said.
• Page number: 92 (In the holes book.)
• Location on Page: Top quarter
• Theme: Fate

23. Chapter 22
• “Why did you help me? Stanley asked
• You didn’t steal the sunflower seeds
• So neither did you.”
• Page number:96
• Location on Page: 4th line down
• Theme: Friendship

24. Chapter 23
• Key Quote:
“110 years ago, Green Lake
was the largest lake in
Texas”
• Page number: 101
• Location on Page: Top
• Theme: Ancestry

25. Chapter 24
“Thank you Mr sir he said.”
Page: 106
Location: The very last line:
Theme: Friendship

26. Chapter 25
• Key Quote: The folks of green lake were afraid to take change
• Page number:108
• Location on Page: 5th and 6th line from the bottom
• Theme:

27. Chapter 26
• Key Quote:
“You make the decision: Who did God punish?”
• Page number: 115
• Location on Page: Middle
• Theme: Justice/Fate

28. Chapter 27
• Key Quote: ‘He knew he wouldn’t be talking like that if he was the
one teaching zero to read.’
• Page number:117
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
• Theme: compassion

29. Chapter 28
• Key Quote: “Go ahead and kill me, trout” said Kate. “But I sure hope
you like to dig. ‘Cause you’re going to be digging for a long time. It’s a
big vast wasteland out there. You, and your children, and their
children, can dig for the next hundred years and you’ll find it.”
• Page number: 122
• Location on Page: Top Middle
• Theme: Ancestry

30. Chapter 29
• "I found refuge on God's thumb."
• Page 128
• Location on Page: middle of page.
• Theme: Ancestry

31. Chapter 30
• Key Quote: “He’s not my slave”, “We have a deal, that’s all”.
• Page number: 132 (In holes book)
• Location on Page: Top middle quarter.
• Theme: Friendship.

32. Chapter 31
• Key Quote: “No one cares about Hector Zeroni.”
• Page number: 144
• Location on Page: Bottom quarter.
• Theme: Doesn’t have a theme.

33. Chapter 32
• Key Quote:
“This isn’t a girl scout camp.”
• Page number:
Page 146
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
Middle bottom on the right corner.
• Theme:
Inspiration.

34. Chapter 33
• Key Quote: And as long as he’d come this far he might as well look for
Zero.
• Page number: 149
• Location on Page: Bottom middle quarter.
• Theme: Friendship

35. Chapter 34
• Key Quote: Almost straight ahead of him, he could see what looked
like a fist, with its thumb sticking up.
• Page number: 153
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
• Theme: Fate

36. Chapter 35
• Key Quote: Zero’s face looked like a jack ‘o’ lantern that had been left
out too many days past Halloween-half rotten, with sunken eyes and
a drooping smile.
• Page number: 155
• Location on Page: Top quarter,
• Theme: Fate

37. Chapter 36
• Key Quote: “I’m not exactly the luckiest guy in the world.”
• Page number: 160
• Location on Page: Top quarter.
• Theme: Ancestry

38. Chapter 37
• Key Quote:
“There’s got to be water around somewhere. We must be getting
closer.”
• Page number:
Page 169
• Location on Page:
Top middle quarter.
• Theme:
Justice & Karma.

39. Chapter 38
• Key Quote: “As he lay face down in the muddy ditch, he didn’t know if
he’d ever get up again. He didn’t know if he’d even try.”
• Page number: 171
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
• Theme: No Theme

40. Chapter 39
• Fate
• It took a moment for Stanley to comprehend. ‘Cylde Livingstone’s
shoes’ ‘I’m sorry,’ said zero
• Page Number: 175

41. Chapter 40
• “Sam saved her life.’’
• Friendship
• Page: 179
• Location: 9 lines down

42. Chapter 41
• Key Quote:
“Zero’s condition continued to improve.”
• Page number:
Page 182
• Location on Page:
Top quarter.
• Theme:
Justice & Karma.

43. Chapter 42
• Key Quote:” He wished it were true, but he knew they had no choice
but to eventually return to camp green lake.”
• Page number:185
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
• Theme: fate

44. Chapter 43
“You'd already thrown up everything that was inside your stomach."
Page: 191
Bottom of page
Theme: N/A

45. Chapter 44
• Key Quote: “I’m gonna try to refill the water jars.”
• Page number:199
• Location on Page: Top middle quarter
• Theme: N/A

46. Chapter 45
• Key Quote: ‘ something was crawling up the back of his neck’
• Page number:205
• Location on Page: Top quarter, Top middle quarter, bottom middle
quarter, bottom quarter.
• Theme:

47. Chapter 46
• Key Quote:
“Hey Caveman, guess what?” Said Mr.Sir “You’re innocent, after all. I
thought you’d like to know that. Your Lawyer came to get you
yesterday”
• Page number: 209
• Location on Page: Middle
• Theme: Fate

48. Chapter 47
• Key Quote: There were eight lizards in a hole with him. Each one had
exactly eleven yellow spots
• Page number: 211
• Location on Page: First 3 lines
• Theme: Fate

49. Chapter 48
• Key Quote: “I can’t leave hector” Stanley said.
• Page number: 219
• Location on Page: Top quarter
• Theme: Friendship

50. Chapter 49 – Page 225

51. Chapter 50
“The reader probably still has some questions.”
• Page 229
• Theme: Ancestry
• Location on page: 2nd last line and the last line

52. Watch these videos for supporting content:
• Refer to these videos for a guide through each of the quotes for this
novel:
• Chapters 1-10:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfRTbkjEQSU
• Chapters 11-30:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhGo-obF2hY
• Chapters 31-50:
• https://youtu.be/juP_DRSBECA