Diary of a Wimpy Kid

by

Jeff Kinney

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Diary of a Wimpy Kid makes teaching easy.

Greg Heffley Character Analysis

Greg Heffley, the author of the diary, has just started middle school. He is best friends with Rowley Jefferson, who is extremely unpopular and cares little about the middle school social hierarchy. Greg, however, is much more conscious of his social status and how others perceive him now that he’s in middle school. For example, although he writes in a notebook throughout his first year of middle school, he is adamant that it is not a “diary” because he is afraid his classmates would make fun of him for writing about his feelings. Despite his reluctance to admit that he has a diary, he is highly creative and sensitive, which his observations and comics about his family, friends, and teachers reflect. Greg constantly gets in trouble with his mom and dad, is wary of his bully of an older brother, Rodrick, and is jealous of his little brother Manny’s ability to get away with anything. Greg is often selfish and prioritizes his own self-interest, like when he allows Rowley to take the blame for bullying local kindergartens. At other times, however, he shows loyalty to his friends and family, like when he protects Rowley from social isolation or feels bad for his grandmother when teenagers cover her house in toilet paper.

Greg Heffley Quotes in Diary of a Wimpy Kid

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid quotes below are all either spoken by Greg Heffley or refer to Greg Heffley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Status and Friendship Theme Icon
).
September Quotes

I try to explain all this popularity stuff to Rowley (who is probably hovering around the 150 mark, by the way), but I think it just goes in one ear and out the other with him.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

I have told Rowley at least a billion times that now we’re in middle school, you’re supposed to say “hang out,” not “play.” But no matter how many noogies I give him, he always forgets the next time. I’ve been trying to be a lot more careful about my image since I got to middle school. But having Rowley around is definitely not helping.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:
October Quotes

Mom made the chainsaw guy show us where the exit was, and that was the end of our haunted house experience right there. I guess it was a little embarrassing when Mom did that, but I’m willing to let it go this one time.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Greg’s Mom
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
November Quotes

I figure if I bulk up now, it could actually come in handy down the road. The football unit is coming in the spring, and they split the teams up into shirts and skins. And I ALWAYS get put on skins. I think they do that to make all the out-of-shape kids feel ashamed of themselves.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker)
Page Number: 86
Explanation and Analysis:

I did my singing tryouts with a bunch of other boys whose moms made them come, too. I tried to sing as quietly as possible, but of course I got singled out, anyway. I have no idea what a “soprano” is, but from the way some of the girls were giggling, I knew it wasn’t a good thing.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Greg’s Mom
Page Number: 97-98
Explanation and Analysis:
December Quotes

Well, if one good thing came out of the play, it's that I don't have to worry about the “Bubby” nickname anymore. I saw Archie Kelly getting hassled in the hallway after fifth period today, so it looks like I can finally start to breathe a little easier.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Manny Heffley , Archie Kelly
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:

When Mom and Dad saw my wish list that year, they got in a big fight over it. Dad said there was no way he was getting me a doll’s house, but Mom said it was healthy for me to “experiment” with whatever kind of toys I wanted to play with.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Greg’s Mom, Greg’s Dad
Page Number: 117
Explanation and Analysis:
January Quotes

I WANTED to sign up for Home Economics 2, because I was pretty good at Home Ec 1. But being good at sewing does not exactly buy you popularity points at school.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker)
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:

In school today they had a general assembly and showed the movie “It’s Great to Be Me,” which they show us every year. The movie is all about how you should be happy with who you are and not change anything about yourself. To be honest with you, I think that’s a really dumb message to be telling kids, especially the ones at my school.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker)
Page Number: 150
Explanation and Analysis:
February Quotes

I sat at the end of the lunch table so there would be plenty of room for me to start signing autographs for my new fans. But nobody was coming over to tell me how great my comic was, and I started to get the feeling something was wrong.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Mr. Ira
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis:
March Quotes

I can’t believe Rowley went and backstabbed me like that. While I was sitting there getting chewed out by Mr. Winsky, I was thinking, I need to remember to give my friend a lecture about loyalty.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson, Mr. Winsky
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
April Quotes

Ever since the worm incident, Rowley has been hanging out with Collin Lee every day after school. What really stinks is that Collin is supposed to be MY backup friend. These guys are acting totally ridiculous. Today, Rowley and Collin were wearing these matching T-shirts, and it made me just about want to vomit.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson, Collin Lee
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
May Quotes

If the truth ever came out about how the Cheese disappeared, Rowley would be finished. He’d have to move out of the state, and maybe even the country. That’s when I decided to speak up. I told everyone that I knew what happened to the Cheese. I said I was sick of it being on the court, and I just decided to get rid of it once and for all…if I threw away the Cheese, guess what that meant? It meant that I have the Cheese Touch.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Related Symbols: The Cheese Touch
Page Number: 214-215
Explanation and Analysis:
June Quotes

Well, if Rowley appreciated what I did for him last week, he hasn’t said it. But we’ve started hanging out after school again, so I guess that means me and him are back to normal. I can honestly say that so far, having the Cheese Touch hasn’t been all that bad.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Related Symbols: The Cheese Touch
Page Number: 216
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid LitChart as a printable PDF.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid PDF

Greg Heffley Quotes in Diary of a Wimpy Kid

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid quotes below are all either spoken by Greg Heffley or refer to Greg Heffley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Social Status and Friendship Theme Icon
).
September Quotes

I try to explain all this popularity stuff to Rowley (who is probably hovering around the 150 mark, by the way), but I think it just goes in one ear and out the other with him.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

I have told Rowley at least a billion times that now we’re in middle school, you’re supposed to say “hang out,” not “play.” But no matter how many noogies I give him, he always forgets the next time. I’ve been trying to be a lot more careful about my image since I got to middle school. But having Rowley around is definitely not helping.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:
October Quotes

Mom made the chainsaw guy show us where the exit was, and that was the end of our haunted house experience right there. I guess it was a little embarrassing when Mom did that, but I’m willing to let it go this one time.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Greg’s Mom
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
November Quotes

I figure if I bulk up now, it could actually come in handy down the road. The football unit is coming in the spring, and they split the teams up into shirts and skins. And I ALWAYS get put on skins. I think they do that to make all the out-of-shape kids feel ashamed of themselves.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker)
Page Number: 86
Explanation and Analysis:

I did my singing tryouts with a bunch of other boys whose moms made them come, too. I tried to sing as quietly as possible, but of course I got singled out, anyway. I have no idea what a “soprano” is, but from the way some of the girls were giggling, I knew it wasn’t a good thing.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Greg’s Mom
Page Number: 97-98
Explanation and Analysis:
December Quotes

Well, if one good thing came out of the play, it's that I don't have to worry about the “Bubby” nickname anymore. I saw Archie Kelly getting hassled in the hallway after fifth period today, so it looks like I can finally start to breathe a little easier.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Manny Heffley , Archie Kelly
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:

When Mom and Dad saw my wish list that year, they got in a big fight over it. Dad said there was no way he was getting me a doll’s house, but Mom said it was healthy for me to “experiment” with whatever kind of toys I wanted to play with.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Greg’s Mom, Greg’s Dad
Page Number: 117
Explanation and Analysis:
January Quotes

I WANTED to sign up for Home Economics 2, because I was pretty good at Home Ec 1. But being good at sewing does not exactly buy you popularity points at school.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker)
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:

In school today they had a general assembly and showed the movie “It’s Great to Be Me,” which they show us every year. The movie is all about how you should be happy with who you are and not change anything about yourself. To be honest with you, I think that’s a really dumb message to be telling kids, especially the ones at my school.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker)
Page Number: 150
Explanation and Analysis:
February Quotes

I sat at the end of the lunch table so there would be plenty of room for me to start signing autographs for my new fans. But nobody was coming over to tell me how great my comic was, and I started to get the feeling something was wrong.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Mr. Ira
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis:
March Quotes

I can’t believe Rowley went and backstabbed me like that. While I was sitting there getting chewed out by Mr. Winsky, I was thinking, I need to remember to give my friend a lecture about loyalty.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson, Mr. Winsky
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
April Quotes

Ever since the worm incident, Rowley has been hanging out with Collin Lee every day after school. What really stinks is that Collin is supposed to be MY backup friend. These guys are acting totally ridiculous. Today, Rowley and Collin were wearing these matching T-shirts, and it made me just about want to vomit.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson, Collin Lee
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
May Quotes

If the truth ever came out about how the Cheese disappeared, Rowley would be finished. He’d have to move out of the state, and maybe even the country. That’s when I decided to speak up. I told everyone that I knew what happened to the Cheese. I said I was sick of it being on the court, and I just decided to get rid of it once and for all…if I threw away the Cheese, guess what that meant? It meant that I have the Cheese Touch.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Related Symbols: The Cheese Touch
Page Number: 214-215
Explanation and Analysis:
June Quotes

Well, if Rowley appreciated what I did for him last week, he hasn’t said it. But we’ve started hanging out after school again, so I guess that means me and him are back to normal. I can honestly say that so far, having the Cheese Touch hasn’t been all that bad.

Related Characters: Greg Heffley (speaker), Rowley Jefferson
Related Symbols: The Cheese Touch
Page Number: 216
Explanation and Analysis: