Quotes from A Certain Slant of Light

“The library smells like old books — a thousand leather doorways into other worlds. I hear silence, like the mind of God. I feel a presence in the empty chair beside me. The librarian watches me suspiciously. But the library is a sacred place, and I sit with the patron saint of readers. Pulsing goddess light moves through me for one moment like a glimpse of eternity instantly forgotten. She is gone. I smell mold, I hear the clock ticking, I see an empty chair. Ask me now and I'll say this is just a place where you can't play music or eat. She's gone. The library sucks.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“I couldn't take my eyes off him. Like a desert wanderer afraid of mirages, I gazed at my oasis, but he was real.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“To desperately hope," I whispered
James let out a breath. "To gratefully believe.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Someone was looking at me, a disturbing sensation if you're dead.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“That I am your heart's secret fills me with song. I wish I could sing of you here in my cage. You are my heart's hidden poem. I reread you, memorize you every moment we're apart.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“He kissed me for a long moment, holding my shoulders, perhaps to keep me from pressing my whole body against his. Then he tried to lift my bag.

"My God," he said. "What happened?"

"I found out one may check out twenty books at a time from the school library.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Your mind will never lose anything forever that's worth keeping.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Just walk up to your hell & give it a push. Run through it & i'll be waiting on the other side.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“i would court you with passion, if things were different. you'd never get me off your porch swing. ”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Like a glimpse of eternity instantly forgotten. She is gone.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Dear sir: twelve hours is as twelve years to me. I imagine you in your home, smiling, thinking of me. That I am your heart's secret fills me with song. I wish I could sing of you here in my cage. You are my heart's hidden poem. I reread you, memorize you, every moment we're apart.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Books are boring," James said as he wrote.

"They line the walls like a thousand leather doorways to be opened into worlds unknown," I offered.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“About the library," he whispered. He took out the pencil stub from his pocket and poised it over the page.

"Will you write like Mr. Blake or like yourself?" I inquired.

He wrote and whispered the words aloud as he did. "I am in the library. It smells like old stuff."

"It smells familiar," I suggested. "It smells like words." Because his left side was to me, I couldn't easily take his hand to write.

"Books are boring," James said as he wrote.

"They line the walls like a thousand leather doorways to be opened into worlds unknown," I offered.

He thought about this and then wrote with a smile, "I hate books.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Boys and girls hid in the library stacks or behind the gym and flew at each other with no promise of love or even kindness, tasting one another in clumsly attempts to steal pleasure before they could be hurt or hated.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“he was watching me and when our eyes met, i had no fan to cover my face, no way to hid my feelings. i was desperate for him, and he could see it, all the way in me. ”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“I had asked her for help, and she had sent me to the lions. I knew that she was trying to save her little girl, but sometimes mothers with the best intentions kill their daughters all the same.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Those who cry to be young again should think twice before they seal those prayers.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“It´s hard to have you with me but not to be able to take your hand or kiss you -James”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“i felt my being flutter. each tousled head that came through the door i wanted to be his, but no and on, a dozen boys entered, yet not the one. ”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“...You deserve to be happy. What can I do?"
Don't send me away, I thought.
He looked at me again. "What do you want?"
"I want to taste an apple," I said. And your lips, I thought.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“I would court you with a passion, if things were different.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“It seemed as if humans had lost the ability to make their own fun. The more they were gifted with inventions, the less they needed one another. They didn't sing or play the fiddle at the hearth; they turned on the stereo. They didn't tell stories on the porch; they watched television.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“It was all real and blazing with detail.
But I was shadow, light as mist, mute as the wallpaper.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“As I look around the quiet room, I see a thousand leather covers like doorways into worlds unknown.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“The library smells like old books-a thousand leather doorways into other worlds."

"Dear sir, I was called away and couldn't bring you, but now I feel haunted. I know that sometimes you felt I was a part of you and that losing me would leave a hole in your heart, but that's not true... Please forgive me... I am sorry that I didn't say goodbye.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“I studied a crescent moon hung crooked in a plum purple sky and thought about what it would be like to truly be seen.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“A sea of dreams trapped in a span of pressed pages”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“Pulsing goddess light moves through me for one moment like - Here Mr. Brown paused again. Like a glimpse of eternity instantly forgotten.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“I would court you with a passion, if things were different. You’d never get me off your porch swing.”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

“in the wings, as often mothers and grandmothers are, ready to catch the children should they need saving,”
― Laura Whitcomb, quote from A Certain Slant of Light

About the author

Popular quotes

“was the chance of a lifetime. I had the opportunity, for once, to show white women what it feels like to have one of your most eligible bachelors snatched off the market right before your very eyes. Then maybe they’d tell two friends. And so on and so on and so on, until we got our men back. Well, that was a long shot, but it would certainly feel good.”
― Michelle Stimpson, quote from Boaz Brown

“One day, I wish to find a man like in my
books. He has to be just like in one of my books.
And he has to love me, love me more than anything
in the world. Most important of all, he has
to think I’m beautiful.”
“Lily, I need to tell you something.” Fazire
was going to tell her about Becky’s wish and his
mistake and let her look forward to something, let
her look forward to the incomparable beauty she
was going to be.
Most of all, he had to stop her wish now. He
didn’t want her wasting it on some fool idea. He
wanted it to be special, perfect, to make her world
better like she had made Becky and Will’s and,
indeed, his.
But again she didn’t hear him. Her eyes were
bright and they were steady on his.
“He has to be tall, very tall and dark and
broad-shouldered and narrow-hipped.”
Fazire stared. He didn’t even know what
“narrow-hipped” meant.
“And he has to be handsome, unbelievably
handsome, impossibly handsome with a strong,
square jaw and powerful cheekbones and tanned
skin and beautiful eyes with lush, thick lashes.
He has to be clever and very wealthy but hardworking.
He has to be virile, fierce, ruthless and
rugged.”
Now she was getting over his head. He didn’t
think there was such a thing as impossibly handsome.
How cheekbones could be powerful,
Fazire didn’t know. He was even thinking he
might have to look up “virile” in the dictionary
Sarah had given him.
“And he has to be hard and cold and maybe a
little bit forbidding, a little bit bad with a broken
heart I have to mend or one encased in ice I have
to melt or better yet… both!”
Fazire thought this was getting a bit ridiculous.
It was the most complicated wish he’d ever
heard.
But she wasn’t yet finished.
“We have to go through some trials and tribulations.
Something to test our love, make it strong
and worthy. And… and… he has to be daring and
very masculine. Powerful. People must respect
him, maybe even fear him. Graceful too and lithe,
like a… like a cat! Or a lion. Or something like
that.”
She was losing steam and Fazire had to admit
he was grateful for it.
“And he has to be a good lover.” Lily shocked
Fazire by saying. “The best, so good, he could almost
make love to me just by using his eyes.”
Fazire felt himself blush. Perhaps he should
have a look at these books she was reading and
show them to Becky. Lily was a very sharp girl,
sharp as a tack (another one of Sarah’s sayings,
although Fazire couldn’t imagine a tack ever being
as clever as Lily) but she was too young to
be reading about any man making love to her
with his eyes. Fazire had never made love, never
would, genies just didn’t. But he was pretty certain
fourteen year old girls shouldn’t be thinking
about it.
Though, he was wrong about that, or at least
Becky would tell him that later.
Then Fazire realised she’d stopped talking.
“Is that it?” he asked.
She thought for a bit, clearly not wanting to
leave anything out.
Then she nodded.”
― Kristen Ashley, quote from Three Wishes

“It is a general truism of this world that anything long divided will surely unite, and anything long united will surely divide.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))

“You will never need to spend the night in a cell on my account, Sloane. Never. I’ll die before I let that happen.”
― quote from Collateral

“Opportunities and choices. When a person makes a heart wish, that wish resonates through the currents and things will happen to give the person an opportunity to make the wish come true. Like a hand offered and accepted.”
― Anne Bishop, quote from Sebastian

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.