Quotes from A Little Love Story

“I felt I was drawing close to that age, that place in life, where you realize one day what you'd told yourself was a Zen detachment turns out to be naked fear. You'd had one serious love relationship in your life and it had ended in tragedy, and the tragedy had broken something inside you. But instead of trying to repair the broken place, or at least really stop and look at it, you skated and joked. You had friends, you were a decent citizen. You hurt no one. And your life was somehow just about half of what it could be.”
― Roland Merullo, quote from A Little Love Story

“Families are like countries. They have their own language and jokes and secrets and assumptions about the right and wrong ways of doing things, and some of that always shows in the children, the way something of
Germany or Australia always shows in a German or an Australian, no matter where they go. Outsiders like it or they don't, they feel at home there or they don't. It's like the taste of cilantro.

”
― Roland Merullo, quote from A Little Love Story

“I decided that if I was worth anything as a person, I ought to be able to let her be with what it was she had to be with then: not urge her to fight it if she was tired of fighting, not ply her with hope, not make her think about who might be upset or worried, not ask anything of her, nothing, just be alive with her while she was still alive.”
― Roland Merullo, quote from A Little Love Story

“I like that kind of thing. I like warmth and uncalled-for kindness, the small unnoticed generosities that speckle the meanness of the world.”
― Roland Merullo, quote from A Little Love Story

“I miss women,” he went on. “I miss that kind of intimacy. But I think whatever people do; they do in search of pleasure. Or trying to get rid of pain or fear, which is the same thing, basically. Everything, everything is really about that. Everything is about bringing your mind to a place where it’s at peace”
― Roland Merullo, quote from A Little Love Story

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Popular quotes

“I didn't know you could feel lucky for getting to hold a girl's hair back while she pukes into the bushes. I didn't know you could look at a girl and think, 'Jesus, I could fall so hard for you if you'd let me.”
― Dahlia Adler, quote from Just Visiting

“We were never short on passion. We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. Adrenaline raced over the fatigue that had settled into my bones after another sleepless night. I could fuck the woman until I was blind, and it wouldn’t be enough. She’d promised me a lifetime, and I had every intention of loving her well every day this life would give me.”
― Meredith Wild, quote from Hard Limit

“I want something that makes people strong and energetic for the present, that borrows the strength of to-morrow for use to-day—leaving to-morrow without any at all for that matter; or even that would take all life away to-morrow, so long as it enabled me to get home again now.”
― Thomas Hardy, quote from A Pair of Blue Eyes

“Wherever I live, I shall feel homesick for Tibet. I often think I can still hear the cries of wild geese and cranes and the beating of their wings as they fly over Lhasa in the clear, cold moonlight. My heartfelt wish is that my story may create some understanding for a people whose will to live in peace and freedom has won so little sympathy from an indifferent world.”
― Heinrich Harrer, quote from Seven Years in Tibet (Paladin Books)

“Mas don Rigoberto sabia que não havia outro remédio, tinha que se resignar e esperar. Provavelmente as únicas brigas do casal ao longo de todos os anos que estavam juntos foram causadas pelos atrasos de Lucrecia sempre que iam sair, para onde fosse, um cinema, um jantar, uma exposição, fazer compras, uma operação bancária, uma viagem. No começo, quando começaram a morar juntos, recém-casados, ele pensava que sua mulher demorava por mera inapetência e desprezo pela pontualidade. Tiveram discussões, desavenças, brigas por causa disso. Pouco a pouco, do Rigoberto, observando-a, refletindo, entendeu que esses atrasos da esposa na hora de sair para qualquer compromisso não eram uma coisa superficial, um desleixo de mulher orgulhosa. Obedeciam a algo mais profundo, um estado ontológico da alma, porque, sem que ela tivesse consciência do que lhe ocorria, toda vez que precisava sair de algum lugar, da sua própria casa, a de uma amiga que estava visitando, o restaurante onde acabara de jantar, era dominada por uma inquietação recôndita, uma insegurança, um medo obscuro, primitivo, de ter que ir embora, sair dali, mudar de lugar, e então inventava todo tipo de pretextos - pegar um lenço, trocar a bolsa, procurar as chaves, verificar se as janelas estavam bem fechadas, a televisão desligada, se o fogão não estava acesso ou o telefone fora do gancho -, qualquer coisa que atrasasse por alguns minutos ou segundos a pavorosa ação de partir.
Ela sempre foi assim? Quando era pequena também? Não se atreveu a perguntar. Mas já havia constatado que, com o passar dos anos, esse prurido, mania ou fatalidade se acentuava, a tal ponto que Rigoberto às vezes pensava, com um calafrio, que talvez chegasse o dia que Lucrecia, com a mesma benignidade do personagem de Melville, ia contrair a letargia ou indolência metafísica de Bartleby e decidir não mais sair da sua casa, quem sabe do seu quarto e até da sua cama. "Medo de abandonar o ser, de perder o ser, de ficar sem seu ser", pensou mais uma vez. Era o diagnóstico que havia chegado em relação aos atrasos da esposa.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, quote from The Time of the Hero

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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.