Quotes from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“One step at a time, one day at a time, just today, just this day to get through.”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“Reading for writers is like training for athletes.”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“If he were older and stronger, would he have given water to those men? Or would he, like most of the group, have kept his water for himself?”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“He was floating with his head down, blood streaming from a bullet hole in the back of his neck.”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“One step at a time . . . one day at a time. Just today—just this day to get through . . .”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“Salva shouldered his way through the crowd until he was standing in front of the list. He raised his head slowly and began reading through the names. There it was. Salva Dut—Rochester, New York. Salva was going to New York. He was going to America!”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“Her sickness came from the water,” the nurse explained. “She should drink only good clean water. If the water is dirty, you should boil it for a count of two hundred before she drinks”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“More than twelve hundred boys arrived safely. It took them a year and a half.”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“The bag sprang a leak. The leak had to be patched. The patch sprang a leak. The crew patched the patch. Then the bag sprang another leak. The drilling could not go on.”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

“They patched the bag again. The drilling went on.”
― Linda Sue Park, quote from A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

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Popular quotes

“I walk around the world like a ghost, and sometimes I question
whether I even exist. Whether I've ever existed at all.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Travels in the Scriptorium

“Perhaps some wine will wash things clean,’ suggested Bugg.
‘Won’t hurt. Pour us some, please. You, guard, come and join us—standing there doing nothing must be a dreadful bore. No need to gape like that, I assure you. Doff that helm and relax—there’s another guard just like you on the other side of that door, after all. Let him bear the added burden of diligence. Tell us about yourself. Family, friends, hobbies, scandals—’
‘Sire,’ warned Bugg.
‘Or just join us in a drink and feel under no pressure to say anything at all. This shall be one of those interludes swiftly glossed over in the portentous histories of great and mediocre kings. We sit in the desultory aftermath, oblivious to omens and whatever storm waits behind yonder horizon. Ah, thank you, Bugg—my Queen, accept that goblet and come sit on my knee—oh, don’t make that kind of face, we need to compose the proper scene. I insist and since I’m King I can do that, or so I read somewhere. Now, let’s see . . . yes, Bugg, stand right over there—oh, massaging your brow is the perfect pose. And you, dearest guard—how did you manage to hide all that hair? And how come I never knew you were a woman? Never mind, you’re an unexpected delight—ow, calm down, wife—oh, that’s me who needs to calm down. Sorry. Women in uniforms and all that. Guard, that dangling helm is exquisite by the way, take a mouthful and do pass judgement on the vintage, yes, like that, oh, most perfect!
‘Now, it’s just occurred to me that we’re missing something crucial. Ah, yes, an artist. Bugg, have we a court artist? We need an artist! Find us an artist! Nobody move!”
― Steven Erikson, quote from Dust of Dreams

“When the mushrooms took hold she sensed some of the gods calling to her from inside her own chest and followed their urging outside into the yard and up the sunny slope into the trees. She felt all gooey, gooey with the slobbered love of various gods gathered within, and smiling full-time went about the woods looking to collect butterflies and pet them until they gave milk, or maybe roll in the dirt until she felt China through her skin.”
― Daniel Woodrell, quote from Winter's Bone

“Take this one to the bank: birds are hatched from eggs and are always egg-shaped. Maybe there's no escaping the shape that molds you, no getting around how you got started even if you do break out.”
― Tupelo Hassman, quote from Girlchild

“A person, for example, reads in adulthood a book that is important for him, and it makes him say, "How could I have lived without reading it!" and also, "What a pity I did not read it in my youth!" Well, these statements do not have much meaning, especially the second, because after he has read that book, his life becomes the life of a person who has read that book, and it is of little importance whether he read it early or late, because now his life before that reading also assumes a form shaped by that reading.”
― Italo Calvino, quote from Mr Palomar

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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.