“You do not write your life with words...You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Stories are wild creatures, the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Don't think you haven't lived long enough to have a story to tell.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Stories are important, the monster said. They can be more important than anything. If they carry the truth.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Because humans are complicated beasts, the monster said. How can a queen be both a good witch and a bad witch? How can a prince be a murderer and a saviour? How can an apothecary be evil-tempered but right-thinking? How can a parson be wrong-thinking but good-hearted? How can invisible men make themselves more lonely by being seen?
"I don't know," Connor shrugged, exhausted. "Your stories never made any sense to me."
The answer is that it does not matter what you think, the monster said, because your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day. You wanted her to go at the same time you were desperate for me to save her. Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Stories are the wildest things of all, the monster rumbled. Stories chase and bite and hunt.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Stories don't always have happy endings."
This stopped him. Because they didn't, did they? That's one thing the monster had definitely taught him. Stories were wild, wild animals and went off in directions you couldn't expect.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“I wish I had a hundred years, she said, very quietly. A hundred years I could give to you.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“There was once an invisible man who had grown tired of being unseen. It was not that he was actually invisible. It was that people had become used to not seeing him.
And if no one sees you, are you really there at all?"”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“You were merely wishing for the end of pain, the monster said. Your own pain. An end to how it isolated you. It is the most human wish of all.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Sometimes people need to lie to themselves most of all.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Conor held tightly onto his mother.
And by doing so, he could finally let her go.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“If you speak the truth, the monster whispered in his ear, you will be able to face whatever comes.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“But what is a dream, Conor O'Malley? the monster said, bending down so it's face was close to Conor's. Who is to say that it is not everything else that is the dream?”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“The justifications of men who kill should always be heard with skepticism, said the monster.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“You be as angry as you need to be,” she said. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Not your grandma, not your dad, no one. And if you need to break things, then by God, you break them good and hard.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Many things that are true feel like a cheat. Kingdoms get the princes they deserve, farmers’ daughters die for no reason, and sometimes witches merit saving. Quite often, actually. You’d be surprised.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Who am I? the monster repeated, still roaring. I am the spine that the mountains hang upon! I am the tears that the rivers cry! I am the lungs that breathe the wind! I am the wolf that kills the stag, the hawk that kills the mouse, the spider that kills the fly! I am the stag, the mouse and the fly that are eaten! I am the snake of the world devouring its tail! I am everything untamed and untameable! It brought Conor up close to its eye. I am thils wild earth, come for you, Conor O'Malley.
"You look like a tree," Conor said.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Stories were wild, wild animals and went off in directions you couldn't expect.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Conor was no longer invisible. They all saw him now.
But he was further away than ever.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“You think I tell you stories to teach you lessons? the monster said. You think I have coming walking out of time and earth itself to teach you a lesson in niceness?”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“There was once an invisible man, the monster continued, though Conor kept his eyes firmly on Harry, who had grown tired of being unseen.
Conor set himself into a walk.
A walk after Harry.
It was not that he was actually invisible, the monster said, following Conor, the room volume dropping as they passed. It was that the people had become used to not seeing him.
"Hey!" Conor called. Harry didn't turn around. Neither did Sully nor Anton, though thet were still sniggering as Conor picked up his pace.
And if no one sees you, the monster said, picking up its pace, too, are you really there at all?
"HEY!" Conor called loudly.
The dining hall had fallen silent now, as Conor and the monster moved faster after Harry.
Harry who had still not turned around.
Conor reached him and grabbed him by the shoulder, twisting him round. Harry pretended to question what had happened, looking hard at Sully, acting like he was the one who'd done it. "Quit messing about," Harry said and turned away again.
Turned away from Conor.
And then one day the invisible man decided, the monster said, its voice ringing in Conor's ears, I will make them see me.
"How?" Conor asked, breathing heavily again, not turning back to see the monster standing there, not looking at the reaction of the room to the huge monster now in the midst, though he was aware of nervous murmurs and a strange anticipation in the air. "How did the man do it?"
Conor could feel the monster close behind him, knew that it was kneeling, knew that it was putting its face up to his ear to whisper into in, to tell him the rest of the story.
He called, it said for a monster.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“And here was a man who lived on belief, but who sacrificed it at the first challenge, right when he needed it most.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“Because I'm not blind to how Harry works, you know," she said. "A bully with charisma and top marks is still a bully." She sighed, annoyed. "He'll probably end up Prime Minister one day. God help us all.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
“I did not come to heal her, the monster said. I came to heal you.”
― Patrick Ness, quote from A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness
Born place: in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, The United States
Born date January 1, 1971
See more on GoodReads
“One reason children are capable of joy is because they take almost nothing for granted.”
― William B. Irvine, quote from A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
“The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety. It’s connection.”
― Johann Hari, quote from Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
“No civilization, including Plato's, has ever been destroyed because its citizens learned too much.”
― Robert McKee, quote from Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
“Gravity is why there are suns and planets in the first place. It is practically God.”
― Mary Roach, quote from Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
“Consider your origin. You were not formed to live like brutes but to follow virtue and knowledge.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from La Divina Comedia
Shine Not Burn
The Trouble with Bei...
Crooked Little Vein
The Essential Grouch...
WarpedBookQuoters 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.
