“I have to live if I want to be remembered.”
― Suzanne Young, quote from A Need So Beautiful
“You’ll make a sucky father someday,” I tell him with a smile. “I feel sorry for the kid that doesn’t get to burst into light to get out of your house.”
He chokes out a laugh. “Is it my sarcasm?”
“Definitely. And that obnoxious accent.”
― Suzanne Young, quote from A Need So Beautiful
“I'm out, surrounded in dark. But in the distance there is a small glow, a tiny light. Suddenly I'm standing alone, the space starting to brighten as the light grows.”
― Suzanne Young, quote from A Need So Beautiful
“Have you seen my daughter?”
“Daughter?” I’m the worst liar ever. I stare at Sarah’s tall, imposing father and try to smile. “She’s getting us a table?”
He narrows his gray eyes, and then tightens his mouth. “Is that a question or a statement?”
“Statement?” I’m so blowing this.
He exhales and nods. “Well, then. I guess I’ll see you in the banquet room.”
Harlin grins as Sarah’s father walks away. “You are so subtle, Charlotte. Are you a ninja?”
“Shut up.”
“I’m sure he didn’t find that at all suspicious.”
“Harlin!”
He laughs and kisses the top of my head. “I’ll stop,” he says. “But where is Sarah? You might want to find her before we sit down for chicken with that man. What will you say if he asks you to pass the mashed potatoes? Mashed potatoes?” Harlin finishes, imitating my voice.”
― Suzanne Young, quote from A Need So Beautiful
“Jeremy takes the money and heads toward the back bedroom to get dressed.
“Chinese? I’ll come with,” Henry calls, but then pauses to look at us, one eyebrow raised.
Harlin laughs and puts his arm around me. “Don’t even say it,” he warns. “You’ll embarrass her.” But he always says it.
“Charlotte,” Henry begins in a mock parental tone, “when two people love each other, they may have certain urges. Protection is an important—”
“Oh my God!” I cover my ears and laugh. I wait until his lips have stopped moving before I drop my arms.”
― Suzanne Young, quote from A Need So Beautiful
Suzanne Young
Born place: in The United States
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“The ideas of justice of Europe and Africa are not the same and those of the one world are unbearable to the other. To the African there is but one way of counter-balancing the catastrophes of existence, it shall be done by replacement; he does not look for the motive of an action. Whether you lie in wait for your enemy and cut his throat in the dark; or you fell a tree, and a thoughtless stranger passes by and is killed; so far as punishment goes, to the Native mind, it is the same thing. A loss has been brought upon the community and must be made up for, somewhere, by somebody. The Native will not give time or thought to the weighing of guilt or desert; either he fears that this may lead him too far, or he reasons that such things are no concerns of his. But he will devote himself, in endless speculations, to the method by which crime or disaster shall be weighed up in sheep and goats - time does not count to him; he leads you solemnly into a sacred maze of sophistry.”
― Isak Dinesen, quote from Out of Africa
“Kids, she says. When they’re little, they believe everything you tell them about the world. As a mother, you’re the world almanac and the encyclopedia and the dictionary and the Bible, all rolled up together. But after they hit some magic age, it’s just the opposite. After that, you’re either a liar or a fool or a villain.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, quote from Haunted
“Jesus Christ, who they go around telling everyone was God, was actually a Jew! and this fact, that absolutely kills me when I have to think about it, nobody else pays attention to. That he was a Jew, and they took a Jew and turned him into some kind of God after he is already dead, and then- this is what can make you absolutely crazy- then the dirty bastards turn around afterwards and who is the first one on their list to persecute? who haven't they left their hands off of to murder and to hate for two thousand years: The Jews!”
― Philip Roth, quote from Portnoy's Complaint
“The greatest temptation for the like of us is: to renounce violence, to repent, to make peace with oneself. Most revolutionaries fell before this temptation, from Spartacus to Danton and Dostoevsky; they are the classical form of betrayal of the cause. The temptations of God were always more dangerous for mankind than those of Satan. As long as chaos dominates the world, God is an anachronism; and every compromise with one’s own conscience is perfidy. When the accursed inner voice speaks to you, hold your hands over your ears….”
― Arthur Koestler, quote from Darkness at Noon
“The beauty and mystery of this world only emerges through affection, attention, interest and compassion . . . open your eyes wide and actually see this world by attending to its colors, details and irony.”
― Orhan Pamuk, quote from My Name is Red
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The World's Religion...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.
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