“Sometimes we have to do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Sometimes our actions are questions, not answers.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy
“You could be the perfect spy. All you need is a cause.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy
“He was learning to live on several planes at once. The art of it was to forget everything except the ground you stood on and the face you spoke from at that moment.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy
“A vida tem de ser paga. A vida é fazer-se o que tem de ser feito, mesmo que se morra por causa disso.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy
“Mas em diplomacia nada é duradouro, nada é absoluto e uma conspiração entre assassinos não é motivo para interromper o fluxo da conversa”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy
“In every operation there is an above the line and a below the line. Above the line is what you do by the book. Below the line is how you do the job.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy
“And what am I thinking? I am thinking that a man who cannot speak clearly cannot think clearly.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy
“Agatha surprised them both when she groused, "As for you, Grace, you'll return as well."
Grace blinked. "But..."
"No buts!" Agatha glanced from Noah to Grace. "I'll give you plenty of time off to continue this courtship with my grandson. But for the time being, I need you, so you will be there for me."
With the shoe on the other foot, Grace scowled. Knowing how she felt, Noah squeezed her hand, and Grace finally muttered, "All right."
Ben was chuckling at their predicaments when Agatha turned to him. He gulped.
"And you," she said, and she now sounded as demonic as she looked. "You're my damn grandson."
Wearing a facade of disregard, Ben cocked a brow. "Which makes you my damn grandmother?"
"Exactly." Looking satisfied, Agatha suddenly smiled. "I like all this cursing. It's sort of fun."
Ben sputtered, and Agatha added, "Oh, hell, you're too old to get tongue-tied, Ben, so knock it off."
Ben stared up at the heavens and pretended to pray.”
― Lori Foster, quote from Too Much Temptation
“No one can see another in the darkness, Esch, and that cloudless clarity of yours is only a dream. You know that I cannot keep you beside me, much as you fear your loneliness. We are a lost generation. I too can only go about my business.”
― Hermann Broch, quote from The Sleepwalkers
“Lift up your eys and see. How does a man lift up his eyes to see a little higher than himself? The grand premise of religion is that man is able to surpass himself; that man who is part of this world may enter into a relationship with Him who is greater than the world; that man may lift up his mind and be attached to the absolute; that man who is conditioned by a multiplicity of factors is capable of living with demands that are unconditioned. How does one rise above the horizon of the mind? How does one free oneself from the perspectives of ego, group, earth, and age? How does one find a way in this world that would lead to an awareness of Him who is beyond this world?”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, quote from God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism
“Does anyone really believe that a pattern of exploitation old as our civilization can be halted legislatively, judicially, or through any means other than an absolute rejection of the mindset that engineers the exploitation in the first place, followed by actions based on that rejection? This means if we want to stop the destruction, we have to root out the mindset.”
― Derrick Jensen, quote from A Language Older Than Words
“Slave. Minion. Fiend. The others who have come before me have been called such things, but I prefer to think of myself as a disciple; a devout follower of my voluptuous mistress.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, quote from Addicted
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.