“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
“Bleary-eyed one morning, with caffeine still missing from my system, I fumbled my way along the dusty path to the guest tents, calling out ‘Good morning!’ in as cheery a voice as the hour would allow (it was barely after five o’clock, and the sun had only just cracked the horizon). I heard a rhythmic thumping, getting rapidly louder, and I turned to find 1,600 pounds of pissed-off cow bearing down on me. Clearly it disagreed with my assessment of the morning.”
― Peter Allison, quote from Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales Of A Botswana Safari Guide
“Oh my God!” Sam said again, his voice shaking. I’ve given birth to something inhuman, Phoebe thought. A lamprey with row after row of teeth.”
― Jennifer McMahon, quote from Don't Breathe a Word
“After all, if I started confiding my innermost problems to someone, I'd have to do something about them. And I'm not ready for that yet.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, quote from Elegance
“You can learn to find unknowns in equations, draw equidistant lines and demonstrate theorems, but in real life there's nothing to position, calculate, or guess.”
― Delphine de Vigan, quote from No and Me
“… и като закрих лицето си с ръце, за да се спася неизвестно от какво, наддадох адски вик. Вик, който сигурно съм носила в себе си, и с този вик, толкова широк, че едвам мина през гърлото ми, от устата ми излезе едно съвсем малко нещо, почти нищо, като хлебарка, направена от слюнка… и това малко нещо, почти нищо, което беше живяло толкова време вътре в мен, беше моята младост, която излетя с този вик, който не ми беше ясно какво е… Безпомощност? Някой докосна ръката ми, обърнах се , без да се стряскам, един стар човек ме попита дали съм болна и чух, че отварят балконска врата. Не се ли чувствате добре? Приближи се една старица и старецът и старицата застанаха пред мен, а на балкона имаше някаква бяла сянка. Мина ми – отвърнах. Дойдоха още хора, идваха бавно, като дневната светлина, казах им, че ми е минало, няма нищо, това са нерви, нищо, никаква опасност… И отново тръгнах да вървя, да се връщам назад. Старецът и старицата, обърнах се да ги видя, бяха останали на същото място и ме следваха с очи и на слабата светлина, която вече се беше появила, изглеждаха недействителни… Благодаря. Благодаря. Благодаря. Антони години наред ми благодареше, а аз никога не съм му благодарила за нищо, Благодаря… На ръба на тротоара на улица „Гран“ погледнах нагоре и надолу дали не идват трамваи и пресякох тичешком, а когато стигнах на отсрещната страна, пак се обърнах да видя дали ме следва онова малко нещо, почти нищо, което така ме бе подлудило.Вървях сама…”
― Mercè Rodoreda, quote from The Time of the Doves
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.