“You don't have to be anyone but yourself.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“That's always the worst: the not knowing. Because then you're stuck with a hundred questions no one can answer.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“...I never would have seen Chelsea reach up, take Logan's face in her hands, and kiss him. So the off again was definitely on again. And I knew then that Patrick was very wrong about my heart, because if it had actually been an encyclopedia I could have watched it all with perfect composure.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“Stupid patriarchal culture with stupid ideas of beauty—stupid me for going along with it.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“...everyone would wonder, 'What's he doing with her?' And then you'd say, 'Hmm, good question,' and you'd dump me. That wouldn't be nice.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“How stupid would that sound? It was high school, not the Hindu cast system, where the Untouchables have to avoid 'polluting' the upper classes.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“I fought the urge to flee by reminding myself that I couldn't run away every time I felt uncomfortable, embarrassed or hurt.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“Too late to point out that he would be better off with someone smart and sweet and—okay—awkward than with Chelsea. Someone who could make him laugh. Someone like, oh, I dunno, me!”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“And while, yes, a normal day for me means three AP classes, it really isn't so bad. Definitely stressful, but...”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“You said, there was no harm in wondering. You said, it’d just be a peek, And you said, don’t be a mother hen. You said, you could land on your feet. But we both know now, You had to learn somehow. Alice, dear, things in mirrors are not as they seem. Stop risking it all on one of your lunatic schemes.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“You, Mackenzie,” he said slowly, “have a thesaurus where your heart should be.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“What?" My head jerked up too quickly and I lost my balance. The stupid skates sent me hurtling toward the ground, which was exactly what I deserved for thinking that I could tutor and skate at the same time. The Greeks had a word for that type of pride: hubris. And it usually came before a very long and painful fall.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“You asked ... and now I get to ask you questions.” I made an expansive gesture that nearly knocked over my water. “I’m an open book.” “I’m dyslexic.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward
“If you stay, I’ll give you my heart and never ask for it back.”
― Carey Corp, quote from Doon
“At a time which seemed to him as far distant as the dim and distant past of his ancestors, his father, Okumana, the man who could make better spear tips than anyone else, had explained to him that there was always a way out of any situation, as long as one was alive. Death was the last hiding place. That was something to keep in reserve until there was no other way of avoiding an apparently insuperable threat. There were always escape routes that were not immediately obvious, and that was why humans, unlike animals, had a brain. In order to look inward, not outward. Inward, toward the secret places where the spirits of one’s ancestors were waiting to act as a man’s guide through life. Who am I? he thought. A human being who has lost his identity is no longer a human being. He is an animal. That’s what has happened to me. I started to kill people because I myself was dead. When I was a child and saw the signs, the accursed signs telling the blacks where they were allowed to go and what existed exclusively for the whites, I started to be diminished even then. A child should grow, grow bigger; but in my country a black child had to learn how to grow smaller and smaller. I saw my parents succumb to their own invisibility, their own accumulated bitterness. I was an obedient child and learned to be a nobody among nobodies. Apartheid was my real father. I learned what no one should need to learn. To live with falsehood, contempt, a lie elevated to the only truth in my country. A lie enforced by the police and laws, but above all by a flood of white water, a torrent of words about the natural differences between white and black, the superiority of white civilization. That superiority turned me into a murderer, songoma. And I can believe this is the ultimate consequence of learning to grow smaller and smaller as a child. For what has this apartheid, this falsified white superiority been but a systematic plundering of our souls? When our despair exploded in furious”
― Henning Mankell, quote from The White Lioness
“Realized that if I ever did remember you… I might just die because…” She gave a small sob before gushing, “I can’t love you more than I do. And I’m done trying to win your heart when it belongs to somebody else.”
― Lucian Bane, quote from No Mercy
“Did a bloody Griever come out and ask for a snog?”
― James Dashner, quote from The Fever Code
“I’ve never been angry to have been born a woman. There have been times I’ve been angry at how the world treats us, but I see being a woman as a challenge I must fight. Like being born under a stormy sky. Some people are lucky enough to be born on a bright summer’s day. Maybe we were born under clouds. No wind. No rain. Just a mountain of clouds we must climb each morning so that we may see the sun.”
― Renee Ahdieh, quote from Flame in the Mist
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.