Quotes from Before We Were Strangers

“The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It’s the only free gift the universe has to offer. The past doesn’t belong to us anymore, and the future is just a fantasy, never guaranteed. But the present is ours to own. The only way we can realize that fantasy is if we embrace the now.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“You can’t re-create the first time you promise to love someone or the first time you feel loved by another. You cannot relive the sensation of fear, admiration, self-­consciousness, passion, and desire all mixed into one because it never happens twice. You chase it like the first high for the rest of your life. It doesn’t mean you can’t love another or move on; it just means that the one spontaneous moment, the split second that you took the leap, when your heart was racing and your mind was muddled with What ifs?—that moment—will never happen the same way again. It will never feel as intense as the first time. At least, that’s the way I remember it. That’s why my mother always said we memorialize our past. Everything seems better in a memory.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“And in that moment, you realize how little control you have over your own destiny. From the time you're born, you have no control; you can't choose your parents, and, unless you're suicidal, you can't choose your death. The only thing you can do is choose the person you love, be kind to others, and make your brutally short stint on earth as pleasant as possible.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Everything seems better in a memory.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“It was like the universe was teasing us; we saw each other just a second too late.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Once there was you and me
We were lovers
We were friends
Before life changed
Before we were strangers
Do you still think of me?”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Poetry is just evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Maybe that’s what growing up was really all about. Adults always say how complicated life gets as we age, but really, I think we just look for bigger challenges to overcome. Our biggest fears stretch from sleeping without our beloved teddy bear to finding out that we have no purpose in life. Did time, maturity, and overcoming obstacles offer the kind of contentment so evident in Orvin? Or did we just simply give up and surrender to the life we were already living?”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“We were victims of bad timing. But here we are again.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Weren’t we though? Timeless? Nothing could change what we’d had all those years before, even if the idea of what might’ve been lingered between us.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“You have to learn to fly before you can soar.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“You can’t re-create the first time you promise to love someone or the first time you feel loved by another. You cannot relive the sensation of fear, admiration, self-consciousness, passion, and desire all mixed into one because it never happens twice. You chase it like the first high for the rest of your life.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“The present is our own. The right-this-second, the here-and-now, this moment before the next, is ours for the taking. It’s the only free gift the universe has to offer.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“I felt it for Grace before I even had a name for it. I might have said the word a million times, but it sounded different now that I meant it. When I thought about what we had, it didn’t matter that it was just friendship. I loved her.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Like nothing else in life, sex is perfectly selfless and selfish all at once. Hot and cold, yin and yang, black and white, and all of the shades in between.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“You were always with me, Grace. I never found a way to let you go.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“We memorialize our past. Everything seems better in a memory.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“From the time you’re born, you have no control; you can’t choose your parents, and, unless you’re suicidal, you can’t choose your death. The only thing you can do is choose the person you love, be kind to others, and make your brutally short stint on earth as pleasant as possible.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Isn’t there a word for friends that mess around?”
“Yeah, it’s called girlfriend and boyfriend.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“I was static, standing on the platform, watching train after train go by, wishing I knew which one to be on.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“And then his lips were on mine and we were in it, pulling away from the past and rushing fast into the future.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Life was passing me by at high speed as I sat back with my feet up, rejecting change, ignoring the world, shrugging off anything that threatened to have meaning of relevance.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Fifteen years is too long to be holding on to a few heart-pounding moments from college.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“That’s why my mother always said we memorialize our past. Everything seems better in a memory.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.’ ”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Thank you.” Isn’t that all we need to hear sometimes—that you’re a good mom or friend or daughter or wife?”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“I’m really into girls with big platelets.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

“Isn’t that all we need to hear sometimes—that you’re a good mom or friend or daughter or wife?”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers

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“There is no less holiness at this time- as you are reading this- than there was on the day the Red Sea parted, or that day in the 30th year, in the 4th month, on the 5th day of the month as Ezekiel was a captive by the river Cheban, when the heavens opened and he saw visions of god. There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree at the end of your street than there was under Buddha’s bo tree…. In any instant the sacred may wipe you with its finger. In any instant the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in trees.”
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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.