Quotes from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“In the end, it is my belief, words are the only things that can construct a world that makes sense.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“I have been to the world's end and back and now I know what I would put in my bottom drawer. I would put my sisters.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“Patricia embraces me on the station platform. 'The past is what you leave behind in life, Ruby,' she says with the smile of a reincarnated lama. 'Nonsense, Patricia,' I tell her as I climb on board my train. 'The past's what you take with you.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“Sometimes I would like to cry. I close my eyes. Why weren't we designed so that we can close our ears as well? (Perhaps because we would never open them.) Is there some way that I could accelerate my evolution and develop earlids?”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“Get down,' Bunty says grimly. 'Mummy's thinking.' (Although what Mummy's actually doing is wondering what it would be like if her entire family was wiped out and she could start again.)”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“The past is a cupboard full of light and all you have to do is find the key that opens the door.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“As I watch, the sky fills with clouds of snow feathers from every kind of bird there ever was and even some that only exist in the imagination, like the bluebirds that fly over the rainbow.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“Slattern! What a wonderful new word. 'Slattern,' I murmur appreciatively to Patricia.
'Yes, slattern,' Bunty says firmly. 'That's what she is.'
'Not a slut like you then?' Patricia says very quietly. Loud enough to be heard, but too quiet to be believed.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“shop-bought cakes are a sign of sluttish housewifery.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“But I know nothing; my future is a wide-open vista, leading to an unknown country - The Rest Of My Life.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“words are the only things that can construct a world that makes sense.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“When Lillian left work in the early evening the streets were slick and shiny with rain and the lamps flared yellow giving her the melancholy feeling that always came with the rain and the dark. She’d just struggled to push up her umbrella when the farmer from Saskatchewan came out of the shadows and tipped his hat again, very politely, and said could he escort her home? She put her small hand on his broad arm and held the umbrella over both their heads (he was very tall) and he walked her all the way back to her lodging-house where the landlady, Mrs Raicevic, looked after Edmund after school. By then, Lillian had learned the farmer’s name and she said, ‘Edmund, this is Mr Donner,’ and Pete Donner squatted right down and said, ‘Hello there, Edmund, you can call me Pete.’ Although he never did, preferring to call him ‘Pop’ almost from the day his mother married him.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“The past is what you take with you.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“I am a jewel. I am a drop of blood. I am Ruby Lennox!”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“They have no sense of humour whatsoever – even Bunty has a sense of humour compared with our hosts. They have united Prussian gloom and Presbyterian dourness in an awesome combination.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“O passado é aquilo que transportamos connosco”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“There’s too much history in York, the past is so crowded that sometimes it feels as if there’s no room for the living.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“who is to say which of these is real and which a fiction? In the end, it is my belief, words are the only things that can construct a world that makes sense.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“feeling that always came with the rain and the dark. She’d just”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

About the author

Popular quotes

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Interesting books

About BookQuoters

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.