“You don't write because someone sets assignments! You write because you need to write, or because you hope someone will listen or because writing will mend something broken inside you or bring something back to life.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“Some things can be both real and imaginary at the same time, . . . some lies can be true, . . . broken faith may be restored.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“The right circumstances sometimes happen of their own accord, slyly, without fanfare, without warning. Layman's alchemy. . . . The magic of everyday things.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“The process of writing is a little like madness, a kind of possession not altogether benign.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“A few hundred years ago there were no differences between magic and medicine.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“It isn't just a village. The houses aren't just places to live. Everything belongs to everybody. Everyone belongs to everyone else. Even a single person can make a difference.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“Their love was something which coloured the air between them like sunlight.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“So much of his life seemed to be like this now, a blur of days without anything to define them from each other, like episodes of a soap he watched out of habit, even though none of the characters interested him.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“The day stretched out in front of him like an empty road in the desert.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“He drank, for the same reason he wrote second-rate science fiction. Not to forget but to remember, to open the past and find himself there again. He opened each bottle, began each story with the secret conviction that here was the magic drought that would restore him. But magic, like wine, needs the right conditions in order to work.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“He was the cleanest-cut comic-book schoolboy hero imaginable.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“There was a quote he could not quite remember, something about the past being an island surrounded by time. He had missed the last boat to the island.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“You may be a foreigner, but you have the heart of a Frenchman.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“And yet I could still hear them. As if some part of their essence had evaporated into the air, become a part of this place, ingrained, like the scent of cigarettes and burning sugar, in the woodwork and plaster. Everything was buzzing with that vanished presence, buzzing and singing and laughing louder than ever before, stone and tile and polished wood, all whispering with agitation and excitement; never still, never silent.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“Too much balast slows you down.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“Виното говори. Всички го знаят. Огледайте се наоколо. Попитайте оракула на ъгъла на улицата; неканения гост на сватбеното тържество; блажения безумец. То говори. Говори като вентрилок. Има милион гласове. Развързва езика, извежда на бял свят тайни, които никога не сте искали да споделите, тайни, които дори не сте знаели. То крещи, декламира, шепне. Разказва за велики дела, блестящи планове, трагични любовни истории и ужасяващи предателства. Пищи от смях. Тихо се подсммихва под мустак. Плаче пред собственото си отражение. Връща ни към отдавна отминали лета и най-грижливо забравени спомени. Всяка бутилка носи полъха на други времена, други места, всяко едно - от най-простото "Либфраумилх" до високомерното "Вьов Клико" от 1945 година - малко чудо. Всекидневна магия, както го наричаше Джо. Трансформиране на основна материя в свят от мечти. Лаическа алхимия.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“All right, Monsieur Jay,' she said, smiling. 'I'll tell them you're OK.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“Вы пишете не потому, что кто-то даёт задания! Вы пишете потому, что не можете не писать, или потому, что надеетесь – вас кто-то услышит, или чтобы починить то, что внутри вас сломалось, или вернуть что-то к жизни...
Здесь люди держатся за обычаи. Церковь. Семья. Земля. Вот почему так много молодых уезжают. Им подавай то, о чём в журналах написано. Им подавай города, машины, клубы, магазины. Но всегда есть те, кто остаётся. И те, кто возвращается.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Blackberry Wine
“He presses his lips to my jaw, to the corner of my mouth, to my ear. "I promise I'll find you again," he whispers. "I promise you I'll remember you. And I promise I'll love you.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Dead-Tossed Waves
“I hope you realize that you really hit it off with the ladies? You must cultivate that. It could take you far.”
― Guy de Maupassant, quote from Bel-Ami
“«Tu sei Anarchia. Dubito che ti preoccupi dei sentimenti altrui.»
«Non sai niente di me» ribatté seccamente.
«So che balli come se stessi facendo l'amore e so anche che hai il sapore della rovina di un uomo.»”
― Gena Showalter, quote from The Darkest Kiss
“I’ll love you forever. Even when I can’t.”
― Colleen Hoover, quote from Confess
“I have many names, and none of them matter. Names are not important. To speak is to name names, but to speak is not important. A thing happens once that has never happened before. Seeing it, a man looks upon reality. He cannot tell others what he has seen. Others wish to know, however, so the question him saying, 'What is it like, this thing you have seen?' So he tries to tell them. Perhaps he has seen the very first fire in the world. He tells them, 'It is red, like a poppy, but through it dance other colors. It has no form, like water, flowing everywhere. It is warm, like the sun of summer, only warmer. It exists for a time upon a piece of wood, and then the wood is gone, as though it were eaten, leaving behind that which is black and can be sifted like sand. When the wood is gone, it too is gone.' Therefore, the hearers must think reality is like a poppy, like water, like the sun, like that which eats and excretes. They think it is like to anything that they are told it is like by the man who has known it. But they have not looked upon fire. They cannot really know it. They can only know of it. But fire comes again into the world, many times. More men look upon fire. After a time, fire is as common as grass and clouds and the air they breathe. They see that, while it is like a poppy, it is not a poppy, while it is like water, it is not water, while it is like the sun, it is not the sun, and while it is like that which eats and passes wastes, it is not that which eats and passes wastes, but something different from each of these apart or all of these together. So they look upon this new thing and they make a new word to call it. They call it 'fire.'
If they come upon one who still has not seen it and they speak to him of fire, he does not know what they mean. So they, in turn, fall back upon telling him what fire is like. As they do so, they know from their own experience that what they are telling him is not the truth, but only part of it. They know that this man will never know reality from their words, though all the words in the world are theirs to use. He must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart, or remain forever ignorant. Therefore, 'fire' does not matter, 'earth' and 'air' and 'water' do not matter. 'I' do not matter. No word matter. But man forgets reality and remembers words. The more words he remembers, the cleverer do his fellows esteem him. He looks upon the great transformations of the world, but he does not see them as they were seen when man looked upon reality for the first time. Their names come to his lips and he smiles as he tastes them, thinking he knows them in the naming. The thing that has never happened before is still happening. It is still a miracle. The great burning blossom squats, flowing, upon the limb of the world, excreting the ash of the world, and being none of these things I have named and at the same time all of them, and this is reality-the Nameless.”
― Roger Zelazny, quote from Lord of Light
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.