“She was thirty-five, and she did not look a minute younger.”
“In California there were nuggets the size of walnuts lying on the ground—or so it was said, and truth travels slowly when rumors have wings of gold.”
“The sound came again. There was a whistle to it, and a moan. It was almost a hiss, and it could’ve been a strangled gasp. Above all, it was quiet, and it seemed to have no source.
It whispered.”
“Even down here, money has plenty to say.”
“He stayed close, and he stayed quiet. It was easy to do, almost; the silence above was so alarmingly complete that it was easier to keep it than to break it.”
“Sure he’s dead, and it’s a good thing for us. It’s hard to argue with a dead man. A dead man can’t change his mind or make new rules, or behave like a bastard so no one will listen to him anymore. A dead man stays a saint.”
“Sometimes, everyone is right. Not always and not even usually, but once in a while, everyone is right.”
“So here's the rules - keep quiet, keep close, and if we're spotted, climb like a goddamned monkey…If I get picked off, you don't come back for me. If I see you get picked off, I aint coming back for you. Life's hard. Death's easy”
“Boys disobey their parents with such great regularity that it’s barely worth a comment; and if yours is talented enough to rebel in such grand fashion, then you ought to consider it a point of pride that he’s such a sharp lad.”
“He hadn’t found what he’d meant to find, but his need to swipe and hoard something had been appeased for now.”
“I’ve got a lot of wishes about it, but you know what they say. ‘If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.’”
“I’ve never heard that before in my life, and I’m not sure I even know what it means.”
“It means that you could spit in one hand and wish in the other, and we all know which hand’ll fill up quicker.”
“The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.”
“I didn't like having reasonable arguments thrown at me.”
“If the Lord hasn't got a boyfriend lined up for me to marry, that's his business.”
“It is not for me to judge another man's life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.”
“Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them.”
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.