“He found Pendergast's cool gaze on him, and he fidgeted. He'd forgotten about those eyes. They made you feel like you had just been stripped of your secrets.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“Sleep is an unfortunate biological requirement that both wastes time and leaves one vulnerable.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“The twentieth century showed us the evil face of physics. This century will show us the evil face of biology.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“While dead men tell no tales, their corpses often speak volumes.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“New York City. Once it got into your blood, you could never get it out again.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“An old poet, Robert Herrick, put it like this: “ Our life is short, and our days run As fast away as does the sun; And, as a vapour or a drop of rain Once lost, can ne’er be found again.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“Criticism is a profession which allows one a certain license to be vicious outside the bounds of normal civilized behavior.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“Those who can’t do, teach, and those who can’t teach, critique.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“I can scarcely believe the cruelty of the last century. It staggers the soul.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“Don’t live in the past—you will know what you’ve lost but not what you’ve found?”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“As I get older, Vincent, I have come to prefer a quiet evening at home to a bracing exchange of gunfire in the dark.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“There is more in the world than is dreamt of in your philosophy, Doctor - or in the Merck Manual.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“I’ve never seen a more contented smile on some people than at their own wake.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from Brimstone
“I begin with the respect that the anarch shows towards the rules. Respectare as an intensive of respicere means: ‘to look back, to think over, to take into account.’ These are traffic rules. The anarchist resembles a pedestrian who refuses to acknowledge them and is promptly run down. Even a passport check is disastrous for him.
‘I never saw a cheerful end,’ as far back as I can look into history. In contrast, I would assume that men who were blessed with happiness – Sulla, for example – were anarchs in disguise.”
― Ernst Jünger, quote from Eumeswil
“I wanted to be alone with the One. The One who scaled then careened from the heights of the Mount. The One who raised up the man from the mud. The One who fashioned me from a part of the man and knew me more intimately than even the adam.”
― Tosca Lee, quote from Havah: The Story of Eve
“Ellie fought the urge to stamp her foot. "I meant it this time. Do you accept my apology?"
"It appears," he said, raising his eyebrows, "that you might do me bodily harm if I do not."
"Ungracious prig," she muttered. "I am trying to apologize."
"And I," he said, "am trying to accept.”
― Julia Quinn, quote from Brighter Than the Sun
“The story of Carol's transformation evoked complicated feelings in Rose. It appalled her, of course. The idea of an educated, metropolitan woman voluntarily casting off every vestige of modernity in order to make herself over as a medieval ghetto-dweller was unconscionable - but it also inspired a sneaking envy. By submitting to the restraints of Orthodoxy, Carol had not only performed an impressive act of self-denial - an act guaranteed to appeal to Rosa's ascetic sensibility - but also freed herself from the burden of trying to improvise her own moral code. These days, she always knew what the right thing to do was - or if she didn't, she knew a rabbi who did. Every aspect of her daily life was consonant with her convictions.”
― Zoë Heller, quote from The Believers
“You obviously haven’t lived in D.C. very long if you think two and a half minutes is too soon to talk politics.”
― Jeri Smith-Ready, quote from Requiem for the Devil
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.