Quotes from City of Saints and Madmen

Jeff VanderMeer ·  704 pages

Rating: (4.4K votes)


“Ten years ago, we would have been writing perfect stories, but people's attention spans have become more limited in these, the last days of literacy.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, quote from City of Saints and Madmen


“Perhaps [he had] persevered for too long, in the face of too many obstacles, his hair proof of his tenacity - the stark black streaked with white or, in certain light, stark white shot through with black, each strand of white attributable to the jungle fever (so cold it burned, his skin glacial), each strand of black a testament to being alive afterwards.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, quote from City of Saints and Madmen


“If people were not by nature insane and resistant to self-improvement or therapy,”
― Jeff VanderMeer, quote from City of Saints and Madmen


“No doubt the detour to deliver Lake had made the sheep late for an appointment.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, quote from City of Saints and Madmen


“Take two pictures representing the same subject; one may be dismissed as illustration if it is dominated by the subject and has no other justification but the subject, the other may be called painting if the subject is completely absorbed in the style, which is its own justification, whatever the subject, and has an intrinsic value.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, quote from City of Saints and Madmen



“When Dradin stopped running he found himself on the fringe of the religious quarter, next to an emaciated macadamia salesman who cracked jokes like nuts.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, quote from City of Saints and Madmen


About the author

Jeff VanderMeer
Born place: in The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I know I’m someone powerful, someone dangerous. A grim smile tugs at my lips despite my current circumstances. I know I’m not afraid of pain or death. And these men and women? They should be afraid of me. Because whoever I am, I am violent, and I will be having my revenge.”
― Laura Thalassa, quote from The Queen of All that Dies


“Don’t be distressed, Elle, about the other girls and who made it. With you here, I’m not sure there is much competition.”
― Chanda Hahn, quote from Reign


“Everyone must bear his own universe, and most persons are moderately interested in learning how their neighbors have managed to carry theirs.”
― Henry Adams, quote from The Education of Henry Adams


“(...) już jesteś głupi, że zmiłuj się Boże, głupi jak osioł, człowiek chciałby złoić ci skórę, a twoje myśli chodzą na czworakach z wywieszonym jęzorem (...)”
― Thomas Mann, quote from Joseph and His Brothers


“I grinned at him. 'Jealous?'
He grinned right back. 'That's a trick question. If I say yes you'll accuse me of being paranoid and unreasonable, and if I say no you'll make some defensive crack about how I don't think you're worth getting jealous over.'
This is what I got for hooking up with a lawyer.”
― Carrie Vaughn, quote from Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand


Interesting books

Magic's Pawn
(21.4K)
Magic's Pawn
by Mercedes Lackey
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
(223.4K)
Hotel on the Corner...
by Jamie Ford
The Second Sex
(22.8K)
The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
UnWholly
(40.2K)
UnWholly
by Neal Shusterman
War Horse
(34K)
War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
(121.3K)
Sapiens: A Brief His...
by Yuval Noah Harari

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.