Quotes from City of Saints and Madmen

“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

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Popular quotes

“But what are you supposed to do now? I mean, how are you supposed to act normal?”

Mike looked at me, his blueberry eyes searching. “I don’t know, Apron,” he said. “I was hoping you could tell me.”

And then, just like that, I understood what my real job was this summer, and it had nothing to do with flowers.”
― Jennifer Gooch Hummer, quote from Girl Unmoored

“إنكَ تملكُ وجهًا أكثرَ من بشري ، حزينًا كالكون ، جميلاً كالنتحار ".”
― Comte de Lautréamont, quote from Maldoror = Les Chants de Maldoror, together with a translation of Lautréamont's Poésies

“3 :
...
بعض الغناء لقوته ،
من يملك مثل هذه القوة !؟

بعض الغناء لعطاياه ..
لعلاماته و إشاراته

بعض الغناء لمجده المميز ،
عظيم هو و جميل

بعض الغناء لنعمة التحصل على معرفته ،
من خلال الدراسات الفلسفية الصعبة !

بعض الغناء لأنه من صمم الجسد ،
ثم قلّصه مرة أخرى إلى غبار

بعض الغناء لأنه من يأخذ الحياة ،
و يعيدها مرة أخرى !

بعض الغناء لأنه يبدو ..
بعيدا .. بعيدا جدا

بعض الغناء لأنه قريبا منّا جدا ،
الآن .. و في أي وقت مضى

بعض الغناء لأنه ،
لم يقصّر في ارسال من يعلموننا و يوعظوننا

ملايين و ملايين ، قدموا لنا
ملايين الخطب و الحكايات
...
المعطي العظيم مستمر في العطاء ،
بينما هؤلاء المستعطين ، يضجرون من عطاءه

و على مر العصور ، يعطي ،
.. و يستهلكون !

انه يقودنا بإشاراته
إلى السير على الطريق

اوه ناناك :
انه طريق يزهر
بالبهجة و السلام”
― Guru Nanak, quote from Sri Guru Granth Sahib

“The most remarkable thing about him were his eyes. They were laughing eyes, at once both joyous and tender: they were the radiant pale blue of a sky slipping toward evening in Heaven, when angels who had been sweet all day found themselves tempted to sin.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale

“Just as much as you cannot stop growing feelings for a certain man, there’s no switch to turn off your heart.”
― J.C. Reed, quote from Surrender Your Love

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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.