Quotes from Earthly Powers

“In a story you had to find a reason, but real life gets on very well without even Freudian motivations.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“Look, I don't see why bad artists - I mean artists who are obviously incompetent... - why they should be presented hypocritically as good artists just because they're supposed to be advancing the frontiers of freedom of expression or... ...demonstrating that there should be no limit on subject matter.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“There is only one kind of immorality in fiction, and that is when you write badly.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“People don't want to know. They have to be made to know. Whether they act on what they know is up to them. But they have to know.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“I was very lighthearted. This often the way when the abandonment of personal responsibility is enforced: neither wronged innocence or just guilt can seriously impair the sensation of freedom one has.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“I can't accept that a work of fiction should be either immoral or moral. It should merely show the world as it is and have no moral bias.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“I must give up seeing people, I told myself.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“Have you by chance brought some real British tea? Twining’s? Or from Jackson’s in Piccadilly?”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“Put it off for a bit. All life is putting off. Well, not entirely.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“But don’t think that it’s a system or a culture or a state or a person that does the letting down. It’s our expectations that let us down. It begins in the warmth of the womb and the discovery that it’s cold outside. But it’s not the cold’s fault that it’s cold.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“In other words, I heard life going on, and it was a comfort.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“Man does not ask for nightmares, he does not ask to be bad. He does not will his own willfulness.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“A man who serves language, however imperfectly, should always serve truth.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“It is for the reader to see in the book the nature of the motives of human actions and perhaps learn something too of the motives behind the social forces which judge those actions and which, I take it, we call a system of morality.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“The danger of memory is that it can turn anyone into a prophet.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“...I expected a gift, you know, something nice and useless...”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

“The religious impulse can be very dangerous. It damages, sometimes permanently.”
― Anthony Burgess, quote from Earthly Powers

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Popular quotes

“Julius brooded. He could see Julius despising the medical school of Pavia. Tobie said, "Nicholas managed the journey from Flanders all right. Deferred to you, joked discreetly with me, got on like a dyeworks on fire with the muleteers.”
― Dorothy Dunnett, quote from The Spring of the Ram

“But I think she would have been happy with Fabrice,' I said. 'He was the great love of her life, you know.'
Oh, dulling,' said my mother, sadly. 'One always thinks that. Every, every time.”
― Nancy Mitford, quote from The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate

“Das typische Wiener Kaffeehaus, das in der ganzen Welt berühmt ist, habe ich immer gehasst, weil alles in ihm gegen mich ist. Andererseits fühlte ich mich jahrzehntelang gerade im Bräunerhof, das immer ganz gegen mich gewesen ist (wie das Hawelka), wie zuhause, wie in Cafe Museum, wie in anderen Kaffeehäuser von Wien, die ich in meinen Wiener Jahre frequentiert habe. Ich habe das Wiener Kaffeehaus immer gehasst und bin immer wieder in das von mir gehasste Wiener Kaffeehaus heineingegangen, habe es tagtäglich aufgesucht, denn ich habe, obwohl ich das Wiener Kaffeehaus immer gehasst habe, und gerade weil ich es immer gehasst habe, in Wien immer an der Kaffeehausaufsuchkrankheit gelitten, denn es hat sich herausgestellt, dass diese Kaffeehausaufsuchkrankheit die unheilbarste aller meiner Krankheiten ist. Ich habe die Winer Kaffeehäuser imme gehasst, weil ich in ihnen immer mit Meinesgleichen konfrontiert gewesen bin, das ist die Wahrheit und ich will ja nicht ununterbrochen mit mir konfrontiert sein, schon gar nicht im Kaffeehaus, in das ich ja gehe, damit ich mir entkomme, aber gerade dort bin ich dann mit mir und Meinesgleichen konfrontiert. Ich ertrage mich selbst nicht, geschweige denn eine ganze Horde von grübelnden und schreibenden Meinesgleichen. Ich meide die Literatur, wo ich nur kann, weil ich mich selbst meide, wo ich nur kann und deshalb muss ich mir den Kaffeehausbesuch in Wien verbieten oder wenigstens immer darauf Bedacht nehmen, wenn ich in Wien bin, unter keinen wie immer gearteten Unständen ein sogenanntes Wiener Literatenkaffeehaus aufzusuchen. Aber da ich an der Kaffeehausaufsuchkrankheit leide, bin ich gezwungen, immer wieder in ein Literatenkaffeehaus hineinzugehen, auch wenn sich alles in mir dagegen wehrt. Je mehr und je tiefer ich die Wiener Literatenkaffeehäuser gehasst habe, desto öfter und desto intensiver bin ich in sie hineingegangen. Das ist die Wahrheit.”
― Thomas Bernhard, quote from Wittgenstein's Nephew

“Been having a fight with your blankets, Septimus?" A familiar voice echoed down the chimney. "Looks like you lost," the voice continued with a chuckle. "Not wise to take on a pair of blankets, lad. One, maybe, but two blankets always gang up on you. Vicious things, blankets. ”
― Angie Sage, quote from Physik

“What she loved was being admired, being wanted, being pursued—but she did not think she wanted ever to be caught.”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Lady Elizabeth

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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.