“I remember when the houses used to whiz by as I walked—nearly running—to and from home. Ma would ask me afterwards about what I’d seen, whether certain neighbours were out, what I thought about someone’s new garden wall. I’d never noticed; it had all gone past in a flash. Now I have plenty of time to look at everything, and no one to tell what I’ve seen.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“But it’s not true. I forget things—I know that—but I’m not mad. Not yet. And I’m sick of being treated as if I am. I’m tired of the sympathetic smiles and the little pats people give you when you get things confused, and I’m bloody fed up with everyone deferring to Helen rather than listening to what I have to say.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“I don’t look up. It’s such a little thing—knowing where to put cutlery—but I feel like I’ve failed an important test. A little piece of me is gone.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“Oh, Helen,” I say. “I’ve been meaning to tell you. That girl you’ve hired, she doesn’t do any work. None. I’ve watched her.” “Who are you talking about now? What girl?” “The girl,” I say. “She leaves plates by the sink and there are clothes all over the floor of her room.” Helen grins and bites her lip. “Pretty good description. Mum, that’s Katy.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“An ancient noise, like a fox bark, makes an attempt at the edges of my brain.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“Lost,” I say, dropping the photo on to the counter. “I’ve lost Elizabeth.” She pauses a moment and straightens to look at the photo. “Oh, was it an advert you wanted?” Breath floods into my lungs. “Yes. Yes, that’s it. I wanted to place an advert.” “I’ll get you a form. Awful, cats, aren’t they?” I nod, feeling as though I’ve missed some part of the conversation. I nod, but I quite like cats, and I wonder what this woman has against them. “I remember when my auntie lost her Oscar. She was frantic. Missing for weeks, he was. Found him in a beach hut in the end. Have you asked your neighbours to look in their sheds?” I stare at the woman. I can’t imagine finding Elizabeth in a shed. But perhaps it is a good suggestion. Perhaps it’s just me it doesn’t make sense to. I borrow a pen and write beach hut on a scrap of paper.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“The sun’s in my eyes and it’s difficult to see. The shape of her is distorted by the light, circles of her silhouette removed as if by a pastry cutter.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“I have an awful feeling I’m supposed to know, and that this is some kind of treat. I don’t think it’s my birthday, but perhaps an anniversary. Patrick’s death? It would be just like Helen to remember and make it a “special occasion.” But I can see from the bare trees out on the street that it’s the wrong time of year. Patrick died in the spring.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“Although it’s just as likely to be a son,” Carla says. I’ve missed some earlier part of her speech, and I don’t know what she’s talking about. “You’re lucky you have a daughter. They say sons steal from their old mothers. It was in a report I saw on the news.” “But I do have a son,” I say. “Millions of pounds, stolen every year.” “I don’t have millions of pounds,” I say. “And all kinds of antiques. Georgian, Victorian.” “I don’t have any antiques, either.” Oh, this is no good. What sort of a conversation”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“grass is slightly frosty and I enjoy hearing it crunch”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“I feel rather drab and shy for a few minutes. But then I remember that I am old and nobody is looking at me.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“My reflection always gives me a shock. I never really believed I would age, and certainly not like this.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
“My fault for being a young girl, I thought.”
― Emma Healey, quote from Elizabeth Is Missing
Emma Healey
Born place: in London, The United Kingdom
See more on GoodReads
“Matters did not proceed as smoothly as he had hoped. For one thing, Maude was present, and loud in her disbelief that anyone could suppose that the sacred name of DeVane could be disparaged in this wanton fashion.
Edgar, bolstered by support from the distaff side, kept thwacking a metaphorical riding crop against his leg, clearly imagining the prospect of thrashing Lord Marchmont or Colonel Twelvetrees with it. Grey admitted the charming nature of the notion, but found the repetition of the sentiment wearing.”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from Lord John And The Hand Of Devils
“You see, in our family we don't know whether we're coming or going - it's all my grandmother's fault. But, of course, the fault wasn't hers at all: it lay in language. Every language assumes a centrality, a fixed and settled point to go away from and come back to, and what my grandmother was looking for was a word for a journey which was not a coming or a going at all; a journey that was a search for precisely that fixed point which permits the proper use of verbs of movement.”
― Amitav Ghosh, quote from The Shadow Lines
“Every negative is a positive. The bad things that happen to me, I somehow make them good.
That means you can’t do anything to hurt me.”
― 50 Cent, quote from The 50th Law
“How do you get on with your father ' Beleth asked.
'Very well ' Pyrgus answered loyally although it was far from the truth.
'I ate mine ' Beleth told him. 'He got old and feeble and useless but he wanted to hold on to power. So I took steps. Tasted disgusting - stringy tough smelly ... you know how fathers are - but it's the custom here. You're supposed to absorb the essence that way. Rank superstition of course but well ... tradition.”
― Herbie Brennan, quote from Faerie Wars
“The sign of its passing was written there upon the sky as if a giant hand had drawn a piece of chalk across the blue dome of heaven. Even as they watched, the gleaming vapor trail began to fray at the edges, breaking up into wisps of cloud, until it seemed that a bridge of snow had been thrown from horizon to horizon.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from The Songs Of Distant Earth
Fairest
Persepolis 2: The St...
In the Skin of a Lio...
The Enchanted April
The Man Who Laughs
This is Where I Leav...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.
