Quotes from Family Matters

“Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories...they're the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, loss and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Only the details are different. ”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“What folly made young people, even those in middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the end. Carrying your death with you every day would make it hard to waste time on unkindness and anger and bitterness, on anything petty. That was the secret: remembering your dying time, in order to keep the stupid and the ugly out of your living time.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“There's only one way to defeat the sorrow and sadness of life - with laughter and rejoicing. Bring out the good dishes, put on your good clothes, no sense hoarding them.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“Curious, he thought, how, if you knew a person long enough, he could elicit every kind of emotion from you, every possible reaction, envy, admiration, pity, irritation, fury, fondness, jealousy, love, disgust. But in the end all human beings became candidates for compassion, all of us, without exception...and if we could recognize this from the beginning, what a saving in pain and grief and misery.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“Black money is so much a part of our white economy, a tumour in the centre of the brain - try to remove it and you kill the patient.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“If you ignore little things, they become big problems.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“Depression is a red herring," said Nariman. "I think a lot about the past, it's true. But at my age, the past is more present than the here and now. and there is not much percentage in the future.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“The photographs had made him aware how much the street and the buildings meant to him. Like an extended family that he’d taken for granted and ignored, assuming it would always be there. But buildings and roads and spaces were as fragile as human beings, you had to cherish them while you had them.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“ Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories - your life, my life, old Husain's life, they're the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“Hell has ways of permeating heaven’s membrane.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“When a culture vansihes, humanity is the loser.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“The bhel-puri stall was a sculptured landscape with its golden pyramid of sev, the little snow mountains of mumra, hillocks of puris, and, in among their valleys, in aluminium containers, pools of green and brown and red chutneys.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories – your life, my life, old Husain’s life, they’re the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“this was an outstanding family subject in our real life.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“The joy and laughter and youth they brought was an antidote to the somberness enveloping his flat, the hours when he felt the very walls and ceilings were encrusted with the distress of of unhappy decades”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“When a culture vanishes, humanity is the loser.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

“Hell has ways of permeating heaven's membrane.”
― Rohinton Mistry, quote from Family Matters

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Popular quotes

“You're kind of a smart ass when you're not flat on your face.”
― Josh Lanyon, quote from Fatal Shadows

“Dan was not to be deterred. “Yeah. We see it all the time. It's one of the things that surprises white people when they first come to a reservation. A lot of the kids don't look like Indians. Some of them are blond, like Eugene, or redhead. Some have blue eyes. That bothers white people. We can see it. You talk different to those kids. They aren't real Indians to you. “Every Indian notices this. Those kids are Indians to us, but not to you. Since your people first came over here we have been taking white people and letting them live with us. They have become Indians and we think that's fine. But it drives you crazy. “In the old days, during all the fighting, people would be captured, or we'd find someone without a home — you know, there were a lot of kids without parents — their parents were killed in accidents or maybe in the Civil War.” “Maybe by Indians,” I said. I was getting irritable. “Yeah. Maybe by Indians,” Dan answered. He would not take the bait. “We took those kids and those other people and let them live with us. We made them Indians.”
― Kent Nerburn, quote from Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder

“You will find yourself, as he did. But that will not mean it is easy. There are few things easy in life that are worth the doing.”
― Mette Ivie Harrison, quote from The Princess and the Hound

“They follow meaningless, boring rules and live meaningless, boring lives."
Ahh," I say. "Except for you, of course."
That's right."
Because you eat butter straight from the pan."
She arches her eyebrows, like Hey, I call it like I see it.
Whatever," I say. "I'm not going to eat Snoopy just to make a statement.”
― Lauren Myracle, quote from Bliss

“Life is a journey, and I may not have always lived up to my ability, but I have always lived purposefully, and I guess readers get caught up with me, raising the questions, looking for the answers, looking to be a little more understanding, a little less judgmental, a little more merciful. I hope so.”
― Carol Plum-Ucci, quote from The Body of Christopher Creed

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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.