“I’ll love you longer than the stars that live in the sky.”
“I have a thick skin, baby...but you're under it. You're buried in there so deep it's like I was born with you in my soul. When I'm near you I'm consumed by you--your smile, your eyes, your heart. Even though we've never been together, you've always been mine, and even if I never get to keep you, you'll still be mine.”
“You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known, but someone smart and brave once told me that it’s always the strongest that fall the hardest. You can trust me, Ryan. Let go. I’ll be here to catch you. I’ll always be here.”
“Why did everyone always paint love as pretty rainbows and happily ever afters? It wasn't any of that. To love was to feel the greatest of agony, burn in the hottest fires of hell and fail the only people who mattered.”
“You’re all I see. Nothing holds more beauty in my eyes than you do. No one will ever love you the way I do.”
“I miss you. Each day hurts a little more than the last.”
“Every piece of me is in here.” He placed his palm flat on her chest, feeling her heart beat hard and steady beneath his fingers. He closed his eyes briefly at the beauty of it. “My breath, my heart, my life. I won’t ever leave you if you keep that safe inside of you.”
“I’d have given you my entire heart if you’d only asked”
“but it’s always the strongest that fall the hardest”
“That’s how I remember you. But you’re not looking at me like that now, and I need you to do that. I need you to wake up and smile at me like I’m your everything, because without you, I’m not anyone’s anything.”
“I can’t live without you either,” he whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks, “but I’m going back. You know that, right?”
“Both of you share something that is so far beyond love it won’t ever die.”
“I’d give almost anything to wake up to that every morning.”
“Almost anything.” She backed up a step. “That’s always been our problem, hasn't it?”
“I hurt too. For six years I fought every day not to think of you, and I lost, because every day you were all I could see. You were the best thing in my life—so sweet and innocent, and so goddamn tempting.”
“You can’t leave me,” he whispered thickly, fumbling blindly for her hand and taking it in his. “Can you hear me? You can’t. I won’t allow it. I need you.”
“War is a cold, selfish bitch, Kendall. It changes you. It makes you hard, and it makes you hurt, yet somehow, we keep going back for more.”
“Because we’re soldiers,”
“You did too, Jake. The world doesn’t shine as bright without you in it. I miss you.”
“Would they only ever have those fleeting moments—the ones where you lived the briefest, loved the hardest, and burned like the devil had set fire to your very soul? They were the only moments in his life that had been worth a damn.”
“To be honest I can’t wait. Being here when you’re not is like another kind of war because you’re everywhere—your face, your smile, the sweet smell of you. Only it’s a war I can’t seem to fight.”
“Christ. He didn’t just love her, he fucking adored her. He’d give his life for her if he had to.”
“There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go”
“I stayed away so you could move on.”
“The Army and the SAS had been his dream--his chance to be somebody, save lives, show his parents he was worth something. Being a soldier had been his escape, his flight from the demons that bound him. War is a cold, selfish bitch. It changes you. It makes you hard, and it makes you hurt, yet somehow, we keep going back for more.”
“That’s so far from the truth I can’t believe you’d even think it. I have a thick skin, baby,” he told her, his wide shoulders crowding her back against the cool tiles, “but you’re under it. You’re buried in there so deep it’s like I was born with you in my soul.” His eyes slowly ignited as he slid soapy hands over her hips. “When I’m near you I’m consumed by you—your smile, your eyes, your heart. Even though we’ve never been together, you’ve always been mine, and even if I never get to keep you, you’ll still be mine.”
“When I come back from Afghanistan, I don’t want you here. I don’t …” He paused and took a deep breath. “I’ve always said to you not to let anyone stop you from being who you need to be, and that includes me.”
“What are you trying to say, Fin?"
Fin looked at him, her eyes filling with tears. "That it doesn't matter if you live a billion years, or just a short handful like Jake. It's how bright you burn while living them that really matters, and Jake burned so bright it hurt my eyes."
Overwhelmed, Ryan buried his face in her neck, breathing her in. "You're so beautiful," he whipered hoarsly. Pulling back, he cupped her face in his hands and looked at her fiercely. "You burn just as bright sweetheart."
Her eyes were wide and so full of love it made his heart ache. "So do you, Ryan," she replied softly.”
“I don’t want you to go,” he whispered”
“I want you, Fin,” he finally admitted. “So damn much I can’t sleep from it. I lie in bed at night and I dream of my lips on yours, my mouth tasting every inch you. I want to fuck you until I go blind from it and even then I don’t think it would ever be enough.”
“To my country, I hope I have done you proud. To my fellow soldiers, I hope I have honored you in my actions. TO my father and mother, thank you for showing me love.. To my brother Ryan, thank you for sharing your life with me, and to my sister Fin, who's saving the earth one whale at a time, don't forget to smile, because when you do, it's like seeing the sun. -Jake”
“It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I could have thought of that' is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn't, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.”
“These are things," Trudi's father told her long before she was old enough for confession, "that the church calls sins, but they are part of being human. And those we need to embrace. The most important thing--" He paused. "--is to be kind.”
“For among these winters there is one so endlessly winter that only by wintering through it will your heart survive.
- Rilke”
“You don't go walking into the proverbial lion's den lightly. You start with a good breakfast.”
“Pardon me, but there’s someone on the phone who says they have a call for you.”
There’s a call to tell me I have a call?” he asked with heavy skepticism.”
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.