“She'd decided long ago that life was a long journey. She would be strong and she would be weak, and both would be okay.”
“Why must you look like the rest of us? Why do you have to be the one to change? Change the way we see. Don't change the way you are.”
“It was so much easier to fight for another than it was to fight for oneself.”
“Narrow-mindedness will only get you as far as Nowhere, and once you're there, you're lost forever.”
“Alice knew that being different would always be difficult; she knew that there was no magic that would erase narrow-mindedness or iron out the inequities in life. But Alice was also beginning to learn that life was never lived in absolutes. People would both love her and rebuff her; they would show both kindness and prejudice. The simple truth was that Alice would always be different—but to be different was to be extraordinary, and to be extraordinary was an adventure. It no longer mattered how the world saw her; what mattered was how Alice saw herself. Alice”
“Best to introduce yourself to patience now, so that it might find you when you call upon it later.”
“Red was ruby, green was fluorescent, yellow was simply incandescent. Color was life. Color was everything.
Color, you see, was the universal sign of magic.”
“Oh, life had been a lonely one, but she knew how to pass the time.”
“The morning arrived the way Alice imagined a whisper would: in tendrils of gray and threads of gold, quietly, quietly. The sky was illuminated with great care and deliberation, and she leaned back to watch it bloom.”
“Alice would choose to love herself, different and extraordinary, every day of the week.”
“Love, it turned out, could both hurt and heal.”
“Studies have shown that thinking and wondering lead to thoughtful decision-making. It's an epidemic.”
“She felt most comfortable in nature, where things weren’t required to look like the other in order to live together peacefully.”
“Alice was an odd girl, even for Ferenwood, where the sun occasionally rained and the colors were brighter than usual and magic was as common as a frowning parent.”
“People are so preoccupied with making sense despite it being the most uninteresting thing to manufacture.” He shook his head. “Making magic,” he said, “is far more interesting than making sense.”
“She could see all of Ferenwood from here: the rolling hills, the endless explosion of color cascading down and across the lush landscape. Reds and blues: Maroon and ceruleans. Yellow and tangerine and violet and aquamarine. Every hue held a flavor, a heartbeat, a life. She took a deep breath and drew it all in.”
“Love had made her fearless, and wasn’t it strange? It was so much easier to fight for another than it was to fight for oneself.)”
“Alice dropped her head, because sadness had left hinges in her bones.”
“Suddenly she understood that it is a very hard thing, to be afraid of things, and that it takes up so much time. Suddenly she understood why Mother rarely got around to doing the dishes. “Does”
“Mother often said that she could never be bothered to understand why Alice did the things she did, and now, more than ever, Alice thought never being bothered was a very lazy way to love someone.”
“The afternoon our story begins, the quiet parts of being alive were the busiest: wind unlocking Windows; rainlight nudging curtains apart; fresh-cut grass tickling unsocked feet. Days like this made Alice want to set off on a great adventure.”
“Alice jumped from flagstone to flagstone, her face caught in the rainlight glow, her hand grasping for a touch of gold. The towns excitement was contagious, and the air was so thick with promise Alice could almost bite into it.”
“He spent the next ten minutes giving a speech about the great day that is the day of their Surrender, and I can’t be bothered to remember it all (it went on for nine minutes too long, if you ask me), but suffice it to say that it was a heart-warming speech that excited the crowd and sent jitters up Alice’s skirts; and anyway, I hope you don’t mind but I’d like to skip ahead to the part where things actually happen.”
“Mother didn’t care for the oddness of Alice; she wasn’t a parent who was predisposed to liking her children. She didn’t find their quirks endearing.”
“Alice had hoped to be brave – she'd hoped she was stronger than her fears – but Alice was injured on the inside; and though her anger kept her upright, it couldn't keep her steady, and from moment to moment Alice would slip.”
“Geduld, Alice. Je kunt maar beter gauw vriendjes worden met geduld, zodat het naar je toe komt als je het later een keer nodig hebt."
- Verdermeer - Tahereh Mafi (blz. 131)”
“Plotseling snapte ze dat bang zijn voor dingen heel zwaar is, en dat het vooral veel tijd kost.”
“Open je hart. Spits je oren. En zeg nooit nee tegen de wereld als die je vraagt om te dansen.”
“Mijn hart is gewoon zo ongelooflijk kapot, dat ik bang ben dat het niet meer gemaakt kan worden.”
“Je kunt maar beter gauw vriendjes worden met geduld, zodat het naar je toe komt als je het later een keer nodig hebt.”
“I came here for you.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to kiss you.”
“My evolution as a violinist has included many thrilling performances, and I still love what I do, but there are times when even I get burned out. When this happens, I go back to that moment ten years ago. I picture myself on the stage with my bow in the air. I feel my heart racing, I see the faces in the audience smiling, and I remember the moment I thought, "I have to make this my life.”
“There was a nook in the house that contained what they called the Turkish Room, which was for intimate conversation. And when my mother had her sixth birthday, her grandmother led her into the Turkish Room. They were both named Inez. And on that day Big Inez gave Little Inez a plantation all her own. Two thousand acres. Then her little sister came running in and said, “Grandmother, can I have a plantation too?” And Big Inez looked down and said, “Child, your name is Alice. You were named for your Yankee grandmother. Go ask your Yankee grandmother for a plantation.”
“If we expect all men to have six-packs and biceps, we can't get mad when they expect us to be stick-figures with DD boobs.”
“Georg Winkler: – You take a lesson from Ava, […]. You want to know how to navigate life? Don’t live and die by the beliefs you had when you were young. Everything changes, that’s what you learn when you’ve lived as long as I have. The worst crime you can do to yourself is to forget why you chose the path you’re on, but keep walking down it anyway.”
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.