Quotes from Giants in the Earth

O.E. Rølvaag ·  560 pages

Rating: (4.5K votes)


“When the quarrel had finally worn itself out they had found themselves at opposite ends of the earth, though lying side by side in the same bed.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“Many and incredible are the tales the grandfathers tell from those days when the wilderness was yet untamed, and when they, unwittingly, founded the Kingdom.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“A feeling of unfathomable loneliness settled upon her.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“Here was the endless prairie, so rich in its blessings of fertility, but also full of great loneliness--a form of freedom which curiously affected the minds of strangers, especially those to whom the Lord had given a sad heart.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“But more to be dreaded than this tribulation was the strange spell of sadness which the unbroken solitude cast upon the minds of stone.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth



“People had never dwelt here, people would never come; never could they find home in this vast, wind-swept void.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“The explanation was plain; this desolation out here called forth all that was evil in human nature.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“The caravan headed for the sky; it steered straight onward. Now, at last, Per Hansa had time to look about him and rejoice in what he saw... All he saw was beautiful”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“Tish-ah!" said the grass. "Tish-ah, tish-ah!" Never had it said anything else--never would it say anything else. It bent resiliently under the trampling feet; it did not break, but it complained aloud every time--for nothing like this had ever happened to it before.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“An endless plain. From Kansas--Illinois, it stretched, far into the Canadian North, God alone knows how far; from the Mississippi River to the wester Rockies, miles without number... Endless...beginningless.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth



“Everything he had planted that spring was blooming like a garden. Why, he could just hear the potatoes grow!”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“But it had been as if a resistless flood had torn them loose from their foundations and was carrying them helplessly along on it's current---flinging them here and there, hurling them madly onward, with no known destination ahead.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


“It seemed plain to her now that human life could not endure in this country.”
― O.E. Rølvaag, quote from Giants in the Earth


About the author

O.E. Rølvaag
Born place: in Dønna, Nordland, Norway
Born date April 27, 1876
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“...and the Sunday the bishop came you couldn't see Halley's Comet any more and you saw the others being confirmed and it lasted for hours because there were a lot of little girls being confirmed too and all you could hear was mumble mumble this thy child mumble mumble this thy child and you wondered if you'd be alive next time Halley's Comet came round”
― John Dos Passos, quote from The 42nd Parallel


“She talked to herself as she wrote. "Dark hair, about six four five, two-forty. Shoulders the size of Nebraska. Amazing blue eyes." She put down her pen. Amazing blue eyes?Where did that come from?
― David Baldacci, quote from The Whole Truth


“As long as you want me, i'm yours.”
― Kahlen Aymes, quote from The Future of Our Past


“They will love me for that which destroys me
the sword in my dreams
the dust of my thoughts
the sickness that breeds in the folds of my mind”
― Sarah Kane, quote from 4.48 Psychosis


“The old sound was alcoholic. The tradition was finally broken. The music is sex and drugs and happy. And happy is the joke the music understands best. Ultra sonic sounds on records to cause frontal lobotomies. Hey, don't be afraid. You'd better take drugs and learn to love PLASTIC. All diffrent kinds of plastic- pliable, rigid, colored, colorful, nonattached plastic. - Lou Reed (1965-1968)”
― Legs McNeil, quote from Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk


Interesting books

Someone Like You
(88.7K)
Someone Like You
by Sarah Dessen
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction
(41.9K)
Raise High the Roof...
by J.D. Salinger
The Body Finder
(46.1K)
The Body Finder
by Kimberly Derting
The Pickwick Papers
(21.1K)
The Pickwick Papers
by Charles Dickens
The Cuckoo's Calling
(375.2K)
The Cuckoo's Calling
by Robert Galbraith
The Mill on the Floss
(41.7K)
The Mill on the Flos...
by George Eliot

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.