Quotes from Going Solo

Roald Dahl ·  209 pages

Rating: (17.3K votes)


“I was already beginning to realize that the only way to conduct oneself in a situation where bombs rained down and bullets whizzed past, was to accept the dangers and all the consequences as calmly as possible. Fretting and sweating about it all was not going to help.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from Going Solo


“What a fortunate fellow I am, I kept telling myself. Nobody has ever had such a lovely time as this!”
― Roald Dahl, quote from Going Solo


“Mary Welland was certainly lovely. She was gentle and kind. She remained my friend all the time I was in hospital. But there is a world of difference falling in love with a voice and remaining in love with a person you can see. From the moment I opened my eyes, Mary became a human instead of a dream and my passion evaporated.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from Going Solo


“Their skin hung loose over their bodies like suits they had inherited from larger ancestors, with the trousers ridiculously baggy.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from Going Solo


“A life is made up of a great number of small incidents and a small number of great ones.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from Going Solo



“We used often to see a big one gliding across the dirt road ahead of the car, and the golden rule was never to accelerate and try to run it over, especially if the roof of the car was open, as ours often was. If you hit a snake at speed, the front wheel can flip it up into the air and there is a danger of it landing in your lap. I can think of nothing worse than that. The really bad snake in Tanganyika is the black mamba. It is the only one that has no fear of man and will deliberately attack him on sight. If it bites you, you are a gonner.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from Going Solo


“What’s your name?’ ‘Pilot Officer Dahl, sir.’ ‘Very well, Dahl,’ he said, weighing the package up and down in one hand. ‘This is on no account to fall into enemy hands. Guard it with your life. Do I make myself clear?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ I said, feeling important.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from Going Solo


About the author

Roald Dahl
Born place: in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales, The United Kingdom
Born date September 13, 1916
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“One of the boringly human pair of boys, the obvious leader, was tall and broad-shouldered, with golden hair, as if Nature has said, 'No worries, buddy, I gotcha, no nasty tiring thinking will ever be necessary, also have a crown.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, quote from In Other Lands


“It’s not a boys“ club,” I said. Not anymore. “It’s one of the most powerful secret societies in the world.” I should know. I’m a member.”
― Diana Peterfreund, quote from Secret Society Girl


“She jogs until she reaches Billy, and falls in step beside him. He glances at her, then back at the ground.

“Is this how it is, then?” she asks after several moments. “One visit to my sister and we are no longer friends?”

He stops at the crest of a hill and squints out at the sun sparkling off the ripples in Sealhead Cove.

“I wish we weren’t. When my father sent me to Rolanth, I swore that I would hate you. That I wouldn’t be a fool like Joseph and get myself stuck in between.” He smiles at her sadly. “Why couldn’t you be wretched? Don’t you have any manners? You should’ve had the courtesy to be terrible. So I could despise you.”

“I am sorry. Shall I start now? Spit in your eye and kick you?”

“That sounds like something Arsinoe would do, actually. So I would find it endearing”
― Kendare Blake, quote from One Dark Throne


“Someone probably a lot smarter than me said hell is other people. I say you're in hell when you don't give to someone who needs, because you can't bear to have less.”
― Joe Hill, quote from The Fireman


“I want to change things on my own terms, to show that there's no right or wrong way to change the world. There's no entry test. You don't need to suck anything up. Pay any dues. Just you and your anger and your voice is enough. If you only have the courage to use it.”
― Holly Bourne, quote from What's a Girl Gotta Do?


Interesting books

The Kreutzer Sonata
(14.6K)
The Kreutzer Sonata
by Leo Tolstoy
Fruits Basket, Vol. 2
(16.8K)
Fruits Basket, Vol....
by Natsuki Takaya
The Last Gentleman
(2K)
The Last Gentleman
by Walker Percy
A Man Without a Country
(33.7K)
A Man Without a Coun...
by Kurt Vonnegut
Sea Glass
(22.2K)
Sea Glass
by Anita Shreve
Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
(31.9K)
Consider the Lobster...
by David Foster Wallace

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.