“Do you love him?"
Deryn swallowed, then pointed at the screen. "He makes me feel like that. Like flying.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Let others wage war. You, lucky Austria, shall marry.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Reality had no gears, and you never knew what surprises would come spinning out of its chaos.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“I'm a girl."
When Deryn opened her eyes, the lady boffin was staring at her with no change of expression.
"Indeed," she said.
Deryn's mouth feel open. "You mean you...Did you barking know?"
"I had no idea at all. But I make it a policy never to appear surprised." Dr. Barlow sighed, staring out the window. "Though on this occasion, it is proving rather more demanding than usual. A girl, you say? And you're quite certain?”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Have a little faith in me, Volger."
"I have great faith, tempered with vast annoyance.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“That letter was your whole future, you daft prince."
"It was my past. I lost that the night my parents died. But I found you, Deryn. Maybe I wasn't meant to end the war, but I was meant to find you. I know that. You've saved me from having any reason to keep going."
"We save each other. That's how it works.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Oh, this beast? It's...perspicacious loris. 'Perspicacious' meaning 'wise or canny'."
"Get stuffed," Bovril said, then giggled.
"And it insults people," Telsa said. "How peculiar.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“To everyone who loves a long-secret romance, revealed at last.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Emperors are vain and useless things.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“He makes me feel like that. Like flying.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“You can't blame a match for a house made of straw”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“You young things are too easily persuaded by the touch of lips.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Miss Rogers waved a hand. "But Mr. Hearst just wants a dramatic story. If the rebels destroy us, he'll get no story at all!"
"Aye, but has anyone explained that to the barking rebels?"
"These are civilized rebels, young man. They have movie deals!"
"That's no guarantee of sanity!”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Alek said, "Do you think I'm being a fool?"
"I think you're trying to do something good. But doing good is rarely easy, and no weapon has ever stopped a war.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Sprinkled across the black waters below were at least a hundred small boats set out to greet the Leviathan, their navigation lights like shifting stars. Among them loomed a glittering cruise liner, her fog horn bellowing in the night. The low groan grew into a chorus as the other great ships in the harbor joined in.
Perched on Volger's desk, Bovril attempted to imitate the horns, but wound up sounding like a badly blown tuba.
Alek smiled. "But they're already singing our praises!"
"They are Americans," Volger said. "They toot their horns for anything.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Did you really think I was too fragile to know what Deryn was?"
"Fragile?" Volger looked about. "I hadn't thought so, but now I find you brooding in a bathroom. This doesn't speak well of your sturdiness.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“He thinks Goliath can end the war," Alek managed at last. "The man wants peace!"
"As do we all," Count Volger said. "But there are many ways to end a war. Some are more peaceful than others.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Surely no one would ever use such a weapon against a city."
"There are no limits in war," Volger said, still staring out the window.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“...that was what kept the world interesting...reality had no gears, and you never knew what surprises would come spinning out of its chaos.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“But they're already singing our praises!"
"They are Americans. They toot their horns for anything.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“No matter how far from the war we run, it always catches up with us.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“It's just the way things are." she shrugged. "It's no one's fault."
"Or everyone's.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Fate didn't care a squick about what anybody was meant to do.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Perhaps Clankers and Darwinists would always be at war, if only in their hearts.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Assisted him? Dylan made the repairs. I only fell and hit my head, from what I can recall. Yes, I make excellent deadweight.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Ah. So he's forgotten the most important rule of warfare.
Which is...
That nothing ever goes to plan.”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“This is the power of the Goliath, that no one on earth, Clanker or Darwinist, can escape. So we all must learn to share the globe, or perish together!”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“You have a bad habit of listing anything that can go wrong, Volger."
"I have always considered that a good habit”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“I make it a policy never to appear surprised" - Dr Barlow”
― Scott Westerfeld, quote from Goliath
“Young love is strong. First love is powerful. But what you don’t know when you’re young—what you can’t know—is how long life actually is. And the only dependable thing about it, besides death and taxes, is change.”
― Emma Chase, quote from Overruled
“Należymy do gatunku składającego słowa jak ryba ikrę, produkujemy więcej kultury, niż jesteśmy w stanie przetrawić. W ciągu ostatnich lat pedantycznie zwalczaliśmy graffiti na stacjach metra, a jednocześnie wydajemy miliony koron na budowę nowych bibliotek narodowych. Tymczasem zapis pamięci narodowej może przyjąć również formę graffiti. Nietzsche porównał człowieka przejedzonego kulturą do węża, który połknął zająca, a teraz drzemie w słońcu, nie będą w stanie się ruszyć. Czas epigramatów już minął. Na przystani w Bryggen w Bergen znaleziono niewielki kawałeczek drewna z takim oto napisem runicznym: Ingebjørg kochała mnie, kiedy byłem w Stavanger. Fakt ten musiał wywrzeć pewne wrażenie na autorze napisu, podobnie zresztą jak na czytelniku, żyjącym osiemset czy dziewięćset lat później. Dzisiaj oszczędny w słowach autor, chcąc uwiecznić jedną schadzkę z Ingebjørg, dorzuciłby do pamięci potomnych czerystustronicową powieść. Albo też zadręczyłby życie swoim współczesnym wpadającymi w ucho popularnymi piosenkami w stylu 'Nie ma jak z Ingebjørg, nie ma jak z Ingebjørg'. Paradoks polega na tym, że gdyby przez wszystkie osiemset lat napisano równie wiele powieści, jak w latach siedemdziesiątych, to nikt z nas nie byłby w stanie przebrnąć przez tak obfitą tradycję piśmiennictwa i nie dotarłby do prostej, lecz przyjemnej historii o Ingebjørg. (...) Namiętna historia miłośna została odarta ze wszystkiego aż do kości, lecz mimo to niesie za sobą mnóstwo konotacji. Ponadto pewnych rzeczy czytelnik może się domyślić. Dostał do ręki coś, nad czym dalej może pracować jego wyobraźnia. Po czterystustronicowej powieści trudno jest samemu coś wymyślić.”
― Jostein Gaarder, quote from The Ringmaster's Daughter
“As one journeys through life," said Poirot, "one finds more and more that people are often interested in things that are none of their own business. Even more so than they are in things that could be considered as their own business.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Elephants Can Remember
“If you work hard enough at something that doesn't matter, you can forget for a while about the things that do.”
― Octavia E. Butler, quote from Bloodchild and Other Stories
“I tell you such fine music waits in the shadows of hell.”
― Charles Bukowski, quote from The Last Night of the Earth Poems
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.