“There are several ways to react to being lost. One is to panic: this was usually Valentina's first impulse. Another is to abandon yourself to lostness, to allow the fact that you've misplaced yourself to change the way you experience the world.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Listen, sometimes when you finally find out, you realize that you were much better off not knowing.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“You're the oddest person I've ever met, you couldn't get rid of me if you tried.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“What is more basic than the need to be known? It is the entirety of intimacy, the elixir of love, this knowing.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Why do you have a cigarette lighter in your glove compartment?" her husband, Jack, asked her. "I'm bored with knitting. I've taken up arson”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“I'm bored with knitting. I've taken up arson.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Is it sad to fancy David Tennant when you're dead?”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“You didn’t answer my question. I asked you about being in love. You said what it was like when your wife went away.”
Martin sat down again. How young she is. When we were that young we invented the world, no one could tell us a thing. Julia stood with her hands clenched, as though she wanted to pound an answer out of him. “Being in love is…anxious,” he said. “Wanting to please, worrying that she will see me as I really am. But wanting to be known. That is…you’re naked, moaning in the dark, no dignity at all…I wanted her to see me and to love me even though she knew everything I am, and I knew her. Now she’s gone, and my knowledge is incomplete. So all day I imagine what she is doing, what she says and who she talks to, how she looks. I try to supply the missing hours, and it gets harder as they pile up, all the time she’s been gone. I have to imagine. I don’t know, really. I don’t know any more.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“He was not in the house. He did not come back that night. Days went by, and at last she understood that he would not return at all.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“That’s the thing about living vicariously; it’s so much faster than actual living.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“He thanked her and left the house in the mood of a shipwrecked man who has allowed the rescue ship to pass him by.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“He had never realized, while Elspeth was alive, the extent to which a thing had not completely happened until he told her about it.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“I’m curious about things that people aren’t supposed to see—so, for example, I liked going to the British Museum, but I would like it better if I could go into all the offices and storage rooms, I want to look in all the drawers and—discover stuff. And I want to know about people. I mean, I know it’s probably kind of rude but I want to know why you have all these boxes and what’s in them and why all your windows are papered over and how long it’s been that way and how do you feel when you wash things and why don’t you do something about it?”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Martin said, "It feels as though part of my self has detached and gone to Amsterdam, where it—she—is waiting for me. Do you know about phantom-limb syndrome?" Julia nodded. "There's pain where she ought to be. It's feeding the other pain, the thing that makes me wash and count and all that. So her absence is stopping me from going to find her. Do you see?”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Being in love is…anxious,” he said. “Wanting to please, worrying that she will see me as I really am. But wanting to be known. That is…you’re naked, moaning in the dark, no dignity at all…I wanted her to see me and to love me even though she knew everything I am, and I knew her”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“I think play must have been invented so we wouldn't go mad thinking about certain things.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“That’s the thing about living vicariously; it’s so much faster than actual living. In a few minutes we’ll be worrying about names for the children.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“The kissed surprised him because it had been so long since he'd kissed anyone but Elspeth. It surprised Valentina because she had hardly ever kissed anyone that way - to her, kissing had always been more theoretical than physical. Afterwards she stood with her eyes closed, lips parted, face tilted. Robert thought, She's going to break my heart and I'm going to let her.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“He would say her name over and over until it devolved into meaningless sounds - mah REI kuh, mah REI kuh - it became an entry in a dictionary of loneliness.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“I guess no matter what your family is like, you're not surprised.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“I don't want to boss anyone and I don't want to be bossed.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“In the dim light of the computer screen he seemed otherworldly; Julia thought him beautiful, though she knew it was the beauty of damage.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“That is what madness is, isn't it? All the wheels fly off the bus and things don't make sense any more. Or rather, they do, but it's not a kind of sense anyone else can understand.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“There was only the cemetery itself, spread out in the moonlight like a soft grey hallucination, a stony wilderness of Victorian melancholy.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Being in love is…anxious,” he said. “Wanting to please, worrying that she will see me as I really am. But wanting to be known. That is…you’re naked, moaning in the dark, no dignity at all…I wanted her to see me and to love me even though she knew everything I am, and I knew her.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“We're squirrels in human form, she whispered. And so are you.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Sometimes a thing is---too much---and it has to be isolated put away.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Not because they’re dead. Though unattainability is always attractive.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
“Each of them warmed to the sound of the other's voice. They lay in the dark together, in distant cities, each of them thinking, We were lucky this time. And they pressed their phones closer to their ears, and both of them wondered how much longer this separation could go on.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, quote from Her Fearful Symmetry
Audrey Niffenegger
Born place: in The United States
See more on GoodReads
“Humans had a saying. Mess with the bull and get the horns. Well, Harpies had a saying, too. Mess with a Harpy and die.”
― Gena Showalter, quote from The Darkest Surrender
“I wouldn’t want to give up being what I am,” I said. “I … I want to be ooloi. I really want it. And I wish I didn’t. How can I want to cause the family so much trouble?” “You want to be what you are. That’s healthy and right for you. What we do about it is our decision, our responsibility. Not yours.” I”
― Octavia E. Butler, quote from Lilith's Brood
“Keep in mind always the present you are constructing. It should be the future you want.”
― Alice Walker, quote from The Temple of My Familiar
“No puedes proteger a las personas de sí mismas”
― Amanda Hocking, quote from Wake
“He touched the sword he had taken from the ambush. "Aside from this and the trio of juggling stones, I've nothing but the clothes on my back."
Well then, tomorrow we'll go-"
"No. Prince Ryne told me to make sure you stay in the manor."
"It's just into town to buy you a few things. Surely there won't be any danger at the market." I sensed a softening. "And we'll take along Saul or Odd."
No. We'll send one of the caregivers with a shopping list," Flea said.
"Hey, that's..."
He waited.
I huffed. "A good idea. But don't be so smug. You're not going to win every argument."
"Oh, yes, I am."
"Oh, no, you're not."
Flea straightened to his full height. When did he get so tall? He rested his hands on his hips. "I am. Prince Ryne trusted me with the task of keeping you safe. And I'm not going to disappoint him."
I crossed my arms. "You sound like Kerrick."
"Thank you."
Uh-huh. You do know I disobeyed almost all of his orders. Right?" I suppressed a grin.
"I do. But I'm smarter than Kerrick."
"You are?"
Oh, yes. I know the magic word."
"And what would that be?"
"Please.”
― Maria V. Snyder, quote from Scent of Magic
The Indian in the Cu...
Elsewhere
Plague
Equal Rites
The Dragonbone Chair
Another Roadside Att...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.
