“Hidup sungguh sangat sederhana. Yang hebat-hebat hanya tafsirannya.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Orang bilang ada kekuatan-kekuatan dahsyat yang tak terduga yang bisa timbul pada samudera, pada gunung berapi dan pada pribadi yang tahu benar akan tujuan hidupnya .”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Kita semua harus menerima kenyataan, tapi menerima kenyataan saja adalah pekerjaan manusia yang tak mampu lagi berkembang. Karena manusia juga bisa membikin kenyataan-kenyataan baru. Kalau tak ada orang mau membikin kenyataan-kenyataan baru, maka “kemajuan” sebagai kata dan makna sepatutnya dihapuskan dari kamus umat manusia.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Setiap tulisan merupakan dunia tersendiri, yang terapung-apung antara dunia kenyataan dan dunia impian.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Pada akhirnya persoalan hidup adalah persoalan menunda mati, biarpun orang-orang yang bijaksana lebih suka mati sekali daripada berkali-kali.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Kami memang orang miskin. Di mata orang kota kemiskinan itu kesalahan. Lupa mereka lauk yg dimakannya itu kerja kami.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Nilai yang diwariskan oleh kemanusiaan hanya untuk mereka yang mengerti dan membutuhkan. Humaniora memang indah bila diucapkan para mahaguru—indah pula didengar oleh mahasiswa berbakat dan toh menyebalkan bagi mahasiswa-mahasiswa bebal. Berbahagialah kalian, mahasiswa bebal, karena kalian dibenarkan berbuat segala-galanya.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Sejak jaman nabi sampai kini, tak ada manusia yang bisa terbebas dari kekuasaan sesamanya, kecuali mereka yang tersisihkan karena gila. Bahkan pertama-tama mereka yang membuang diri, seorang diri di tengah-tengah hutan atau samudera masih membawa padanya sisa-sisa kekuasaan sesamanya. Dan selama ada yang diperintah dan memerintah, dikuasai dan menguasai, orang berpolitik.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Dari atas ke bawah yang ada adalah larangan, penindasan, perintah, semprotan, hinaan. Dari bawah ke atas yang ada adalah penjilatan, kepatuhan, dan perhambaan.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Kalau ahli hukum tak merasa tersinggung karena pelanggaran hukum sebaiknya dia jadi tukang sapu jalanan.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Selama orang masih suka bekerja, dia masih suka hidup dan selama orang tidak suka bekerja sebenarnya ia sedang berjabatan tangan dengan maut.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Pertama-tama karena bangsa ini mempunyai watak selalu mencari-cari kesamaan, keselarasan, melupakan perbedaan untuk menghindari bentrokan sosial. Dia tunduk dan taat pada ini, sampai kadang tak ada batasnya. Akhirnya dalam perkembangannya yang sering, ia terjatuh pada suatu kompromi lain dan kehilangan prinsip-prinsip. Ia lebih suka penyesuaian daripada cekcok urusan prinsip,”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“...seorang tanpa prinsip adalah sehina-hina orang, manusia setengik-tengiknya,”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Tak ada yang lebih baik daripada persahabatan yang ikhlas,”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Dengan modal keberanian dan teror saja tak banyak yang bisa dicapai dalam kehidupan modern begini,”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Kekuatan pikiran yang memimpin, bukan hanya keberanian dan teror,”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“Tak ada manusia hidup tanpa persahabatan dan kebaikan, karena yang bukan demikian bukan manusia,”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, quote from House of Glass
“The chairs were black plastic with coarse charcoal fabric seats that could render a pair of dress pants useless in just nine months. Lewis was amazed at how ubiquitous this type of furniture had become in Washington, which in turn led him to the conclusion that the maker of this substandard furniture was more than likely headquartered in the home district of the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.”
― Vince Flynn, quote from American Assassin
“Found in a small stone cave bitten from the roadside, stitchless save for his great outsized boots and a plague of flies, fat on the human scrappage of dinners long past, Toad squatted in the slitted stomach of a warm child, eating loudly the face of her hapless, headless father, who sat a good foot off the ground impaled up the ass on a pointed post.”
― Nick Cave, quote from And the Ass Saw the Angel
“It was a dance of masks and every mask was perfect because every mask was a real face and every face was a
real mask so there was no mask and there was no face for there was but one dance in which there was but
one mask but one true face which was the same and which was a thing without a name which changed and
changed into itself over and over.”
― Leonard Cohen, quote from Beautiful Losers
“Once upon a time there was a war...and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That's me.”
― Denis Johnson, quote from Tree of Smoke
“The kiss surrounded her like air, held her up like water, supported her like the earth and burned her like fire.”
― Tiffany Reisz, quote from The Saint
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.