Quotes from Inkheart

“Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“If you take a book with you on a journey," Mo had said when he put the first one in her box, "an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it... yes, books are like flypaper—memories cling to the printed page better than anything else.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Because fear kills everything," Mo had once told her. "Your mind, your heart, your imagination.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Books loved anyone who opened them, they gave you secruity and friendship and didn't ask for anything in return; they never went away, never, not even when you treated them badly. ”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“It's a good idea to have your own books with you in a strange place”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“The sea always filled her with longing, though for what she was never sure.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Sometimes, when you're so sad you don't know what to do, it helps to be angry.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Writing stories is a kind of magic, too.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“There was another reason [she] took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange. They were familiar voices, friends that never quarreled with her, clever, powerful friends -- daring and knowledgeable, tried and tested adventurers who had traveled far and wide. Her books cheered her up when she was sad and kept her from being bored.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Sometimes it's a good thing we don't remember things half as well as books do.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Nothing is more frightening than a fear you cannot name.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“You know a great many things in dreams, often despite the evidence of your eyes. You just know them.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“When you open a book it's like going to the theater first you see the curtain then it is pulled aside and the show begins.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Dustfinger still clearly remembered the feeling of being in love for the first time. How vulnerable his heart had suddenly been! Such a trembling, quivering thing, happy and miserably unhappy at once.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Her curiosity was too much for her. She felt almost as if she could hear the books whispering on the other side of the half-open door. They were promising her a thousand unknown stories, a thousand doors into worlds she had never seen before.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“You know, it's a funny thing about writers. Most people don't stop to think of books being written by people much like themselves. They think that writers are all dead long ago--they don't expect to meet them in the street or out shopping. They know their stories but not their names, and certainly not their faces. And most writers like it that way.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him.
Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted.
Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to this agony till he sing in dissolution.
Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his last punishment, let the flames of hell consume him for ever.

Curse on book thieves, from the monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona, Spain”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“The books in Mo and Meggie's house were stacked under tables, on chairs, in the corners of the rooms. There where books in the kitchen and books in the lavatory. Books on the TV set and in the closet, small piles of books, tall piles of books, books thick and thin, books old and new. They welcomed Meggie down to breakfast with invitingly opened pages; they kept boredom at bay when the weather was bad. And sometimes you fall over them.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Perhaps there's another, much larger story behind the printed one, a story that changes just as our own world does. And the letters on the page tell us only as much as we'd see peering through a keyhole. Perhaps the story in the book is just the lid on a pan: It always stays the same, but underneath there's a whole world that goes on - developing and changing like our own world.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“I prefer a story that has the good sense to stay on the page where it belongs.
- Elinor”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“You know what they say: When people start burning books they'll soon burn human beings.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Mo could paint pictures in the empty air with his voice alone.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“What on earth have you packed in here? Bricks?" asked Mo as he carried Meggie's book-box out of the house.
You're the one who says books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them," said Meggie.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Words were useless. At times, they might sound wonderful, but they let you down the moment you really needed them. You could never find the right words, never, and where would you look for them? The heart is as silent as a fish, however much the tongue tries to give it a voice.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“She always did like tales of adventure-stories full of brightness and darkness. She could tell you the names of all King Arthur's knights, and she knew everything about Beowulf and Grendel, the ancient gods and the not-quite-so-ancient heroes. She liked pirate stories, too, but most of all she loved books that had at least a knight or a dragon or a fairy in them. She was always on the dragon's side by the way.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Books are like flypaper, memories cling to the printed pages better than anything else.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“The book she had been reading was under her pillow, pressing its cover against her ear as if to lure her back into its printed pages.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“Sometimes, when you’re sad you don’t know what to do, it helps to be angry. But then the tears come back again all the same, and you fall asleep with the salty taste of them on your lips.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

“It [the book] was spinning a magic spell around her heart, sticky as a spider's web and enchantingly beautiful..”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkheart

About the author

Popular quotes

“Babe,' Ranger said. 'Do something with her.'

And he disconnected.

I called Ranger back. 'No,' I said. 'And I need information on Jelly Kantner. His apartment got blown up, and I need to find him.'

And I should do this why?'

Because you like me.'

There was a full beat of silence. 'I do,' Ranger said. 'I like you a lot. Sometimes I'm not sure why. Give me a couple minutes.”
― Janet Evanovich, quote from Fearless Fourteen

“There are some things that are neither right nor wrong. You can’t have rules laid down for. Would you understand that?” “Yes,” Clare said immediately, “I would. Like the Holy Ghost.” “Like what?” “Like the Holy Ghost. We have to believe in Him without understanding Him. He’s not a bird and He’s not a great wind. He’s something though, and that should be enough without understanding it.” “I don’t think that’s the same at all,” said Agnes, troubled. “But if it helps you to understand the problems of trade in a small town, then for heaven’s sake, use it.”
― Maeve Binchy, quote from Echoes

“Perhaps it is the setting; rules tend to reduce their grip when you cross borders.”
― quote from Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

“This is why she wanted to make pictures, to have something to leave behind even after she was gone, something that showed what she had observed in a way that no one else had and no one else would after her.”
― Edwidge Danticat, quote from Krik? Krak!

“No man likes to acknowledge that he has made a mistake in the choice of his profession, and every man, worthy of the name, will row long against wind and tide before he allows himself to cry out, 'I am baffled!' and submits to be floated passively back to land.”
― Charlotte Brontë, quote from The Professor

Interesting books

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.