Quotes from Johnno

David Malouf ·  256 pages

Rating: (723 votes)


“Brisbane is so sleepy, so slatternly, so sprawlingly unlovely… It is simply the most ordinary place in the world…It was so shabby and makeshift … a place where poetry could never occur.”
― David Malouf, quote from Johnno


“Still the fact remains, he had me hooked. As he had, of course, from the beginning. I had been writing my book about Johnno from the moment we met.”
― David Malouf, quote from Johnno


“I might grow old in Brisbane, but I would never grow up.”
― David Malouf, quote from Johnno


“The hundred possibilities a situation contains may be more significant than the occurrence of any of them, and metaphor truer in the long run than fact.”
― David Malouf, quote from Johnno


“Now as I began to sort through his “effects” it occurred to me how little I had really known him … I had forced upon my father the character that fitted most easily with my image of myself; to have had to admit to any complexity in him would have compromised my own.”
― David Malouf, quote from Johnno



About the author

David Malouf
Born place: in Brisbane, Australia
Born date March 20, 1934
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“People like you don’t go mad, Vi. They’re quiet on the outside and loud on the inside and sane as the day is long”
― April Genevieve Tucholke, quote from Between the Spark and the Burn


“It was a story to tell myself, a promise. Saying out loud, "You're never going to touch me again" - that was a piece of magic, magic in the belly, the domed kingdom of sex, the terror place inside where rage and power live. Whiskey rush without whiskey, bravado and determination, this place where for the first time I knew no confusion, only outrage and pride. In the worst moments of my life, I have told myself that story, the story about a girl who stood up to a monster. Doing that, I make a piece of magic inside myself, magic to use against the meanness of the world.”
― Dorothy Allison, quote from Two or Three Things I Know for Sure


“No. Your thoughts are what make you. But your body isn't a meaningless thing either. Call me strange, but I think only the person you love the most should see you like that. And not here--in an ugly, dirty place--when you haven't even thought about it.”
― Emm Cole, quote from Keeping Merminia


“If moral reflection consists in seeking a fit between the judgments we make and the principles we affirm, how can such reflection lead us to justice, or moral truth?”
― Michael J. Sandel, quote from Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?


“And she was interesting, an odd confusion of wit and intense earnestness; a vivid and remarkable person.”
― Nella Larsen, quote from Quicksand


Interesting books

Love Songs & Other Lies
(124)
Love Songs & Other L...
by Jessica Pennington
Thus Bad Begins
(1.4K)
Thus Bad Begins
by Javier Marías
What We Saw
(5.9K)
What We Saw
by Aaron Hartzler
Chameleon Moon
(273)
Chameleon Moon
by RoAnna Sylver
Not Your Sidekick
(2.5K)
Not Your Sidekick
by C.B. Lee
Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship
(430)
Unscripted: Life, Li...
by M.J. DeMarco

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.