Quotes from Johnny Tremain

Esther Forbes ·  322 pages

Rating: (34.6K votes)


“We give all we have, lives, property, safety, skill...we fight, we die, for a simple thing. Only that a man can stand up.”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“How old are you Johnny" she asked.
Sixteen."
And what's that-a boy or a man?"
He laughed. "A boy in time of peace and a man in time of war.”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“If you can't do, you'd best shut up about it.”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“If you can't do, you had best shut up. He started to slam the door, thought better of it. If you can't do, you'd best not slam doors.”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“Just like the sun coming up yonder out of the sea, pushing rays of light ahead of it.”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain



“After that Johnny began to watch himself. For the first time he learned to think before he spoke.”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“saying. ‘I want it as a birthday present to my venerable”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“It was sink or swim for him—and happens he’s swimming.”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“down Cambridge road through the bushes on Charlestown Common a scurry of red ants. Had he really seen them or imagined them? But all about him people were exclaiming, ‘Look, there they are!’ Those red ants were British soldiers. To his left the last moment of sunset light was dying. The day had been amazingly warm, but with night a fresh breeze came up off the ocean. Lights began to glimmer in Charlestown and on warships. Seemingly there was nothing more to be seen from Beacon Hill. Silently people turned to go to their houses. ‘Look!’ Johnny cried. You could see the flash of musket fire, too far away to be heard. Fireflies swarming, hardly more than that. –4– Getting”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain


“The first of the tea ships, the Dartmouth,”
― Esther Forbes, quote from Johnny Tremain



About the author

Esther Forbes
Born place: in Westborough, Massachusetts , The United States
Born date June 28, 1891
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“He came to be very glad that he had known her, and that she had had a hand in breaking him in to life. He has known pretty women and clever ones since then,-- but never one like her, as she was in her best days. Her eyes, when they laughed for a moment into one`s own, seemed to promise a wild delight that he has not found in life. "I know where it is," they seemed to say, "I could show you!”
― Willa Cather, quote from A Lost Lady


“wondered about what he said and then thought hard. I could
never be a dick, not to Gretchen anyway, so I guess I was doomed; doomed to go for this girl that
didn’t go for me. But that was OK as I long as I did everything I could.”
― Joe Meno, quote from Hairstyles of the Damned


“What was the payoff? It obviously kept me in my cozy zone of being in control, being a good mother, with a good daughter. Most of all, I realize, is that it allowed me to maintain the lie that she was healed, that Nick hadn't permanently damaged her, that I'd truly saved her. Because if I did, if there was no lasting residue of him, it meant that the denial that kept me in the marriage long enough for him to hurt her didn't help create the situation she's in now.
The person who I worked hardest to keep safe seems to have been me.”
― quote from Comeback: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back


“If man could apply half the ingenuity he’s exhibited in the creation of weapons to more sensible ends, there’s no limit to what he might yet accomplish”
― quote from The List of Seven


“It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones
slept better, [Cloquet thought,] while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking
hours much more.”
― Woody Allen, quote from Side Effects


Interesting books

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
(185.1K)
Midnight in the Gard...
by John Berendt
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
(304.2K)
Snow Flower and the...
by Lisa See
American Psycho
(189.4K)
American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis
Infinite Jest
(61K)
Infinite Jest
by David Foster Wallace
Anna and the French Kiss
(309K)
Anna and the French...
by Stephanie Perkins
The Scarlet Pimpernel
(106.7K)
The Scarlet Pimperne...
by Emmuska Orczy

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.