Quotes from Lockdown

“Don't make the mistake of bringing your heart down here with you, there is no place for it in Furnace.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“When you're locked up in here for life, you learn to welcome the little freedoms.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“There always has to be someone to take the punches. That's how it works. It isn't fair, it isn't right, but that kid licking slop off the floor over there means that we get to eat in peace.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“I'd been so set on an escape that was now impossible, and the only form of freedom left to me was death. It was a terrible kind of freedom—one from misery and pain, yes, but also one from lightness and laughter and life. It was an absence of everything.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“Trust me-that toilet and me were best friends for the first few days I was here.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“This place is full of unwritten rules.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“Only another twenty thousand or so days of this to go.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“Let me know if you're going to do something stupid, kid, 'cause I'll ditch you like that.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“Don't need a degree in rocket science to do this job.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“That mush plays havoc downstairs, you know?”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“Just take it from me," Donovan said. "Stay well clear of the warden. Some here think he's the devil. I don't, I don't believe in that religious talk, but I know evil when I see it. He's something rotten they dragged from the bowels of the earth, something they patched together from darkness and filth. He'll be the death of us all, every single one of us here in Furnace. Only question is when."
"I know one thing," I added. "The warden certainly brings out peoples dramatic sides."
Zee and Donovan both laughed through their noses.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“It felt like I´d been lying on that bed for a thousand years, tormented by every demon possible.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“My whole body was aching, my stomach felt like it was unpeeling itself, like I was coming apart. I offered silent prayers that I hadn´t eaten dinner.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“Next I was plunged into a void so profound that I thought I´d gone blind.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“All for one and let’s get the hell out of here.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“What if that was the fate of all of us, turned into the very basest of creatures, the very essence of evil?”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

“But they’re bluffing. I defy even the bravest adult to spend the night in a place like Furnace in the pitch black without thinking that every noise is something right behind you with dagger teeth and eyes of silver and blood on its breath; that every whisper of air that runs over your skin is the rush of a descending blade; that every flicker of movement is a tendril of darkness wrapping itself around your throat and coiling in the pit of your belly, where it feasts on your soul.”
― Alexander Gordon Smith, quote from Lockdown

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Popular quotes

“No man born of woman has ever understood spoken Portuguese.”
― Patrick O'Brian, quote from Blue at the Mizzen

“Will you wait for me on the platform then?’
Suki looked at Rollo and cast her eyes upward. ‘I suppose so.’
Retra smiled at her. ‘Don’t you mean, “I guess so”?”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright

“...една жена с плаха усмивка и плавни движения, с архаичната маска на босонога слугиня с разпуснати коси тихо и свенливо моли да я пусна в моето ultimum moriens, т. е. в сърцето си, там се оглежда с мила и любопитна усмивка, докосва всичко с нежна ръка, тук-таме забърсва праха, проветрява застоялите кътчета, изхвърля едно-друго и на мястото нарежда собствените си вещи, настанява се изящно, акуратно и неотразимо, докато накрая осъзнавам, че съм напълно изтикан оттам и потиснат, като чужденец в изгнание, обикалям собственото си сърце, което ми се мержелее в далечината със затворени врати, както нечий топъл дом за бездомника; и доста често успявам да се нанеса обратно само ако се върна с друга жена под ръка и я настаня там.”
― Imre Kertész, quote from Kaddish for an Unborn Child

“Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
― Gene Baur, quote from Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food

“There are not many secure hospitals that can boast someone who thought he was Napoleon, but St. Cerebellum’s could field three—not to mention a handful of serial killers whose names inexplicably yet conveniently rhymed with their crimes. Notorious cannibal “Peter the Eater” was incarcerated here, as were “Sasha the Slasher” and “Mr. Browner the Serial Drowner.” But the undisputed king of rhyme-inspired serial murder was Isle of Man resident Maximilian Marx, who went under the uniquely tongue-twisting epithet “Mad Max Marx, the Masked Manxman Axman.” Deirdre Blott tried to top Max’s clear superiority by changing her name so as to become “Nutty Nora Newsome, the Knife-Wielding Weird Widow from Waddersdon,” but no one was impressed, and she was ostracized by the other patients for being such a terrible show-off.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from The Fourth Bear

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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.