Quotes from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars

John Green ·  0 pages

Rating: (4.7K votes)


“I’d never been religious, but he told us that religion is important whether or not we believed in one, in the same way that historical events are important whether or not you personally lived through them.”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars


“how do you just stop being terrified of getting left behind and ending up by yourself forever and not meaning anything to the world.”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars


“I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen,” Whitman writes. And then for two pages, he’s just hearing: hearing a steam whistle, hearing people’s voices, hearing an opera. He sits on the grass and lets the sound pour through him. And this is what I was trying to do, too, I guess: to listen to all the little sounds of her, because before any of it could make sense, it had to be heard.”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars


“I couldn’t help but think about school and everything else ending. I liked standing just outside the couches and watching them—it was a kind of sad I didn’t mind, and so I just listened, letting all the happiness and the sadness of this ending swirl around in me, each sharpening the other. For the longest time, it felt kind of like my chest was cracking open, but not precisely in an unpleasant way.”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars


“At some point, you just pull off the Band-Aid and it hurts, but then it’s over and you’re relieved.”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars



“Like Emily Dickinson, I ain’t afraid of slant rhyme / And that’s the end of this verse; emcee’s out on a high.”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars


“I go to seek a Great Perhaps.’ That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars


“was early evening—the fields receding into a pink invisibility as they rose back into the horizon. Colin felt his heart slamming in his chest. He wondered if she even wanted to see him. He’d taken “sleeping over at Janet’s” as a hint, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she really was sleeping at Janet’s, whoever that was—which would mean a lot of hiking for naught. After five minutes of driving, he reached the fenced-in field that had once been home to Hobbit the horse. He climbed over the tri-logged fence and jogged across the field. Colin, of course, did not”
― John Green, quote from Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars


About the author

John Green
Born place: in Indianapolis, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“we all make vows, Jimmy. And there is something very beautiful and touching and noble about wanting good impulses to be permanent and true forever," she said. "Most of us stand up and vow to love, honor and cherish someone. And we truly mean it, at the time. But two or twelve or twenty years down the road, the lawyers are negotiating the property settlement."
"You and George didn't go back on your promises."
She laughed. "Lemme tell ya something, sweetface. I have been married at least four times, to four different men." She watched him chew that over for a moment before continuing, "They've all been named George Edwards but, believe me, the man who is waiting for me down the hall is a whole lot different animal from the boy I married, back before there was dirt. Oh, there are continuities. He has always been fun and he has never been able to budget his time properly and - well, the rest is none of your business."
"But people change," he said quietly.
"Precisely. People change. Cultures change. Empires rise and fall. Shit. Geology changes! Every ten years or so, George and I have faced the fact that we have changed and we've had to decide if it makes sense to create a new marriage between these two new people." She flopped back against her chair. "Which is why vows are such a tricky business. Because nothing stays the same forever. Okay. Okay! I'm figuring something out now." She sat up straight, eyes focused somewhere outside the room, and Jimmy realized that even Anne didn't have all the answers and that was either the most comforting thing he'd learned in a long time or the most discouraging. "Maybe because so few of us would be able to give up something so fundamental for something so abstract, we protect ourselves from the nobility of a priest's vows by jeering at him when he can't live up to them, always and forever." She shivered and slumped suddenly, "But, Jimmy! What unnatural words. Always and forever! Those aren't human words, Jim. Not even stones are always and forever.”
― Mary Doria Russell, quote from The Sparrow


“I was born near Slonim. I saw my home taken over by the Germans, my sister raped by the Russians and later I escaped from a Russian labour camp and was lucky enough to reach America. I'm not mad. This is the only country in the world where you can arrive with nothing and become a millionaire though damned hard work regardless of your background.”
― Jeffrey Archer, quote from Kane and Abel


“More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to be close to someone.
More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to feel as if i wasn't alone.”
― James Frey, quote from A Million Little Pieces


“His mouth started to speak, but his brain decided it hadn't got anything to say yet and shut it again. His brain then started to contend with the problem of what his eyes told it they were looking at, but in doing so relinquished control of the mouth which promptly fell open again. Once more gathering up the jaw, his brain lost control of his left hand which then wandered around in an aimless fashion. For a second or so the brain tried to catch the left hand without letting go of the mouth and simultaneously tried to think about what was buried in the ice, which is probably why the legs went and Arthur dropped restfully to the ground.”
― Douglas Adams, quote from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe


“You can run from the grave, but you can't hide.”
― Jeaniene Frost, quote from One Foot in the Grave


Interesting books

Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own
(6.9K)
Spinster: Making a L...
by Kate Bolick
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions
(3.2K)
Outrageous Acts and...
by Gloria Steinem
The Last Mile
(42.4K)
The Last Mile
by David Baldacci
Notes from Underground & The Double
(4.8K)
Notes from Undergrou...
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Martyn Pig
(2.4K)
Martyn Pig
by Kevin Brooks
My Fairy Godmother Is a Drag Queen
(460)
My Fairy Godmother I...
by David Clawson

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.