“the pope had granted the accademia di San Luca the annual right – on saint Luke’s day – to free a condemned man.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“It was the prerogative of the powerful to betray their servants. You played their game or you played your own. The end was the same.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“CUTTING HIS BEATITUDE down to size on canvas and throwing rocks through his landlady’s window weren’t all M was doing on his return to Rome”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“M got into difficulties. Somebody – and since the client was dead it wasn’t clear who – didn’t like his two paintings.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“I can’t swallow Gregori’s insistent proposal of the Toothpuller as M’s and I think M used help on the second versions of early paintings like Lute Player II.”
― quote from M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
“As soon as he was out of sight, Gui pulled the macaron mixture towards him, and took a deep breath. He whipped it back and forth, beads of sweat springing on his forehead as his arm muscles released and contracted. When it was almost ready, he reached up for the shelf where the spices and colors were kept. Carefully, he brought down the bottle of 'creme de violette,' the jar of delicate, dried violets, their petals sparkling with sugar.
In tiny drops, he measured the purple liqueur into the mixture. He was acting on impulse, yet at the same time he felt certain, as though his first teacher, Monsieur Careme, was with him, guiding his steps. The scent reached up as he stirred, heady and sweet as a meadow, deep as lingering perfume in a midnight room. Hands shaking, he piped the mixture onto a tray in tiny rounds, enough to make six, one for each day that he and Jeanne would have to make it through before they could be together for the rest of their lives.
Maurice was delayed talking to Josef, and by the time he returned, Gui was putting the finishing touches to his creations, filling them with a vanilla cream from the cold room, balancing one, tiny, sugar-frosted violet flower upon each.”
― Laura Madeleine, quote from The Confectioner's Tale
“He is, most of all, l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from The Inferno
“Cynicism is, ultimately, fear. Cynicism makes contact with your skin, and a thick black carapace begins to grow—like insect armor. This armor will protect your heart, from disappointment—but it leaves you almost unable to walk. You cannot dance in this armor. Cynicism keeps you pinned to the spot, in the same posture, forever.”
― Caitlin Moran, quote from How to Build a Girl
“Funny how you notice how beautiful things are just when you're about to leave them.”
― Laura Ruby, quote from Bone Gap
“Back when Deenie was in middle school, she was always having sleepovers. All those girly thumping and trills on the other side of his bedroom wall confused and annoyed and stirred him, so he’d sneak down to the basement and page through a mildewed 1985 Playboy he’d found under the laundry chute. The pictures were startling and beautiful, but he always felt ashamed after, standing at the laundry sink where his mom scrubbed his uniform.”
― Megan Abbott, quote from The Fever
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.