“life is about making right things and going on..”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“This is my child. I planted it. I saw it grow. I loved it. Don't cut it down...”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“How can two living entities possessing intelligence and judgement ever be tied together for a lifetime?”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“It is stimulating to live in a society that is not standardized or mechanized, and is free from monotony.”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“you threw a stone into a gutter it would only spurt filth in your face.”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“What can we do with a creature who returns to his doom with such a free heart?”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“We are a flawed, weak species, he gently reminds us in these pages, focusing his attention, clearly and without sentiment, on those who will stoop low, those who will stop at nothing. What makes us care for such frequently pathetic characters is that they, like most of the rest of us, are strivers, driven by hopes for a slightly better life.”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“The gods grow jealous of too much contentment anywhere, and they show their displeasure all of a sudden.”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“The compartment built to ‘seat 8 passengers; 4 British Troops, or 6 Indian Troops’ now carried only nine.”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“if you threw a stone into a gutter it would only spurt filth in your face.”
― R.K. Narayan, quote from Malgudi Days
“Cities at night, I feel, contain men who cry in their sleep and then say Nothing. It's nothing. Just sad dreams. Or something like that...Swing low in your weep ship, with your tear scans and sob probes, and you would mark them. Women--and they can be wives, lovers, gaunt muses, fat nurses, obsessions, devourers, exes, nemeses--will wake and turn to these men and ask, with female need-to-know, "What is it?" And the men will say, "Nothing. No it isn't anything really. Just sad dreams.”
― Martin Amis, quote from The Information
“And I knew, as I had always known but somehow forgotten to remember in these past years, that I could never have done it, that no one else could ever have done it. That I would never know anyone as brave, as astonishing -- as frustrating, too, but that was, I was forced to admit finally, part of his charm -- as the slightly stooped elderly gentleman standing beside me in the shadows, listening while schoolchildren read of his exploits. The man who was, for better, for worse, my husband. The man who I loved, in spite of himself.”
― Melanie Benjamin, quote from The Aviator's Wife
“I must be honest about the fact that I'm made extremely uneasy by excessive noise, and that I do not care for shouted instructions. If I'd been meant to be a sheep, I reasoned, I'd have been born with wool instead of skin.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
“Washing dishes is the anecdote to confusion. I know that for a fact.”
― Maira Kalman, quote from The Principles of Uncertainty
“. . . she had always the power of suggesting things much lovelier than herself, as the perfume of a single flower may call up the whole sweetness of spring.”
― Willa Cather, quote from A Lost Lady
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.