“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
“Jer, put do najintimnijeg dela našeg bića znači dugo putovanje kroz druge ljude i svetove. Tako sam se vratio ocu. Ali, kao što obično biva, tada je već bilo prekasno. Da sam onda znao da ga poslednji put vidim krepkog, da sam slutio kako ću ga dvadeset pet godina kasnije zateći pretvorenog u prljavu hrpu kostiju i iznutrica u raspadanju, kako me tužno gleda iz dubine tih očiju koje maltene nisu više pripadale ovom svetu, tada bih pokušao da razumem tog grubog, ali dobrog, snažnog, ali naivnog, naprasitog, ali čestitog čoveka. Izgleda, uvek kasno shvatamo svoje najbliže. A kada počnemo da stičemo izvesnu umešnost življenja, već dođe vreme da mremo. Što je najgore, već su pomrli oni na koje bismo najradije primenili stečenu veštinu.”
― Ernesto Sabato, quote from On Heroes and Tombs
“Over the past ten years, I've processed a lot. I'm still processing. And there is more to be done. But I'm very proud of the person I am today. I'm proud to be gay. I'm proud to be a reckless optimist. I'm proud to keep learning and sharing what I've learned. I'm proud to be a work in progress.”
― Hannah Hart, quote from Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded
“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.
Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, quote from Slaughterhouse-five: The Children's Crusade, A Duty-dance with Death
“It ain't that he's not interested in, like, persuasiveness, get me? He's interested in it. Like something in a jar.”
― China Miéville, quote from Kraken
“You can't make your own path with your eyes closed. (pg 388).”
― Brigid Kemmerer, quote from Letters to the Lost
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.