Quotes from Messenger

“He wept, and it felt as if the tears were cleansing him, as if his body needed to empty itself.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“Teasing's part of the fun that comes before kissing”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“..you have more than you know. And people will want what you have.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“Things seem more when you’re little. They seem bigger, and distances seem farther.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“That's why they call you Seer. You see more than most.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“...That's why we have the Museum, Matty, to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“It was so important to him, and he made it important to me: poetry, and language, and how we use it to remind ourselves of how our lives should be lived . . .”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“It was an illusion. It was a tangled knot of fears and deceits and dark struggles for power that had disguised itself and almost destroyed everything. Now it was unfolding, like a flower coming into bloom, radiant with possibility.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“He floated above, weightless, watching his human self labor and writhe. He gave himself to it willingly, traded himself for all that he loved and valued, and felt free.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“She reached for Matty and embraced him. Ordinarily uncomfortable with hugs, he would have stiffened his shoulders and drawn back; but now, from exhaustion and affection, he held Kira and to his own amazement felt his eyes fill with tears.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“Frequently the new ones were damaged. They hobbled on canes or were ill. Sometimes they were disfigured by wounds or simply because they had been born that way. Some were orphans. All of them were welcomed.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“When would he ever learn to stop saying “Look” to a man who had no eyes?”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“All of his strength and blood and breath were entering the earth now. His brain and spirit became part of the earth. He rose. He floated above, weightless, watching his human self labor and writhe. He gave himself to it willingly, traded himself for all that he loved and valued, and felt free.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“I cannot but remember such things were, That were most precious to me.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“He saw Forest and understood what Seer had meant. It was an illusion. It was a tangled knot of fears and deceits and dark struggles for power that had disguised itself and almost destroyed everything. Now it was unfolding, like a flower coming into bloom, radiant with possibility.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“Some of those who had been among the most industrious, the kindest, and the most stalwart citizens of Village now went to the platform and shouted their wish that the border be closed so that 'we' (Matty shuddered at the use of 'we') would not have to share the resources anymore.
'We need all the fish for ourselves.
Our school is not big enough to teach their children, too; only our own.
They can't even speak right.
We can't understand them.
They have too many needs.
We don't want to tale care of them.'
And finally: 'We've done it long enough.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“And he could see as well that they had not yet approached the worst of it.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“now he knew that there were communities everywhere, sprinkled across the vast landscape of the known world, in which people suffered. Not always from beatings and hunger, the way he had. But from ignorance. From not knowing. From being kept from knowledge.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“There were no secrets in Village. It was one of the rules that Leader had proposed, and all of the people had voted in favor of it. Everyone who had come to Village from elsewhere, all of those who had not been born here, had come from places with secrets. Sometimes—not very often, for inevitably it caused sadness—people described their places of origin: places with cruel governments, harsh punishments, desperate poverty, or false comforts.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“It’s his gift. You see ahead. He sees beyond. And I . . .” Matty fell silent. He raised one hideously swollen arm and looked listlessly at the pus that seeped through the fabric of his sleeve. Then he laughed harshly. “I can fix a frog.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“Some books had shiny pages that showed paintings of landscapes unlike anything Matty had ever seen, or of people costumed in odd ways, or of battles, and there were many quiet painted scenes of a woman holding a newborn child.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“To his surprise, Jean kissed him. So often in the past, teasing, she had said she would, one day. Now she did, and it was a quick and fragrant touch to his lips that gave him courage and, even before he started out made him yearn to come back home.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“Kira, your leg will take a great deal out of me. I'll have to sleep, after, maybe for a whole day or even longer. And I don't have much time."

She looked at him quizzically. "Time for what?"

"I'll explain. But for now, I think we should start. If I do it right away, I can sleep completely through the night and almost all of the morning. You can use that time to become accustomed to being whole..."

"I [i]am[/i] whole," she said defiantly.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“That’s why we have the Museum, Matty, to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“It's hard to leave the only place you've known.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“But somehow the small red-painted sled had become a symbol of courage and hope.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“It bothered him a little to lie about small things. But he always had; he had grown up lying, and he still found it strange that the people in this place where he now lived thought lying was wrong. To Matty, it was sometimes a way of making things easier, more comfortable, more convenient.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“way, he had hoped he would not. His life would”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“hurry through the evening’s last light to the homeplace, where the blind”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

“There are only three weeks left, Matty. After the border closes it will be too late. She won't be allowed to come. You must bring her here before that happens.
"If you don't, Matty, I will never see her again."
"It always seems strange to me when you say 'see.'"
The blind man smiled. "I see in my heart, Matty.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Messenger

About the author

Popular quotes

“Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd.

"All right, folks," Mr. Summers said. "Let's finish quickly."

Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up."

Mrs. Dunbar had small stones in both hands, and she said, gasping for breath, "I can't run at all. You'll have to go ahead and I'll catch up with you."

The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.

Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, "Come on, come on, everyone." Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him.

"It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.”
― Shirley Jackson, quote from The Lottery and Other Stories

“Take pride in your pain," her mother had always told her. "You are stronger than those who have none.”
― Lois Lowry, quote from Gathering Blue

“There was no air; only the dead, still night fired by the dog days of August. Not a breath. I had to suck in the same air I exhaled, cupping it in my hands before it escaped. I felt it, in and out, less each time…until it was so thin it slipped through my fingers forever. I mean, forever.”
― Juan Rulfo, quote from Pedro Páramo

“You were the centre of my universe and everything else spun around you.”
― Rainbow Rowell, quote from Carry On

“Don't you know girls have to fool people every day of their lives if they want to get anywhere?”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Interesting books

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.