“A theatre is the most important sort of house in the world, because that's where people are shown what they could be if they wanted, and what they'd like to be if they dared to and what they really are”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“I'll have to calm down a bit. Or else I'll burst with happiness”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“There's no need to imagine that you're a wondrous beauty, because that's what you are.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“The spirit of adventure sped through his soul on mighty wings.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“Isn't it fun when one's friends get exactly what suits them?”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“We'll always keep our bangles in brown pond water in the future. They're so much more beautiful that way”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“Robes, dresses, frocks. They hung in endless rows, in hundreds, one beside the other all around the room - gleaming brocade, fluffy clouds of tulle and swansdown, flowery silk, night-black velvet with glittering spangles everywhere like small, many-coloured blinker beacons.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“The Snork Maiden looked around her. Then she leaned forward and whispered in the Fillyjonk’s outstretched ear: “First you must turn seven times around yourself, mumbling a little and stamping your feet. Then you go backward to a well, and turn around, and look down in it. And then, down in the water, you’ll see the person you’re going to marry!” “And how do you get him up from there?” asked the Fillyjonk excitedly.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“Because we’re going to stay here a little while and calm down until I’ve learned your names. Light my pipe, someone!”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“How nice it feels to be good," she thought quietly.”
― Tove Jansson, quote from Moominsummer Madness
“When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else.”
― E.M. Forster, quote from Maurice
“No one ever said that you would live to see the repercussions of everything you do, or that you have guarantees, or that you are not obliged to wander in the dark, or that everything will be proved to you and neatly verified like something in science. Nothing is: at least nothing that is worthwhile. I didn't bring you up only to move across sure ground. I didn't teach you to think that everything must be within our control or understanding. Did I? For, if I did, I was wrong. I fyou won't take a chance, then the powers you refuse because you cannot explain them, will, as they say, make a monkey out of you.”
― Mark Helprin, quote from Winter's Tale
“I don't know what that means. To truly live."
"To find work that you love, and work harder than other men. To learn the languages of the earth, and love the sounds of the words and the things they describe. To love food and music and drink. Fully love them. To love weather, and storms, and the smell of rain. To love heat. To love cold. To love sleep and dreams. To love the newness of each day.”
― Pete Hamill, quote from Forever
“Now this was like trying to comprehend all the activity of an anthill, and read all the words in a book, and feel all the splendor of a cathedral, in one glance. Jack’s mind was not equal to the demands that Cairo placed on it, and so for a long while he fixed his attention on small and near matters, as if he were a boy peering through a hollow reed.”
― Neal Stephenson, quote from The Confusion
“The animalism of the brute nature in man is disgusting,” he thought, “but as long as it remains in its naked form we observe it from the height of our spiritual life and despise it; and—whether one has fallen or resisted—one remains what one was before. But when that same animalism hides under a cloak of poetry and æsthetic feeling and demands our worship—then we are swallowed up by it completely and worship animalism, no longer distinguishing good from evil. Then it is awful!”
― Leo Tolstoy, quote from Resurrection
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.