“Thinkers aren't limited by what they know, because they can always increase what they know. Rather they're limited by what puzzles them, because there's no way to become curious about something that doesn't puzzle you.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“Children don't need learning. They need access to what they want to learn outside the home.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“How easy it is first to leap to a false conclusion about someone and then to view everything he does in light of that conclusion.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“Thinkers aren't limited by what they know, because they can always increase what they know. Rather they're limited by what puzzles them, because there's no way to become curious about something that doesn't puzzle you. If a thing falls outside the range of people's curiosity, then they simply cannot
make inquiries about it. It constitutes a blind spot — a spot of blindness that you can't even know is there until someone draws your attention to it.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“Simple things are almost always the hardest to explain, Julie. Showing someone how to tie a shoelace is easy. Explaining it is almost impossible.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“What's normal is for things to work. What's not normal is for things to fail.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“The community of life that we see here at any given time isn't just a random collection. It's a collection of successes. It's the remainder that is left over when the failures have disappeared.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“The rules that govern competition between species are (and must be) very different from the rules that govern competition within species.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“You wouldn't know from experience that small children are the most powerful learning engines in the known universe.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“We made it back to the airport without getting mugged, stoned, shot at, pounced on, bombed, shelled, garroted, gassed, pitched into, caught in a cross fire, sniped at, blockaded, napalmed, or trip-wired. No one even hit us with a water balloon.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“No invention ever comes into being fully developed in a single step, from nothing.
Ten thousand inventions had to be in place before Edison could invent the electric light-bulb.”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“A system based on exchanging products inevitably channels wealth to a few, and no governmental change will ever be able to correct that. It isn’t a defect of the system, it’s intrinsic to the”
― Daniel Quinn, quote from My Ishmael
“I really believe that our stories make us who we are. I don't think people are born as empty shells. They already have the makings of a personality and they have intelligence. But from the moment they're born and maybe before that they start accumulating stories and it's those stories that have the biggest effect on them.”
― John Marsden, quote from While I Live
“I’ve never cheated on a lover. I’m faithful, always. But the war comes before anyone’s feelings. Every time.”
Wow. Battle before love. Without a doubt, he was the most unromantic male she’d ever met. Even more so than her great-grandfather, who had laughingly burned her great-grandmother to death after she’d given birth to Gwen’s grandmother.”
― Gena Showalter, quote from The Darkest Whisper
“You think he's a genius?" she said, raising her eyebrows. The high Vor twit? "I don't know him quite well enough, yet. But I suspect so, a part of the time." "Can you be a genius part of the time?" "All the geniuses I ever met were so just part of the time. To qualify, you only have to be great once, you know. Once when it matters. Ah, dessert. My, this is splendid!" He applied himself happily to a large chocolate confection with whipped cream and more pecans.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from Komarr
“Кой запали този пожар? Кой изравни със земята тези овошки? Кой разстреля тези братя, които през целия си живо са се смели? Кой уби сарпанча? Кой счупи пръстите му? Кой счупи пръстите му? Кой счупи ръцете му? Кой счупи древния му врат? Кой окова тези мъже? Кой направи така, че мъжете да изчезнат? Кой разстреля тези момчета? Кой разстреля тези момичета? Кой събори тази къща? Кой събори онази къща? Кой събори тази къща? Кой събори онази къща? Кой уби този младеж? Кой удари по главата тази старица? Кой наръга тази леля? Кой разби носа на онзи човек? Кой разби сърцето на онова младо момиче? Кой уби този влюбен? Кой застреля годеницата му? Кой изгори костюмите? Кой натроши мечовете? Кой изгори библиотеката? Кой опожари шафрановото поле? Кой изколи животните? Кой изгори кошерите? Кой отрови оризищата? Кой уби децата? Кой бичува родителите? Кой изнасили онази жена с мързеливо око, докато тя крещеше за змийска отмъстителност? Кой изнасили онази жена отново? Кой изнасили онази жена отново? Кой изнасили онази жена отново? Кой изнасили онази мъртва жена? Кой изнасили онази мъртва жена отново?”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from Shalimar the Clown
“The ironic fact is that humanism which began with man's being central eventually had no real meaning for people. On the other hand, if one begins with the Bible's position that man is created by God and in the image of God, there is a basis for that person's dignity.”
― Francis A. Schaeffer, quote from How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture
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.