“It was a light that shone over our faces, our wounds and scars. It was a light so brilliant and white it could have been beamed from heaven, and Brian and I could have been angels, basking in it. But it wasn’t, and we weren’t.”
― Scott Heim, quote from Mysterious Skin
“He spoke so slowly, cobwebs could have formed between his words.”
― Scott Heim, quote from Mysterious Skin
“I hate this stinking little butt crack of a town!”
― Scott Heim, quote from Mysterious Skin
“It was Brian's blood, and for some reason I knew it was pure. No other man I'd held in my arms -and now, not even I- had blood this pure.”
― Scott Heim, quote from Mysterious Skin
“Defenestration,” I said. “‘The act of throwing someone through a window.”
― Scott Heim, quote from Mysterious Skin
“How in the world can you think a queer is cute? I mean, you can tell he’s a freak. You can just tell.” I advised Zelda that if she didn’t shut up, I’d gouge out her eyes and force her to swallow them.”
― Scott Heim, quote from Mysterious Skin
“That's the thing about distance: It either gives you time to move on from someone, or it makes you realize just how much you need them.”
― Estelle Maskame, quote from Did I Mention I Need You? (Did I Mention I Love You
“Ei, tämä ei ollut eskatologinen, profeettojen jo kauan sitten ennustama traaginen finaali, jumalallisen näytelmän viimeinen näytös. Ei, tämä oli pikemminkin pyöräilyakrobaattinen sirkusfinaali, taikurimainen hupsis-loppu, jota säesti kaikkien edistyksen henkien kättentaputus. Melkein kaikki uskoivat siihen hetkeäkään epäröimättä. Tyrmistyneet ja vastalauseita huutavat karjuttiin heti paikalla mataliksi. Miksi he eivät ymmärtäneet, että tämä oli yksinkertaisesti ennen kuulumaton tilaisuus, äärimmäisen edistyksellinen maailmanloppu, vapaamielinen päätös, ajan huipulla oleva, korkeinta viisautta syvästi kunnioitava ja suojeleva tapahtuma? Sitä tulkittiin haltiokkaasti, sitä kuvattiin irti reväistyille muistikirjan lehdille, selitettiin, että se oli kumoamaton; vastustajille ja epäilijöille jaettiin korvapuusteja. Kuvalehdissä ilmestyi kokosivun piirroksia, kuvitelmia katastrofista, vaikuttavia näyttämösovituksia. Näimme väkirikkaita kaupunkeja yöllisen pakokauhun vallassa, valomerkkejä ja valoilmiöitä kipunoivan taivaan alla. Etäisen meteorin hämmästyttävät vaikutukset olivat jo kaikkien nähtävissä. Pyrstötähti, jonka vertauskuvallinen kärki tähtäsi heltiämättä maapalloa, leijali liikkumattomana taivaalla ja lähestyi maata niin ja niin monen kilometrin nopeudella sekunnissa. Lakit ja hatut lentelivät ilmaan kuin sirkusilveilyssä, hiukset nousivat pystyyn, sateenvarjot aukenivat itsestään ja kaljut paljastuivat lentoon lehahtavien peruukkien alta - ja yllä oli musta, jättimäinen taivas, jonka laella välkkyi kakkien tähtien yhtäaikainen hälytys.”
― Bruno Schulz, quote from The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories
“I was wondering if my life, the life in which I had a son and a beautiful, young girlfriend, could exist outside of the hospital. Or was the hospital its container? Was I like honey thinking it's a small bear, not realizing the bear is just the shape of its bottle?”
― Miranda July, quote from The First Bad Man
“Cooperation evolves only if individuals who are prone to cooperation outcompete individuals who are not (or who are less so).”
― Joshua D. Greene, quote from Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them
“Even in the Stone Age, the rules for how to win friends and influence people were likely the same as today’s: Cooperate when your neighbor needs shelter, share your dinner even if you’re still hungry, and think twice before saying “That loincloth makes you look fat.” In other words, a little self-control, please.”
― Kelly McGonigal, quote from The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It
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.