Quotes from Narrow Rooms

James Purdy ·  185 pages

Rating: (163 votes)


“I don’t think of people as queer or straight,” the Doc said. “Not when you’re as old as I. And I don’t think God does either.”
“I didn’t know you believed in God, Doc,” Vance said.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms


“For imagine having somebody beside you day and night loving you and forgiving you and petting you forever and ever, that must be a better description of hell than being put into a boiling lake or cauldron of ice that burnt your black.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms


“Nobody can cause another man evil unless the second party involved allows him to.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms


“Behind this story so far is another story, as behind the girders of an ancient bridge is the skeleton of a child which superstition says keeps the bridge standing.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms


“Don’t shoot me, Sidney, I love you.”
He had shot him right through the words that still haunted him today, the most perfect words ever said to him.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms



“My idea of heaven is to be hunting with you in some beautiful park with mountains like here at home but where we won’t need guns or prey but we will just walk together arm in arm in this good world and be by ourselves always together forever and a day.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms


“I have wrote my name in hell,” Brian McFee had said as he was dying on the sawdust of the floor in the Bent Ridge Tavern.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms


“Not all princes he had read about in books of legends are beautiful and noble and carry their heads high.”
― James Purdy, quote from Narrow Rooms


About the author

James Purdy
Born place: in Hicksville, Ohio, The United States
Born date July 17, 1914
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Leave it to Niles Sparks to prank his pranking partner in the middle of a prank.”
― Mac Barnett, quote from The Terrible Two Get Worse


“And besides, we lovers fear everything”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses


“The tea, once it arrived, had its customary effect—engendering comfort and loosening the tongue. That’s tea for you, thought Sophronia, the great social lubricant.”
― Gail Carriger, quote from Waistcoats & Weaponry


“Real isn't how you are made. It's a thing that happens to you," said the Skin Horse. " When you are real you don't mind being hurt.
It doesn't happen all at once. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen to people who break easily, or who have sharp corners. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose and very shabby. But these don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.
Once you are Real, you can't unreal. It last forever”
― Margery Williams Bianco, quote from The Velveteen Rabbit


“Sometimes you walk past a pretty girl on the street there's something beyond beauty in her face, something warm and smart and inviting, and in the three seconds you have to look at her, you actually fall in love, and in those moments, you can actually know the taste of her kiss, the feel of her skin against yours, the sound of her laugh, how she'll look at you and make you whole. And then she's gone, and in the five seconds afterwards, you mourn her loss with more sadness than you'll ever admit to. ”
― Jonathan Tropper, quote from How To Talk To A Widower


Interesting books

Veronika Decides to Die
(140.8K)
Veronika Decides to...
by Paulo Coelho
Angle of Repose
(44.6K)
Angle of Repose
by Wallace Stegner
Lover Revealed
(110K)
Lover Revealed
by J.R. Ward
Club Dead
(201.7K)
Club Dead
by Charlaine Harris
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
(154.8K)
The Omnivore's Dilem...
by Michael Pollan
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
(162.7K)
I'd Tell You I Love...
by Ally Carter

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.