“You don't need to talk to someone to know them. All you need to do is watch. See how they carry themselves. See how they treat others.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“...It's better to feel the world around you. People let themselves become too desensitized. How can you write if you don't feel anything?”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“My mother always said that love is an entanglement. If you get too tangled, you lose yourself. It’s just a distraction. A way of escaping into someone else because you think that’ll be what finally makes you happy. Like a drug.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“Moments later, the cowbells clattered, and Rachel Anderson, the creative-writing teacher from the community college, walked in. Rachel, wearing a floor-skimming lavender skirt, her long, blond hair pulled into a neat French braid, scanned the diner. Settling her sunglasses on the top of her head, she went to the counter and politely addressed the group.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“Rachel was nowhere in sight. She was the one who comforted him with her warm smile and silent laughter. He could tell that she loved her family. She was the mother bird of the nest, the nurturer.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“He was sure that people liked him because of the person he pretended to be.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“We’re having such a hard time, Daddy,” she told him. “Everyone’s so miserable without you. I just want so badly for things to go back to the way they were.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“You don’t need to talk to someone to know them. All you need to do is watch.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“be. It just didn’t make sense. She thought about Haley. The rumble of an eighteen-wheeler grew closer, and she opened her eyes. The rig pulled”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“OPENING THE DOOR to her mother’s bedroom, Haley was stunned to see that her mother was awake. Crisp, dog-eared black-and-white photos and hundreds of newer color photographs were scattered all over the bed and floor. An empty scrapbook lay on her mother’s bureau next to a box of tissues.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“Allie was so fragrant, just like an oleander, its beautiful pink blossoms disguising its fatal venom. Like the flower, she was poison. Most women were—except for Rachel Anderson, of course . . . and very few others.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“Months of built-up hurt and frustration needed unleashing.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“She’d shed tears until there were none left.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“ballerina lay toppled over on her vanity table. A can of hairspray lay on its side on top of her bed, and clothes were strewn all over the carpet. The room smelled moldy. Wondering if there was a wet towel in Kelsey’s closet, Rachel walked across the room and opened the door. “What are you doing in here?”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“Lying was what kept him safe, alive, and relatively sane when he was little and”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“The asphalt was agonizing but also therapeutic in a way. A Southern antidepressant.”
― Jennifer Jaynes, quote from Never Smile at Strangers
“See how ignorant you are? You don't even know why you need to know the things you don't know yet.”
― Orson Scott Card, quote from Pathfinder
“Did she want me to kiss her? How weird was this going to be? Should it be like a real kiss, with passion and stuff? Or more of an experimental, pecking kind of deal?”
― Jordan Sonnenblick, quote from Notes from the Midnight Driver
“You’ve so distracted me, your absence fans my love. Don’t ask how. Then you come near. “Do not…” I say, and “Do not…,” you answer. Don’t ask why this delights me.”
― Rumi, quote from The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing
“It is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man.”
― William Lane Craig, quote from Reasonable Faith
“Un gran escritor no es más que un escritor. La diferencia es de matiz, no de raíz. Todos los saltadores de altura saltan, digamos, dos metros. Si uno salta dos metros y cinco centímetros, ya es un gran deportista. No, no merece la pena fatigarse siquiera con la idea de llegar a ser un pobre gran escritor, un desdichado escritor genial. Coge los mejores libros escritos jamás. Apenas son algo mejores que los libros mediocres. Todos son fundamentalmente libros nada más. Te proporcionarán, cuando los leas, un placer estético algo más intenso. Como un café un poco más dulce. Los soltarás al cabo de treinta páginas para prepararte un bocadillo o para ir al baño. Los leerás a la vez que quién sabe qué novela policiaca. Dentro de unos miles de años también ellos serán tierra y polvo. En estas condiciones, que tú, un ser al que se le ha concedido la oportunidad disparatada de existir y de reflexionar sobre el mundo, te propongas llegar a ser tan solo un genio es humillante, es ínfimo. Es como si abandonaras todo y te internaras de nuevo en el bosque. En cada individuo hay posibilidades ante las cuales la ambición de ser el escritor más importante de todos los tiempos es simplemente denigrante por su simplicidad. Porque ¿qué milagro es importante comparado con el de existir y de saber que existes? De aquí hasta ser el hombre más rico, el más poderoso, el más ingenioso del mundo es como pasar de un billón a un billón uno, incluso menos. No, no quiero llegar a ser un gran escritor, quiero llegar a ser Todo. Sueño sin cesar con un creador que, a través de su arte, llegue a influir de verdad en la vida de las personas, de todas las personas, y después en la vida de las personas, de todas la personas, y después en la vida del universo, hasta las estrellas más lejanas, hasta el final del espacio y del tiempo. Y que a continuación sustituya al universo, que se convierta él mismo en el Mundo. Sólo así creo que podría un hombre, un artista, cumplir su misión. El resto es literatura, una colección de trucos mejor o peor dominados, trozos de papel emborronados con brea por los que nadie da un real, por muy geniales que sean esas líneas de signos que, dentro de poco ni siquiera serán comprendidas.”
― Mircea Cărtărescu, quote from Nostalgia
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.