“Oh, he did look like a deity – the perfect balance of danger and charm, he was at the same time fascinating and inaccessible, distant because of his demonstrated flawlessness, and possessing such strength of character that he was dismaying and at the same time utterly attractive in an enticing and forbidden way.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“And I wasn’t playing a role – I was trying to be myself.
But the harder I was striving, the more I was realizing that I had probably lost that ‘myself’ somewhere between two perfectly performed roles...”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Desires are what can most easily ruin us, lovely.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“I always am in a role, lovely – for you, for them – even for myself. Yeah... Even when I’m alone, I am still in a role – and I myself am the most exacting audience I have ever had.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“I’d love to try to tame you... And I would simply adore it if you turn out untamable –”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Everybody is equally weak on the inside, just that some present their ruins as new castles and become kings –”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“I was never able to accept anyone else’s support but my own –”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“And what if you try to kill me? Or worse: to kiss me?”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Paranoia. The more you think of an imaginary problem, the more you feel as though it’s real –”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Even I don’t know myself... In fact, I don’t know if I really have a self at all, as I’m constantly playing different roles and pretending – not so much on stage as in real life...”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“A good enemy can be better than the best of friend.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“You can speak to me like you haven’t spoken even to yourself.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“You know what, your imagination works faster than your mind.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“You kissed me once and now you feel as if you’ve got some special kind of licence to do it whenever you want?”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“I was recently living more comfortably surrounded by secrets... Like dozens of luxurious satiny pillows, they were embracing me from all directions into safe lulling warmth, thus isolating me from the sharp dead-cold edges of the truth hiding behind their endearingly smooth textures and tender soothing colours.
Secrets could be so irresistibly beautiful...”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Emotions don’t interfere in my acting, nor in my life.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“I can be anything – and nothing, and everything at the same time. It all depends on the role I am in.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Don’t you have dragons to fight so that you started saving girls who don’t need it?”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“I lie more convincingly than I tell the truth.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“The unknown grayish mystifying forest was benumbed into frost-covered cold, and the tremendous pines towering above the dark marshy soil resembled a gathering of severe mute brothers from a forbidden ancient order worshiping forgotten gods no one had ever heard of outside of the world of secret occult visions.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“His character would be blamed, loathed, discussed, and adored – but somewhere there, behind his mask of a hero, Cardew would remain faceless.
Anonymous.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Strength and victory... What he would never praise himself for, but whose loss was his most obsessive fear.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“The desperate piercing scream of horror echoed far above the sharpened tops of the trees wrapped in thin obsidian-transparent mist, and I startled jerkily, tripping again, and almost collapsed onto the cold moist ground.”
― Simona Panova, quote from Nightmarish Sacrifice
“Ye shall consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eyes shall have no pity upon them; neither shall ye serve their gods, nor the gods of the land, nor the gods of the forge nor the gods of the coin, for those will be a snare unto ye.”
― L.E. Modesitt Jr., quote from The Parafaith War
“Oh, I leave it to your imagination, Mr. Latimer. I would not presume to give you advice, you know. The advice of such elderly fogeys as myself is invariably treated with scorn. Rightly so, perhaps, who knows? But we old buffers like to think that experience has taught us something. We have noticed a good deal, you know, in the course of a lifetime.” A”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Towards Zero
“To be something abnormal meant that you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you... and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, quote from Who Fears Death
“Moved by deep love, a man is courageous. And with frugality, a man becomes generous. And he who does not desire to be ahead of the world becomes the leader of the world.”
― Howard Fast, quote from The Immigrants
“Nunca la conoceré del todo”, pensó, como en una repentina y dolorosa revelación.
Estaba ahí, al alcance de su mano y de su boca. En cierto modo estaba sin defensa ¡pero qué lejana, qué inaccesible que estaba! Intuía que grandes abismos la separaban (no solamente el abismo del sueño sino otros) y que para llegar hasta el centro de ella habría que marchar durante jornadas temibles, al borde de vol
canes en erupción, entre llamaradas y tinieblas. “Nunca”, pensó, “nunca”.
”Pero me necesita, me ha elegido”, pensó también. De alguna manera lo había buscado y elegido a él, para algo que no alcanzaba comprender. Y le había contado cosas que estaba seguro jamás había contado a nadie, y presentía que le contaría muchas otras, todavía más terribles y hermosas que las que ya le había confesado. Pero también intuía que había otras que nunca, pero nunca le sería dado conocer. Y esas sombras misteriosas e inquietantes ¿no serían las más verdaderas de su alma, las únicas de verdadera importancia?”
― Ernesto Sabato, quote from On Heroes and Tombs
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.