Quotes from Oracle Night

Paul Auster ·  245 pages

Rating: (11.7K votes)


“It always stimulates me to discover new examples of my own prejudice and stupidity, to realize that I don't know half as much as I think I do.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“Bodies count, of course - they count more than we're willing to admit - but we don't fall in love with bodies, we fall in love with each other. We all know that, but the moment we go beyond a catalogue of surface qualities and appearances, words begin to fail us, to crumble apart in mystical confusions and cloudy, unsubstantial metaphors.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“Thoughts are real', he said. 'Words are real. Everything human is real, and sometimes we know things before they happen, even if we aren't aware of it. We live in the present, but the future is inside us at every moment. Maybe that's what writing is all about, Sid. Not recording events from the past, but making things happen in the future'.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“As long as you are dreaming, there is always a way out”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“Bildiğim bir şey varsa oda karşılığını vermeden bir şey alamayacağınızdır, istediğiniz şey ne kadar büyükse karşılığında ödemeniz gereken bedel de o kadar büyük olur.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night



“Bluntly and quietly, in a series of simple, forthright sentences, she dismantled the architecture of unhappiness that had been growing up around us for the past several days. She was calling from the office she said, and had to talk in a low voice, 'but if you can hear me, Sid' she began, 'there are four things I want you to know. First, I haven't stopped thinking about you since I left the house this morning. Second, I've decided to have the baby, and we're never going to use the word "abortion" again. Third, don't bother to make dinner. [...] Fourth, make sure Mr. Johnson's ready for action. I'm going to attack you the minute I walk in the door, my love, so be prepared.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“Quand on me demande pourquoi je fume, je réponds que c'est parce que j'aime tousser.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“As long as you're dreaming, there's always a way out.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“Eds atbildot kaut ko noņurd un piedāvā Bovenam apsēsties, negaidīti pieminēdams fragmentu no "Voldenas", kad ar žestu norāda uz vienīgo krēslu istabā. Toro teica, ka viņa mājā esot trīs krēsli, Eds ieminas. Viens vientulībai, otrs draudzībai un trešais sabiedrībai. Man ir tikai viens krēsls vientulībai. Ja vēl piemer klāt gultu, varbūt sanāk divi draudzībai.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night


“—Los pensamientos son reales —sentenció—. las palabras son reales. Todo lo humano es real, y aveces conocemos las cosas antes de que ocurran, aun cuando no seamos consientes de ello. Vivimos en el presente, pero el futuro está siempre en nosotros. Puede que el escribir se reduzca a eso, Sid. No a consignar los hechos del pasado, sino a hacer que ocurran cosas en el futuro.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Oracle Night



About the author

Paul Auster
Born place: in Newark, New Jersey, The United States
Born date February 3, 1947
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“العظم واللحم وحدهما لا يكفيان لبناء محيا، ولذلك فإن الوجه " أقل مادية " من الجسد إلى حد كبير”
― Ernesto Sabato, quote from On Heroes and Tombs


“As children, we think that whatever world surrounds us is normal. As I entered fourth and fifth grades and began spending time in the homes of other kids, my world grew. I spent a lot of time watching and thinking about the way people interacted with other people. I began to see that not all families were like mine.”
― Hannah Hart, quote from Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded


“It was a movie about American bombers in World War II and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this: American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.

The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers , and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans though and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, quote from Slaughterhouse-five: The Children's Crusade, A Duty-dance with Death


“Subby Subby Subby," whispered Goss. "Keep those little bells on your slippers as quiet as you can. Sparklehorse and Starpink have managed to creep out of Apple Palace past all the monkeyfish, but if we're silent as tiny goblins we can surprise them and then all frolic off together in the Meadow of Happy Kites.”
― China Miéville, quote from Kraken


“One day isn't your whole life. A day is just a day.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, quote from Letters to the Lost


Interesting books

Until I Die
(26.4K)
Until I Die
by Amy Plum
Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals
(5.3K)
Lila: An Inquiry Int...
by Robert M. Pirsig
Phantoms
(60.5K)
Phantoms
by Dean Koontz
Veil of Midnight
(27.8K)
Veil of Midnight
by Lara Adrian
The School for Good and Evil
(45.1K)
The School for Good...
by Soman Chainani
Salt to the Sea
(63.9K)
Salt to the Sea
by Ruta Sepetys

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.