Quotes from Oral History

“They say experience is the best teacher, but I'll be damned if I know what it teaches you.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History

“For once I am living my life rather than watching it pass in review.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History

“Away acrost his valley he sees Black Mountain rising jagged to the sky...and if he looks to the left on past it, he sees all the furtherest ranges, line on line. Purple and blue and blue again and smoky until you can't tell the mountains apart from the sky. Lord, it'll make a man think something, seeing that. It'll make a man think deep.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History

“Nothing is ever over, nothing is ever ended, and worlds open up within the world we know.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History

“...for they was never a young man yet who don't want to go out and right a wrong, or kill a man, or have to do something to earn his right to what is there for the taking, all along. Only he don't think he can ask, nor take, without earning it. Without no pain. Oftener than not, a young man's a regular fool.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History

“I had before me an object lesson, I thought: two ways to face the world. One way as embodied by this old woman—simple, unassuming, a kind of peasant dignity, a naturalness inherent in her every move. The other, exemplified by the girl—smartness, sophistication, veneer without substance. I was conscious that I have now opted for the old woman’s way, have thrown in my lot with a creature I would have jeered at a year ago. My present trip to the mountains is indeed a trip to that wellspring of naturalness she symbolized. And I admired my choice: the correct choice, the only choice for a sensitive and moral man in my dilemma.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History

“Pearl is the only person I ever knew who said things like “paths in life” out loud.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History

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Popular quotes

“High tide spilled over my lashes.”
― Jennifer Gooch Hummer, quote from Girl Unmoored

“Eh bien, soit! Que ma guerre contre l'homme s'éternise, puisque chacun reconnait dans l'autre sa propre dégradation... puisque les deux sont ennemis mortels. Que je doive remporter une victoire désastreuse ou succomber, le combat sera beau: moi, seul, contre l'humanité.”
― Comte de Lautréamont, quote from Maldoror = Les Chants de Maldoror, together with a translation of Lautréamont's Poésies

“1 :
...
بإرادة الروح
تأتي أشكال لا تعد و لا تحصى ..

و بسبب هذه الإرادة
لا أستطيع حتى أن أتكلم ..

بإرادة الروح
((أي روح القدس))
تأتي جميع الأرواح

اندمج في هذه الروح
و كن عظيما ..

يإرادة الروح
يكون الخير و الشر

و بها يكتب
الألم و السلام
للجميع .

للبعض ، تحضر
الهدايا الوفيرة

للبعض ، تودي
إلى تيه لا نهاية له

كل شئ موجود ضمن تلك الإرادة
.. لا شئ كاذب من ورائها

آه يا ناناك :
إذا فهمت
الإرادة الإلهية
لن تجد
(نفسك)
شئ لتقوله”
― Guru Nanak, quote from Sri Guru Granth Sahib

“Always ask for what you want, because the worst thing that can happen is embarrassment but the best thing that can happen is nudity.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale

“Tragedy may hit all of us in one way or another, but fate's not our enemy, Brooke. We are. By locking yourself away from the world, you choose your own mistakes and destroy any chance of ever finding happiness. You cannot control life, but you can chose who you are and what you make of it.”
― J.C. Reed, quote from Surrender Your Love

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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.