“People who keep stiff upper lips find that it's damn hard to smile.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Feeling is not selective, I keep telling you that. You can’t feel pain, you aren’t gonna feel anything else, either.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Riding the train gives him too much time to think, he has decided. Too much thinking can ruin you.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“. . . crazy world or maybe it's just the view we have of it, looking through a crack in the door, never being able to see the whole room, the whole picture.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Depending on the reality one must face, one may prefer to opt for illusion.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“The small seed of despair cracks open and sends experimental tendrils upward to the fragile skin of calm holding him together.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Life is not a series of pathetic, meaningles actions. Some of them are so far from pathetic, so far from meaningless as to be beyond reason, maybe beyond forgiveness.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“And do not be paralyzed. It is better to move than to be unable to move, because you fear loss so much: loss of order, loss of security, loss of predictability.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“People have a right to be the way they are.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“And what about tomorrow then? And all the tomorrows to come? Why can't we talk about it? Why can't we ever talk about it?”
― quote from Ordinary People
“She hands him his coffee; crosses to the doorway; motes of dust flutter nervously in her wake.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“with grief? There is no dealing; he knows that much. There is simply the stubborn, mindless hanging on until it is over. Until you are through it. But something has happened in the process. The old definitions, the neat, knowing pigeonholes have disappeared. Or else they no longer apply. His eyes move again to the calendar. Wednesday, November fifth. Of course. Obvious. All the painful self-examination ; the unanswered questions. At least he knows what is wrong today. Today is Jordan’s birthday. Today he would have been nineteen.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“He hangs on now, pressing his hand lightly against the wall, below the window, waiting for the familiar arrow of pain. Only there is none. An oddly pleasant swell of memory, a wave of warmth flooding over him, sliding back, slowly. It is a first”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Everything seems excessive, now, and too intense, too important.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“People use people according to their own needs. Or don't use them. When a primary need is one of safety.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Because it has always been easier to believe himself capable of evil than to accept evil in others.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“It has always been easier to believe himself capable of evil than to accept evil in others.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“And once I wanted to be a fireman. Then”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Geez, if I could get through to you, kiddo, that depression is not sobbing and crying and giving vent, it is plain and simple reduction of feeling. Reduction, see? Of all feeling. People who keep stiff upper lips find that it's damn hard to smile.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“fast. Get those months, days, hours, minutes out of the way, it can’t be quick enough.”
― quote from Ordinary People
“Dairy laid a hand gently on her flank. "Captain Loch showed me the difference between is and should. She shouldn't be gone but she is..." She was still trembling. Tiny whiskers of breath barely made puffs of steam in the cold morning air. "But she shouldn't be. Someone needs to start should.”
― Patrick Weekes, quote from The Palace Job
“My notion of spirituality was different than it is now, but even if I'd been the most fundamentalist of believers, I would have assumed that God had better things to do than arbitrarily smite me with shaking palsy.”
― Michael J. Fox, quote from Lucky Man
“There is beauty in the midst of tragedy. As if beauty were condensing in the heart of ugliness. It's very strange.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr
“His warm eyes stay locked onto mine and I want to melt right on the spot. I know him but I don’t. I want him but I don’t. I need him but I don’t.”
― J.L. Mac, quote from Wreck Me
“It’s important to constantly challenge and stretch yourself, and not be stuck in a job where you don’t feel like you are growing or learning.”
― Tony Hsieh, quote from Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
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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.
