“Its really most remarkable how the human race is so seldom satisfied with what its got. Give a man the world and he's pining for the moon.”
― Susan Howatch, quote from Penmarric
“There’s a pattern. Never, never doubt that there’s a pattern. There’s a pattern always. Everywhere. In everyone.”
― Susan Howatch, quote from Penmarric
“but a show of force by the mightiest nation on earth isn’t going to do anything except convince them that their attitudes are worth holding on to. Soon they’ll be martyrs and world opinion will think the British Empire nothing but a big bully too fond of waving the big stick.”
― Susan Howatch, quote from Penmarric
“could not even manage to reply. “It’s because I think it of vital importance that such scenes should be avoided in the future that I suggest we separate permanently with a view to seeking a divorce when it becomes possible for us to do so. I have no grounds for divorcing you, as I’m sure you realize, but if I leave you now and insist on remaining at Allengate without your consent you will eventually be able to seek a divorce on the grounds of adultery coupled with desertion. I believe the period of desertion has to be at least two years, so we would have to wait before commencing proceedings, but unfortunately since you cannot divorce me for adultery alone there’s no other alternative open to us. Now, I know divorce will mean a considerable amount of scandal and I’m sure a great many people will disapprove and be shocked, but I dare say most of the criticism will fall upon me and frankly I’m willing to endure a great deal to terminate this situation in the most expedient way available. You know and I know that our marriage is irrevocably finished. My one concern now is that we act in a way most beneficial to the children, and in my opinion”
― Susan Howatch, quote from Penmarric
“I’m too much of a coward to be an atheist,” I said. “I couldn’t bear not to believe in anything. I have to believe there’s God,”
― Susan Howatch, quote from Penmarric
“Nobody is more of a patriot than I am, but I’ve very little confidence in politicians and even less confidence in wars.”
― Susan Howatch, quote from Penmarric
“The fault is in the filtering-down process from the researcher through the sensational or ill-informed writer to the reader who fails to miss the figures that have disappeared in the process. A good deal of the misunderstanding can be avoided if to the "norm" or average is added an indication of the range. Parents seeing that their youngsters fall within the normal range will quit worrying about small and meaningless differences. Hardly anybody is exactly normal in any way, just as one hundred tossed pennies will rarely come up exactly fifty heads and fifty tails.”
― quote from How to Lie with Statistics
“-"Nick?"
"I'm still here, Laurant."
-"Did you tell Tommy we slept together?"
"No, but you just did. He's standing right here."
She fell asleep. But this time she didn't have any dreams or nightmare.”
― Julie Garwood, quote from Heartbreaker
“... like a berserk raptor thrown into a nest of hibernating kittens...”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from Look to Windward
“...of all things this was the saddest, that life goes on: if one leaves one's lover, life should stop for him, and if one disappears from the world, then the world should stop, too: and it never did. And that was the real reason for most people getting up in the morning: not because it would matter but because it wouldn't.”
― Truman Capote, quote from The Grass Harp, Including A Tree of Night and Other Stories
“Anyone who thinks cryptozoology is the study of the impossible has never really taken a very good look at the so-called "natural world." Once you get past the megamouth sharks, naked mole rats, and spotted hyenas, then the basilisks, dragons, and cuckoos just don't seem that unreasonable. Unpleasant, yes, but unreasonable? Not really.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Discount Armageddon
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.