“But perhaps that's why we take snaps...to provide false evidence to underpin the false claim that we were happy. Because the thought that we weren't happy at least for some time during our lives is unbearable. Adults order children to smile in the photos, involve them in the lie, so we smile, we feign happiness.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Everyone knew that fat had become the new cancer, yet they bellyached about the dieting hysteria and applauded the "real" women's body. As though doing no exercise and being overfed was some kind of sensible mold.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“But everything good in this shit world is either by prescription, sold out, or so expensive you have to sell your soul to taste it. Life is a restaurant you can't afford. Death the bill for the food you didn't even have a chance to eat. So you order the most expensive thing on the menu - you're in for it anyway, right? - and if you're lucky, you get a mouthful.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Are you dying?"
Cato lit his cigarette. "It's not acute, perhaps, but we're all dying, Harry.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“A rat is neither good nor evil. It does what a rat has to do.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Let me say here and now that faith has never done me any good, only doubt. So that is what has become my testament.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Well, it is in fact possible to put things behind you, Rakel. The art of dealing with ghosts is to dare to look at them long and hard until you know that is what they are. Ghosts. Lifeless, powerless ghosts.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Life owes you, but sometimes you have to be your own fucking debt collector. And if we have to burn in hell for it, heaven's going to be sparsely populated.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“And I didn’t want you to expose me as a deserter, someone who disappears. But things happened as they did anyway. What I wanted to say was that even if I wasn’t there for you, that doesn’t mean you weren’t important to me. We can’t live the lives we would like to. We’re prisoners of … things. Of who we are.” Oleg lifted his chin. “Of junk and shit.” “That, too.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Ja. Es ist wirklich möglich Dinge hinter sich zu lassen, Rakel. Es kommt bei diesen Gespenstern darauf an, sie lange und intensiv genug anzuschauen, damit man erkennt, dass es bloß Gespenster sind. Das ist die Kunst. Tote, ohnmächtige Trugbilder.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Jeder läuft in den Fußstapfen derer, die es vor ihm gab.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Life owes you, but sometimes you have to be your own fucking debt collector.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“—Claro que a lo mejor por eso nos hacemos fotos —continuó Harry—. Para obtener pruebas falsas con las que poder fundamentar la afirmación falsa de que éramos felices. Porque pensar que nunca hemos sido felices se nos hace insoportable. Los adultos obligan a los niños a sonreír cuando les hacen fotos, los incluyen en la mentira; por eso sonreímos, fingimos felicidad. Pero Oleg nunca fue capaz de sonreír si no lo sentía, no era capaz de mentir, no tenía ese don.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“A vida é um restaurante que não podemos frequentar. A morte é a conta da refeição que não tivemos sequer oportunidade de provar. Por isso, pedes o repasto mais caro na ementa, também já estás nas lonas, certo, e talvez consigas levar uma garfada à boca. p288”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“change of scene. A new start. And it worked.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“In any conflict we instinctively take the side of those who look most like us.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“She stroked his shoulder, up as far as his neck and back again. Over his chest. And he thought she must be able to feel his heart beating and that she was like the Pioneer TV they had stopped producing because it was too good, and you could see it was good because the black part of the picture was so black.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Such is the end of the evil-doer: the death of a sinner always reflects his life.”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Nybakk’s shotgun in Oppsal was the easier option. Furthermore, a shotgun gave him more room to maneuver. To retrieve the rifle”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
“Because the thought that we weren’t happy at least for some time during our lives is unbearable. Adults”
― Jo Nesbø, quote from Phantom
Jo Nesbø
Born place: in Oslo, Norway
See more on GoodReads
“Tesla, at least, seemed perfectly satisfied with what he had achieved in Colorado. He had made lightning dance at his command; he had used the whole Earth as a piece of laboratory equipment; and he had received messages from the stars. Now he was in a hurry to get on with the future.”
― quote from Tesla: Man Out of Time
“And when they start talking, and they always do, you find that each of them has a story they want to tell. Everyone, no matter how old or young, has some lesson they want to teach. And I sit there and listen and learn all about life from people who have no idea how to live it.”
― Paul Neilan, quote from Apathy and Other Small Victories
“A man's allowed to make lots of small mistakes, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if the mistakes are big ones and they weigh him down, his only solution is to stop taking himself seriously. It's the only way to avoid suffering - suffering, prolonged, can be fatal.”
― Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, quote from Dirty Havana Trilogy
“I prefer to thin of it as rebooting my ovarian operating system.”
― Sonya Sones, quote from What My Mother Doesn't Know
“Male pride is not really about pride. It's about fear - the fear of being seen as feminine. And that's why "girl stuff" is so dangerous. And as long as most men remain deathly afraid of it, they'll continue to take it out on the rest of us.”
― Julia Serano, quote from Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
The Human Stain
Touch of Frost
The Great Santini
Thr3e
Terrier
BreatheBookQuoters 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.
