Quotes from Planet of the Apes

Pierre Boulle ·  268 pages

Rating: (27.6K votes)


“But once an original book has been written-and no more than one or two appear in a century-men of letters imitate it, in other words, they copy it so that hundreds of thousands of books are published on exactly the same theme, with slightly different titles and modified phraseology. This should be able to be achieved by apes, who are essentially imitators, provided, of course, that they are able to make use of language.”
― Pierre Boulle, quote from Planet of the Apes


“I racked my brains to discover some sense in the events I had witnessed. I needed this intellectual exercise to escape from the despair that haunted me, to prove to myself that I was a man, I mean a man from Earth, a reasoning creature who made it a habit to discover a logical explanation for the apparently miraculous whims of nature, and not a beast hunted down by highly developed apes.”
― Pierre Boulle, quote from Planet of the Apes


“This time I felt it was impossible that they could entertain further doubt as to my true condition. Alas, I did not yet know the blindness of orangutans!”
― Pierre Boulle, quote from Planet of the Apes


“Des hommes raisonnables? Des hommes détenteurs de la sagesse? Des hommes inspirés par l'espirit? ... Non, ce n'est pas possible.”
― Pierre Boulle, quote from Planet of the Apes


“That perfected machines may one day succeed us is, I remember, an extremely commonplace notion on Earth. It prevails not only among poets and romantics but in all classes of society. Perhaps it is because it is so widespread, born spontaneously in popular imagination, that it irritates scientific minds. Perhaps it is also for this very reason that it contains a germ of truth. Only a germ: Machines will always be machines; the most perfected robot, always a robot. But what of living creatures possessing a certain degree of intelligence, like apes? And apes, precisely, are endowed with a keen sense of imitation.…”
― Pierre Boulle, quote from Planet of the Apes



“But how could one hold this against her when faced with the perfection of her body? Suddenly”
― Pierre Boulle, quote from Planet of the Apes


Video

About the author

Pierre Boulle
Born place: in Avignon, France
Born date February 21, 1912
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Reagan…god. Why is this so hard? He lifts his head, his eyes roaming, searching, wavering. He swallows and sighs, tries again. “I’ve never loved anyone before, Reagan. I don’t know how.”
“You’re doing just fine so far,” I tell him.”
― Jasinda Wilder, quote from Captured


“Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Kane Chronicles


“Tink, you are the best thing that's ever happened to that kid. I don't care if he only has one day left with you or twenty, you just keep doing whatever you're doing until you have to go, and I will forever worship the ground you walk on. Because a little slice of heaven is better than none at all.”
― Linda Kage, quote from Be My Hero


“Time evaporate, money is always needed, comforts found where they were not expected and excitement dug up in barren ground.”
― Susan Sontag, quote from The Volcano Lover: A Romance


“American Born Confused Desi Emigrated From Gujarat House In Jersey Keeping Lotsa Motels Named Omkarnath Patel Quickly Reaching Success Through Underhanded Vicious Ways Xenophobic Yet Zestful.

or

American Born Confused Desi Emigrated from Gujarat House In Jersey Kids Learning Medicine Now Owning Property Quite Reasonable Salary Two Uncles Visiting White Xenophobia Yet Zestful

Now you know your ABCDs.”
― Tanuja Desai Hidier, quote from Born Confused


Interesting books

The Light
(2.9K)
The Light
by D.J. MacHale
The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
(38.5K)
The Reason for God:...
by Timothy J. Keller
The Wandering Fire
(13.6K)
The Wandering Fire
by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
(16.2K)
The Happiness Hypoth...
by Jonathan Haidt
A Knight of the Word
(12.7K)
A Knight of the Word
by Terry Brooks
Out of Oz
(16.3K)
Out of Oz
by Gregory Maguire

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.