“When you're surrounded by stupidity, self-preservation isn't a sin.”
― Meljean Brook, quote from Riveted
“I've never understood it. That is always the first thing someone asks: Where are you from. Not 'What do you like?' or 'What do you believe?' or even 'What is your mother like?' which all have more bearing on the person I am. And if I don't tell them where I'm from, they try to guess.... It drives them mad, as if to know me they need to know where I am from.”
― Meljean Brook, quote from Riveted
“People never believed of others what they couldn't imagine of themselves.”
― Meljean Brook, quote from Riveted
“every man had a choice: feed that which makes you happy, or feed that which makes you rage.”
― Meljean Brook, quote from Riveted
“He wanted her for the rest of his life. And on his dying breath, he would still want another second with her, another hour, another lifetime.”
― Meljean Brook, quote from Riveted
“Yes. My mother, for one. As a child I loved her, despite knowing so little about her. But now, knowing everything she has done, how stubborn she can be, how blind, how strong, how clever…knowing her as a woman, I love her so much more.”
― Meljean Brook, quote from Riveted
“No one was more stunned by the choice than her mother, who claimed to the saleswoman that she hadn't seen Danielle that dressed up since her first Communion.”
― Siobhan Vivian, quote from The List
“So as not to see anything any more, I turned towards the wall, but alas, what was now facing me was that partition which used to serve us as a morning messenger, that partition which, as responsive as a violin in rendering every nuance of a feeling, reported so exactly to my grandmother my fear at once of waking her and, if she were already awake, of not being heard by her and so of her not coming, then immediately, like a second instrument taking up the melody, informing me of her coming and bidding me be calm. I dared not put out my hand to that wall, any more than to a piano on which my grandmother had been playing and which still vibrated from her touch. I knew that I might knock now, even louder, that nothing would wake her any more, that I should hear no response, that my grandmother would never come again. And I asked nothing more of God, if a paradise exists, than to be able, there, to knock on that wall with the three little raps which my grandmother would recognize among a thousand, and to which she would give those answering knocks which meant: "Don't fuss, little mouse, I know you're impatient, but I'm coming," and that he would let me stay with her throughout eternity, which would not be too long for the two of us.”
― Marcel Proust, quote from Sodom and Gomorrah
“Warmth.
Well-being.
And a taste not like copper, but like something rich and strange.
Later, she'd always grope for ways to describe it, but she could only think of things like: well a little bit like the way vanilla bean smells, and a little bit like the way silk feels, and a little bit like the way a waterfall looks.”
― L.J. Smith, quote from Daughters of Darkness
“..., and I went back to my old habit of walking the halls looking down most of the time. It was different now, though—before I’d done it without thinking, because I didn’t know another way. Now I was actively avoiding a life I knew might be out there. But it was my choice.”
― Michelle Falkoff, quote from Playlist for the Dead
“Wake him or put a bullet through his brain. No one will protest. Or leave him—but I suggest choosing, my dear. I have learned it is best to be haunted by one’s actions rather than one’s lack of them.”
― Gordon Dahlquist, quote from The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
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.