“I do, I’m afraid, understand books far more readily than I understand people. Books are so easy to get along with.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“I think, actually, everyone starts out with some strange in them. It's just whether or not you decide to keep it.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Books crowbar the world open for you.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Only weak thinkers do not love the sky.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“I know these sorts of people. They're not men. They're mustaches with idiots attached.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Perhaps, she thought, that’s what love does. It’s not there to make you feel special. It’s to make you brave. It was like a ration pack in the desert, she thought, like a box of matches in a dark wood. Love and courage, thought Sophie—two words for the same thing.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“You have been the great green adventure of my life. Without you my days would be unlit.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“But it's a child! You're a man!"
"Your powers of observation are formidable," said Charles. "You are a credit to your optician.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“It was what her mother had always been. A place to put down her heart. A resting stop to recover her breath. A set of stars and maps.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“The baby was almost certainly one year old. They knew this because of the red rosette pinned to her front, which read, 1!
"Or rather," said Charles Maxim, "the child is either one year old or she has come first in a competition. I believe babies are rarely keen participants in competitive sport. Shall we therefore assume it is the former?”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“But those coins are wishes! You’re stealing other people’s wishes!”
The look Matteo gave her was so flinty, she could have chipped a tooth on it. “If you have money to waste on wishes, you don’t need the wishes as badly as I need the money.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“He was thirty-six years old, and six foot three. He spoke English to people and French to cats, and Latin to the birds. He had once nearly killed himself trying to read and ride a horse at the same time.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“She hated official letters. They made her feel nervous. The people who wrote them sounded like they had filing cabinets where their hearts should be.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“You look as though you own a minimum of one pony.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Adults are taught not to believe anything unless it is boring or ugly.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“It is difficult to believe extraordinary things.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Let me introduce you. Sophie, this is Miss Eliot, from the National Childcare Agency. Miss Eliot, this is Sophie, from the ocean.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Sophie and Charles did not live neatly, but neatness, Sophie thought, was not necessary for happiness.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Governments can do both great and stupid things.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“If, when reading and walking at the same time, he bumped into a lamppost, he would apologize and check that the lamppost was unhurt.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Books crow-bar the world open for you.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“You shouldn't say what you don't mean”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“It's like eight thousand birds, Charles! Charles! Isn't it like eight thousand birds?”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“he had kindness where other people had lungs,”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Why didn’t she keep looking?” “My darling, because she is an adult.” Sophie ducked behind her hair. Her face was hot and tight and angry. “That’s not a reason.” “It is, my love. Adults are taught not to believe anything unless it is boring or ugly.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“An Englishman without an umbrella is less than half a man,” he said. Matteo”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“The dark-haired girl had the face of someone who had seen a lot, and wouldn’t mind punching most of it.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“If music can shine, Sophie thought, this music shone... 'It's like eight thousand birds, Charles!'
When the music closed, she clapped until the rest of the audience had stopped and until her hands were hot and blotched with red... There was something in the music that felt familiar to Sophie. 'It feels,' she said to Charles, 'like home.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Quite suddenly Sophie couldn't bear it. She pelted up to her bedroom, tripping over the stairs. The tears in her eyes were making the world blur... She stamped and kicked...
It took her some minutes to realize that Charles was standing in the doorway... 'This calls for hot water... Get in the tub, Sophie, and do some splashing. You will be surprised at what a difference splashing can make.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from Rooftoppers
“Now general benevolence was one of the leading features of the Pickwickian theory, and no one was more remarkable for the zealous manner in which he observed so noble a principle than Mr. Tracy Tupman. The number of instances recorded on the Transactions of the Society, in which that excellent man referred objects of charity to the houses of other members for left-off garments or pecuniary relief is almost incredible. ‘I should be very happy to lend you a change of apparel for the purpose,’ said Mr. Tracy Tupman, ‘but you are rather slim, and I am—’ ‘Rather fat — grown-up Bacchus — cut the leaves — dismounted from the tub, and adopted kersey, eh? — not double distilled, but double milled — ha! ha! pass the wine.”
― Charles Dickens, quote from The Complete Works of Charles Dickens
“It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.”
― John Piper, quote from Don't Waste Your Life
“To love people as they are is impossible. And yet one must. And therefore do good to them, clenching your feelings, holding your nose, and shutting your eyes (this last is necessary). Endure evil from them, not getting angry with them if possible, ‘remembering that you, too, are a human being’.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, quote from The Adolescent
“Mistakes can be fixed. Bad decisions can be undone. Model houses can be rebuilt. And perfection is only a word that makes you feel bad about yourself.”
― Jessica Brody, quote from My Life Undecided
“During times of scarcity at least, yes. This is one probable explanation for why most life on Earth, including ours, is programmed to die.” Desh’s”
― Douglas E. Richards, quote from Wired
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.