Quotes from Room

Emma Donoghue ·  321 pages

Rating: (594K votes)


“Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“In the world I notice persons are nearly always stressed and have no time...I don't know how persons with jobs do the jobs and all the living as well...I guess the time gets spread very thin like butter all over the world, the roads and houses and playgrounds and stores, so there's only a little smear of time on each place, then everyone has to hurry on to the next bit.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“People don't always want to be with people. It gets tiring.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“If I was made of cake I'd eat myself before somebody else could.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“Stories are a different kind of true.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room



“When I was a little kid I thought like a little kid, but now I'm five I know everything”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“Goodbye, Room." I wave up at Skylight. "Say goodbye," I tell Ma. "Goodbye, Room."
Ma says it but on mute.
I look back one more time. It's like a crater, a hole where something happened. Then we go out the door.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“I've seen the world and I'm tired now.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“I think buddy is man talk for sweetie.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“Sometimes when persons say definitely it sounds actually less true.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room



“People move around so much in the world, things get lost.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“I think about Old Nick carrying me into the truck, I'm dizzy like I'm going to
fall down.

"Scared is what you're feeling," says Ma, "but brave is what you're doing."

"Huh?"

"Scaredybrave."

"Scave."

Word sandwiches always make her laugh but I wasn't being funny.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“The world is always changing brightness and hotness and soundness, I never know how it's going to be the next minute.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“[E]verywhere I'm looking at kids, adults mostly don't seem to like them, not even the parents do. They call the kids gorgeous and so cute, they make the kids do the thing all over again so they can take a photo, but they don't want to actually play with them, they'd rather drink coffee talking to other adults. Sometimes there's a small kid crying and the Ma of it doesn't even hear.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“This is a bad story.”
“Sorry. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“No, you should,” I say.
“But—”
“I don’t want there to be bad stories and me not know them.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room



“I remember manners, that's when people are scared to make other persons mad.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“When I tell her what I’m thinking and she tells me what she’s thinking, our each ideas jumping into the other’s head, like coulouring blue crayon on top of yellow that makes green.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“It’s called mind over matter. If we don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” When a bit of me hurts, I always mind.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“A lot of the world seems to repeat itself”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“In the world I notice persons are nearly always stressed and have no time. Even Grandma often says that, but she and Steppa don't have jobs, so I don't know how persons with jobs do the jobs and all the living as well. In Room me and Ma had time for everything. I guess the time gets spread very thin like butter over all the world, the roads and houses and playgrounds and stores, so there's only a little smear of time on each place, then everyone has to hurry on to the next bit.

Also everywhere I'm looking at kids, adults mostly don't seem to like them, not even the parents do. They call the kids gorgeous and so cute, they make the kids do the thing all over again so they can take a photo, but they don't want to actually play with them, they'd rather drink coffee talking to other adults. Sometimes there's a small kid crying and the Ma of it doesn't even hear.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room



“I look back one more time. It's like a crater, a hole where something happened.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“Me and Ma have a deal, we're going to try everything one time so we know what we like.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“There's not a thing wrong with you, you're right the whole way through.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“Maybe I’m a human, but I’m a me-and-Ma as well.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“When I was four I thought everything in TV was just TV, then I was five and Ma unlied about lots of it being pictures of real and Outside being totally real. Now I’m in Outside but it turns out lots of it isn’t real at all.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room



“You know who you belong to, Jack?”
“Yeah.”
“Yourself.”
He’s wrong, actually, I belong to Ma.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“Outside has everything. Whenever I think of a thing now like skis or fireworks or islands or elevators or yo-yos, I have to remember they're real, they're actually happening in Outside all together. It makes my head tired. And people too, firefighters teachers burglars babies saints soccer players and all sorts, they're all really in Outside. I'm not there, though, me and Ma, we're the only ones not there. Are we still real?”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


“Ma's still nodding. "You're the one who matters, though. Just you."

I shake my head till it's wobbling because there's no just me.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room


Video

About the author

Emma Donoghue
Born place: in Dublin, Ireland
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Nothing is more appealing than a handsome man who is also uncertain of himself.”
― Laurell K. Hamilton, quote from Guilty Pleasures


“When a caterpillar changes into a butterfly it loses it's caterpillar life.”
― L.J. Smith, quote from Night World, No. 1


“It's just a whisper of a kiss but something collapses in my skull. It's a feather-light brush of his mouth against my skin in a place I can't quite see. It's my mind speaking in a thousand different languages I don't understand.”
― Tahereh Mafi, quote from Unravel Me


“The absolute worst part of being depressed is the food. A person's relationship with food is one of their most important relationships. I don't think your relationship with your parents is that important. Some people never know their parents. I don't think your relationship with your friends are important. But your relationship with air-that's key. You can't break up with air. You're kind of stuck together. Only slightly less crucial is water. And then food. You can't be dropping food to hang with someone else. You need to strike up an agreement with it.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story


“Anyone could be seduced by research when the results poured in. The trick was to love it when the results weren't forthcoming, and the reasons why were elusive.”
― Lisa Genova, quote from Still Alice


Interesting books

This World We Live In
(26.4K)
This World We Live I...
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Bittersweet
(11.4K)
Bittersweet
by Sarah Ockler
The Redemption of Ajax
(3.9K)
The Redemption of Aj...
by Trinity Faegen
Gut Symmetries
(4K)
Gut Symmetries
by Jeanette Winterson
A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth
(51.4K)
A Christmas Carol, T...
by Charles Dickens
Address Unknown
(4.3K)
Address Unknown
by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

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.