“I’m a Russian. Without the Motherland, I’d be nothing.”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
“No, that’s not the style of these people,’ explained Maxy. ‘You shouldn’t think of these Bolsheviks as modern politicians. They were religious fanatics. Their Marxism was fanatical; their fervour was semi-Islamic; and they saw themselves as members of a secret military-religious order like the medieval Crusaders or the Knights Templar. They were ruthless, amoral and paranoid. They believed that millions would have to die to create their perfect world. Family, love and friendship were nothing compared to the holy grail. People died of gossip at Stalin’s court. For a man like Satinov, secrecy was everything.”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
“- Nego, kako ti je žena?
On odmahnu glavom.
- Ja sam duhom daleko od svog doma. Dolazim i odlazim kao avet. Uviđam i sam da sumnjam u sve u šta sam nekada verovao.
- (...) a s kim ti razgovaraš?
- Ni sa kim. Ne sa svojom ženom. Pomislim ponekad kako si ti možda jedina s kojom ne moram da se pretvaram jer nas dvoje se samo napola znamo, nismo bliski prijatelji, shvataš?
Sašenjka se nasmeši.
- Kakav smo mi čudan par!
Zatvorila je oči i pustila da joj vetar i pahuljice snega hlade lice.”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
“Mi pisci imamo neku tajnu koja nas održava u životu i daje nam nadu, mada znamo da to što pišemo nikad nećemo moći da objavimo. Isak Babelj radi na nečemu tajnom, Miša Bulgakov piše roman o đavolu u Moskvi. Ali niko ih nikad neće čitati. Niko ni mene neće čitati.”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
“Young Stalin Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar Potemkin: Catherine the Great’s Imperial Partner”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
“Šta bi bilo kada bih ti sad rekao, bez glupiranja, da kroz ova vrata ulazimo u tajni svet u kojem niko ne može da nas vidi i takne, svet u kome ću te voleti više od samog života? Znam da nije palata. Možda je samo bedna baštenska šupa, ali je i šupa u kojoj želim da te obožavam i volim ne traćeći više ni sekund svog kratkog života u ovom zlokobnom svetu. Možda smešno zvuči, ali došla si u leto mog života. Ja nisam star, ali nisam više ni mlad, i poznajem sebe. Ti si jedina žena mog života, žena koje ću se setiti na samrti. (...) Benja je uze u zagrljaj i ona po njegovom pogledu i čvrstini njegovih usana nasluti da ozbiljno misli ono što je rekao, da je stvarno voli i da je ovaj trenutak, u njihovom intimnom svetu, jedan od onih svetih događaja koji se zbivaju jednom ili dvaput u životu, a nekome se nikada i ne dogode.”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
“You’re too cute, Katinka, for a historian.”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
“Nijedan dan, nijedan sat, nijedan minut nije prošao a da ga nije razdirala želja da je vidi, da joj priča, da je dodiruje. Žudeo je da se naslađuje gledajući je, da napoji svoja sećanja, tako da posle, kad više ne bude s njom, može u mislima da je dodirne i oseti. (...) Ali ljubav uvek rađa patnju. (...) Može li to potrajati? Ne smemo gubiti ni trenutka, pomislio je.”
― Simon Sebag Montefiore, quote from Sashenka
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Born place: in London, The United Kingdom
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“But I don't care about guys all the time. I want to fall in love with Daniel. But I don't want to get hurt, and that's what love means. It means getting hurt.”
― Andra Brynn, quote from Where I End and You Begin
“To be watched made her uneasy, as though she had to compete with every other person he might gaze upon, and she had known for quite some time that competing was not what she did best. Even as a child this had been true; the game of musical chairs had filled her with panic — that dreadful, icy knowledge that when the music stopped someone would be out. It was better when she stopped trying, because there were so many things a young person was required to endure: spelling bees, endless games in gym class; in all these things she had stopped trying, or if she tried, she did so with little expectation of herself, so was not disappointed to misspell “glacier” in a fourth-grade spelling bee, or to strike out in softball because she never swung the bat. It became a habit, not trying, and in junior high, when the biggest prize of course was to be popular among the right friends, Amy found she lacked the fortitude once more to get in there and swing. Arriving at the point where she felt almost invisible, she was aware that her solitude was something she might have brought upon herself. But here was Mr. Robertson and she was not invisible to him. Not when he looked at her like that—she couldn't be. (Still, there was her inner tendency to flee, the recrudescence of self-doubt.) But his hand came forward and touched her elbow.”
― Elizabeth Strout, quote from Amy and Isabelle
“money is a living moving force; leave it still, and it accumulates; expend it, and it gratifies every wish; save it, and that is best of all, and you hold in your hand a lever that will lift the world. I tell you that there is no height to which it cannot bring you, no gulf it will not bridge you.”
― H. Rider Haggard, quote from Dawn
“She tried to sleep—she was exhausted, it should have just happened—but closing her eyes did not stop her mind.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Easy Way Out
“The meanings that God calls us to in our lives are never abstract. Though the call may ask us to redefine, or refine what we know as life, it does not demand a renunciation of life in favor of something beyond it. Moreover, the call itself is always composed of life. That is, it is not some hitherto unknown voice to which we respond; it is life calling to life." ”
― Christian Wiman, quote from My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer
Never Knowing
Hitchcock
The Memory Artists
Dreadnought
How It EndsBookQuoters 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.
