Quotes from Secret Smile

Nicci French ·  384 pages

Rating: (3.8K votes)


“And how do you undo damage that’s been built into the foundations? With houses, it’s easier to pull the whole thing down and start again. You can’t do that with people.”
― Nicci French, quote from Secret Smile


“it was like glass sandpaper being rubbed on my skin.”
― Nicci French, quote from Secret Smile


“Better to start too slowly and build up,” said a piece of text in italics, “than start too quickly and give up.”
― Nicci French, quote from Secret Smile


“If you call the day after, you’re maybe a bit desperate because, since the first day is out of the question, the second day is really the first day, so you’re calling on the first day. If they’re going to call, people call on the third day.”
― Nicci French, quote from Secret Smile


“Within families, you’re stuck with the character they think you are, whatever you do. You become a war hero and all that your parents ever talk about is something supposedly funny you used to do when you were in nursery school.”
― Nicci French, quote from Secret Smile



About the author

Nicci French
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“What is a lovely queen like you”—his nose wrinkles—“doing in a smelly place like this?”
― A.G. Howard, quote from Unhinged


There’s nothing gained in lamenting what never was.
― Peter V. Brett, quote from The Desert Spear


“There's such a thing as free will, Tanner. You didn't have to go along with me, unless you want to admit your brain is ruled by your dick. And I didn't get the impression you regretted any of that.”
― Alastair Reynolds, quote from Chasm City


“That is the true mingling of kinship when a man can tell   someone all his thoughts;   anything is better than to be fickle;   he is no true friend who only says pleasant things.”
― quote from The Poetic Edda


“There was nothing inherently wrong with colonialism, he felt, if its administration was fair and just. He”
― Adam Hochschild, quote from King Leopold's Ghost


Interesting books

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
(5.2K)
If Not, Winter: Frag...
by Sappho
Raced
(9.9K)
Raced
by K. Bromberg
Henna House
(3K)
Henna House
by Nomi Eve
Incendiary
(279)
Incendiary
by Carole Cummings
Leaving the Atocha Station
(7.9K)
Leaving the Atocha S...
by Ben Lerner
Boy Nobody
(6.3K)
Boy Nobody
by Allen Zadoff

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.