Quotes from Serena

“It's a hard place this world can be. No wonder a baby cries coming in to it. Tears from the start”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“Don't love anything that can be taken away.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“She realized that being starved for words was the same as being starved for food, because both left a hollow place inside you, a place you needed filled to make it through another day. Rachel remembered how growing up she’d thought living on a farm with just a father was as lonely as you could be. (130)”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“What made losing someone you loved bearable was not remembering but forgetting. Forgetting small things first... it's amazing how much you could forget, and everything you forgot made that person less alive inside you until you could finally endure it. After more time passed you could let yourself remember, even want to remember. But even then what you felt those first days could return and remind you the grief was still there, like old barbed wire embedded in a tree's heartwood.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“You got one choice at the beginning but if you didn't choose right, things got narrow real quick.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“Nothing is but what is now”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“It’s ever been the way of the man of science or philosophy. Most folks stay in the dark and then complain they can’t see nothing.” – Snipes (185)”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“It struck her how eating was a comfort during a hard time because it reminded you that there had been other days, good days, when you’d eaten the same thing. Reminded you there were good days in life, when precious little else did. (268)”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“And darkness. You can’t see it no more than you can see air, but when it’s all around you sure enough know it.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“One thing's sure and nothing surer. The rich get richer and the poor get- children”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“Others can make us vulnerable and the sooner such vulnerabilities are dealt with the better”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“We want what's in this world but we also want what ain't.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“A small profit it better than a big loss”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“I don’t even have a choice. Rachel thought how that was pretty much true of everything now, that you got one choice at the beginning but if you didn’t choose right, and she hadn’t, things got narrow real quick. Like trying to wade a river, she thought. You take a wrong step and set your foot on a wobbly rock or in a drop-off and you’re swept away, and all you can do then is try to survive. (83)”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“We had some good times at school. I didn't know how good those times was till I left, but I guess that's the way of it”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“You men notice so little, Pemberton. Physical strength is your gender's sole advantage.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“A kind of annihilation, was what Serena called their coupling, and though Pemberton would never have thought to describe it that way, he knew her words had named the thing exactly.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“She’d never known fear had a taste, but it did.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“It struck her how eating was a comfort during a hard time because it reminded you that there had been other days, good days, when you’d eaten the same thing.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“I missed that one,' Henryson said. 'The war, I mean.'

'Don't worry,' Snipes said. 'Another one's always coming down the pike. That's something all your historians and philosophers agree on. A feller over in Germany looks to be ready to set a match to Europe soon enough, and quick as they snuff him out there'll be another to take his place.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“Rachel felt the grief grow so wide and deep it felt like a dark fathomless pool she'd never emerge from. Because there was nothing left to do now, nothing except endure it.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“But as Rachel watched the sheriff enter the front door, it was hard to believe the farmhouse itself was still there, because a place where something so terrible had happened shouldn't continue to exist in the world. The earth itself shouldn't be able to abide it.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“It amazed Rachel how much you could forget, and everything you forgot made that person less alive inside you until you could finally endure it. After more time passed you could let yourself remember, even want to remember. But even then what you felt those first days could return and remind you the grief was still there, like old barbed wire embedded in a tree's heartwood. And now this brown-eyed child. Don't love it, Rachel told herself. Don't love anything that can be taken away.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“The world lies all before us.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“A great business investment, religion. I’ll take it over government bonds anytime.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“You Men notice so little Pemberton, Physical strength is your genders sole advantage" - Serena”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

“It’s a hard place this world can be. No wonder a baby cries coming into it. Tears from the very start.”
― Ron Rash, quote from Serena

About the author

Popular quotes

“He was a guy. A guy guy. As far as I was concerned, he probably had the dead bodies of small children and puppies hidden in his locker.”
― Elizabeth Eulberg, quote from The Lonely Hearts Club

“When Lillian left work in the early evening the streets were slick and shiny with rain and the lamps flared yellow giving her the melancholy feeling that always came with the rain and the dark. She’d just struggled to push up her umbrella when the farmer from Saskatchewan came out of the shadows and tipped his hat again, very politely, and said could he escort her home? She put her small hand on his broad arm and held the umbrella over both their heads (he was very tall) and he walked her all the way back to her lodging-house where the landlady, Mrs Raicevic, looked after Edmund after school. By then, Lillian had learned the farmer’s name and she said, ‘Edmund, this is Mr Donner,’ and Pete Donner squatted right down and said, ‘Hello there, Edmund, you can call me Pete.’ Although he never did, preferring to call him ‘Pop’ almost from the day his mother married him.”
― Kate Atkinson, quote from Behind the Scenes at the Museum

“Right!"
"Right!"
"You can get there!"
"I can get there!"
"You're a natural at counting to two!"
"I'm a nat'ral at counting to two!"
"If you can count to two, you can count to anything!"
"If I can count to two, I can count to anything!"
"And then the world is your mollusc!"
"My mollusc! What's a mollusc?”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from Men at Arms: The Play

“Starling lowered her voice, but it carried anyway. “He is FitzChivalry, son of Chivalry the Abdicated. And you are the Fool.”
“Once, perhaps, I was the Fool. It is common knowledge here in Jhaampe. But now I am the Toymaker. As I no longer use the other title, you may take it for yourself if you wish. As for Tom, I believe he takes the title Bed Bolster these days.”
“I will be seeing the Queen about this.”
“A wise decision. If you wish to become her Fool, she is certainly the one you must see. But for now, let me show you something else. No, step back, please, so you can see it all. Here it comes.” I heard the slam and the latch. “The outside of my door,” the Fool announced gladly. “I painted it myself. Do you like it?”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Quest

“Sometimes the ones you trust aren't the most trustworthy. Just better actors.”
― Veronica Blade, quote from Something Witchy This Way Comes

Interesting books

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.