Quotes from Shades of Gray

246 pages

Rating: (5.4K votes)


“It's like this old patchwork quilt my momma used to have...Each piece on that quilt meant something. And some of those pieces were the damn ugliest things you've ever seen...But some of the pieces were so beautiful they almost hurt my eyes to look at when I was a kid...That's the best you can hope for, Danny. That your life turns out like that patchwork quilt. That you can add some bright, sparkling pieces to the dirty, stained ones you have so far. That in the end, the bright patches might take up more space on your quilt than the dark ones.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“Why," he panted into Danny's neck, "why's it so goddamn good?" He was surprised at how full his voice sounded, so close to overflowing its steady banks.
Danny stroked his hair, his lips warm against Miller's cheek. "Because it's us, Miller," he whispered. "Because it's us.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“Congratulations Danny. You're now the legal equivalent of a male nurse.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“You make me want to be a better man," Danny said. "You make me want to be worthy of you, Miller. But if that's ever going to stick, if it's ever going to be real, I have to do it for me. I can't do it just because its who you need me to be. It has to be who I need to be too.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“It’s too late for that. It’s too late to go back,” Danny said, gentle but firm. “Now you have to decide the man you want to be from here on out.”
― quote from Shades of Gray



“Who gets everything they want, Danny, exactly how they want it? You have to decide the most important thing and go from there.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“You've had his dick in your hand and your tongue in his mouth and you can't sit down and eat a bowl of cereal with him ?”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“It’s always our mistakes, the things we aren’t proud of, that are the first ones to stand up, ready to be counted. That’s human nature and it’s not going to change, not for me or for you, either.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“That's the best you can hope for, Danny. That your life turns out like that patchwork quilt. That you can add some bright, sparkling pieces to the dirty, stained ones you've got so far. That in the end, the bright patches might take up more space on your quilt than the dark ones.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“finding what made you happy was only the beginning of the journey—figuring out how to keep it often proved to be the unreachable destination.”
― quote from Shades of Gray



“By letting go, Danny had freed him to pursue, had forced Miller to find the courage to follow.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“This is the best, most real thing that’s ever happened to me,” Danny said quietly. “I’ve spent my whole life jumping from one bad choice to the next. Choosing this, with you, is probably the only decision I’ve ever been proud of making.” He pressed himself closer to Miller’s back, wrapping his arms around his waist. “I’ll never be sorry.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“...and then Danny was moving on him in the rhythm they'd found so easily in the past, their bodies remembering the way of it as if they'd never been apart, as if they'd only been waiting to find each other again.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“He didn’t know if his capacity to love had been stunted, buried beneath the need for survival for so long it had forgotten how to breathe....”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“Danny, whose body made Miller forget the world and whose soul, even marked with shadows, made Miller believe in something beyond the stars.”
― quote from Shades of Gray



“But so far their love had proved deeper than their doubts, their faith in each other more unshakeable than the fear.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“Something in the mysterious combination of Danny and him burned hotter and brighter than anything he'd ever imagined.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“Whatever it was Miller did, he did it because he thought you were worth it. He chose you, Danny.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“That’s the best you can hope for, Danny. That your life turns out like that patchwork quilt. That you can add some bright, sparkling pieces to the dirty, stained ones you’ve got so far. That in the end, the bright patches might take up more space on your quilt than the dark ones.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“so far their love had proved deeper than their doubts, their faith in each other more unshakeable than the fear. And for today they were happy. Danny didn’t know about tomorrow. But he could live with the uncertainty, because what they had right now was pretty goddamn good.”
― quote from Shades of Gray



“I worry about setting myself up to fail, about letting people down. If I don’t try for a better life, then I don’t have to worry about disappointing anybody. […] You’d be disappointing yourself, though, wouldn’t you, by not taking the chance?”
― quote from Shades of Gray


“But Danny’s feelings for Hinestroza were too complicated for such single-minded emotion. Rage stewed in a melting-pot mix with respect and fear and the humiliating, aching need to be loved.”
― quote from Shades of Gray


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“Has this ever happened to you? You are washing your face, and suddenly you do not recognize the woman staring back at you. “Who is this?” you ask the mirror on the wall. No reply. She looks vaguely familiar but bears little resemblance to the woman you were expecting to see there. Psychologists call this phenomenon a “displacement of self,” and it usually occurs during times of great stress (which for many of us is an everyday occurrence).”
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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.

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