“Okay, this is the wisdom. First, time spent on reconnaissanse is never wasted. Second, almost anything can be improved with the addition of bacon. And finally, there is no problem on Earth that can't be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“The cucumber and the tomato are both fruit; the avocado is a nut. To assist with the dietary requirements of vegetarians, on the first Tuesday of the month a chicken is officially a vegetable.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“The safest course was actually the simplest-do nothing at all and hope everything turned out for the best. It wasn't a great plan, but it had the benefits of simplicity and a long tradition. ”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“the best lies to tell are the ones people want to believe”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“You see? I know where every single book used to be in the library.' She pointed to the shelf opposite. 'Over there was Catch-22, which was a hugely popular fishing book and one of a series, I believe.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Almost anything can be improved with the addition of bacon.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“I didn't set out to discover a truth. I was actually sent to the Outer Fringes to conduct a chair census and learn some humility. But the truth inevitably found me, as important truths often do, like a lost thought in need of a mind.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“You many have noticed I have a temper ... but when I calmed down, I realized that this world, blighted and imperfect as it is, would be better with you in it.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“If you enjoyed laughing in the face of death, you might like to have a crack at High Saffron. One hundred merits, and all you have to do is take a look.'
'I understand there's a one hundred percent fatality rate?'
'True. But up until the moment of death there was a one hundred percent survival rate. Really, I shouldn't let anything as meaningless as statistics put you off.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Were you listening to a word I said '
'I kind of switched off when you drew breath.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“The youthful stationmaster wore a Blue Spot on his uniform and remonstrated with the driver that the train was a minute late, and that he would have to file a report.
The driver retorted that since there could be no material differene between a train that arrived at a station and a station that arrived at a train, it was equally the staionmaster's fault.
The stationmaster replied that he could not be blamed, because he had no control over the speed of the station; to which the engine driver replied that the stationmaster could control its placement, and that if it were only a thousand yards closer to Vermillion, the problem would be solved.
To this the stationmaster replied that if the driver didn't accept the lateness as his fault, he would move the station a thousand yards farther from Vermillion and make him not just late, but demeritably overdue.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“I don't need you to agree with me," she said quietly." I'll go away happy with a little bit of doubt. Doubt is good. It's an emotion we can build on. Perhaps if we feed it with curiosity it will blossom into something useful, like suspicion - and action.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“A surfeit of information often hides an untruth,” he said, with annoying clarity.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Love isn't sensible, Red. I think that's the point.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“I've managed to bring the backlog down to a mere sixty-eight years," she announced with some small sense of achievement. "I hope to be able to start marking the papers of pupils who are still alive by the end of the decade.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Acceptable rules of conduct were suspended when it came to the spoon shortage. The deficit had gotten so bad that prices were all but unaffordable, and dynastic spoon succession had become a matter of considerable interest. Spoons were even postcode engraved and carried on one's person to eliminate theft, and good table manners, one of the eight pillars upon which the Collective was built, had been relaxed to allow tea to be stirred - shockingly - with the handle of a fork.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Marriage is an honorable estate and should not be used simply as an excuse for legal intercourse.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“He set fire to some potatoes, then cooked some undelivered post in the embers." - Dad
"Did he now? What a strange fellow. I would have done it the other way around." - Stafford”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“2.3.06.02.087: Unnecessary sharpening of pencils constitutes a waste of public resources, and will be punished as appropriate.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Because there's someone else here in East Carmin. Someone hopelessly unsuitable. It's all a really bad idea and will lead to trouble of the worst sort. But no matter what, every minute in her presence makes my life a minute more complete.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Unless the hole is MEANT to be square,' I said with a sudden erudition that surprised me, 'in which case, all the round pegs are the ones that are wrong, and if the ROUND hole is one that is not meant to be square, then the square ones will, no, hang on--'
'Shame,' said the historian, 'and you were doing so well.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“2.5.03.02.005: Generally speaking, if you fiddle with something, it will break. Don't.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Her areas of expertise are bar codes, book titles and maps - she has an original Parker Brothers map of the world.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“There is no problem on earth that can't be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“But the truth inevitably found me, as important truths often do, like a lost thought in need of a mind.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“After all, color in itself has no color — it's simply a construction of the mind: a sensation, like the Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly and the smell of honeysuckle.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“The best plans are always the simplest.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“You want me to spy on a National Colour operative?'
'Wow,' she said, 'you got it. I thought I was going to have to explain that one for a lot longer.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
“Edward, Edward," he said with a patronising smile, "there are no unanswered questions of any relevance. Every question that we need to ask has been answered fully. If you can't find the correct answer then you are obviously asking the wrong question.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from Shades of Grey
Jasper Fforde
Born place: in London, England, The United Kingdom
See more on GoodReads
“That’s the problem with all of us. We’ve never time to think about the past, and we’re always planning for the future. And since the future’s always the future, we never live in the present.”
― L.E. Modesitt Jr., quote from The Parafaith War
“It's extraordinary, the amount of misunderstandings there are even between two people who discuss a thing quite often - both of them assuming different things and neither of them discovering the discrepancy.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Towards Zero
“I think juju was worked on us at our Eleventh Rite. It’s . . . probably broken with marriage.” I looked hard at Luyu. “I think if you force intercourse, you’ll die.” “It is broken with marriage,” Diti said nodding. “My cousin always talks about how only a pure woman attracts a man pure enough to bring pleasure to the marriage bed. She says her husband is the purest man around . . . probably because he was the first who didn’t bring her pain.” “Ugh,” Luyu said, angrily. “We’re tricked into thinking our husbands are gods.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, quote from Who Fears Death
“Will you keep this?" he asked, holding up the pendant. "Please. Don't show it to your folks. But keep it, please. I'm not asking for anything else. You're going away. God knows when I'll see you again. I can accept what you say about your feelings for me. I have to. But what harm will it do if you take this, and then at least, I'll know that something I got for you is with you.”
― Howard Fast, quote from The Immigrants
“Per avere una visione nera del mondo bisogna infatti averci prima creduto. Ed è ancora più curioso e paradossale il fatto che i pessimisti, una volta delusi, non siano costantemente e sistematicamente disperati, e che in un certo senso sembrino disposti a rinnovare la loro speranza in ogni momento, pur dissimulandosi dietro la nera apparenza di amareggiati universali, in virtù di una sorta di pudore metafisico, come se il pessimismo, per conservarsi sempre forte e vigoroso avesse bisogno ogni tanto di una nuova e micidiale delusione.”
― Ernesto Sabato, quote from On Heroes and Tombs
The Sound of Waves
Triptych
The Duke's Perfect W...
The Binding
Seducing Cinderella
Blood Red, Snow Whit...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.
