Quotes from Shift

“When there’s only God to blame, we forgive him. When it’s our fellow man, we destroy him.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Predict the inevitable”, she said, “and you're bound to be right one day.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“It was the hubris of each generation to think this anew, to think that their time was special, that all things would come to an end with them.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“His discovery was that evil men arose from evil systems, and that any man had the potential to be perverted. Which was why some systems needed to come to an end.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Here’s what I tell the newly elected: the truth is gonna get out—it always does—but it’s gonna blend in with all the lies.” The Senator twirled a hand in the air. “You have to deny each lie and every truth with the same vinegar. Let those websites and blowhards who bitch about cover-ups confuse the public for you.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“And how much simpler things would be, how much better for us all, if we had people brave enough to do what was right, instead.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“All it took was for a lot of seemingly decent people to put the wrong person in power, and then pay for their innocent choice.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Liars and dead men – two parties unskilled at dispensing the truth.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“It explains the great quandary of why the most depressed societies are those with the fewest wants.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Hello, pineapples,’ he whispered. He bent his head toward his lap and punctured the can, listening closely. The pineapples whispered back. They told him they were safe to eat.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Donald was verging on the sad realization that humanity had been thrown to the brink of extinction by insane men in positions of power following one another, each thinking the others knew where they were going.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Statistics were magic like this: they could tell you with near-certainty that a thing would occur, without a hint of when or where.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“The stench of his own waste greeted him as he moved between the tall towers. That wasn't how you were supposed to greet someone, he thought.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“And then there was the routine, the mind-numbing routine. It was the castration of thought, the daily grind of an office worker who drooled at the clock, punched out, watched TV until sleep overtook him, slapped an alarm three times, did it again.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“His response was that it was a burden doing what he knew to be correct, to be sound and logical.’ Erskine ran one hand across the pod as if he could touch his daughter within. ‘And how much simpler things would be, how much better for us all, if we had people brave enough to do what was right, instead.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“At almost the same moment in humanity's broad history, mankind had discovered the means for bringing about its utter downfall. And the ability to forget it ever happened.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“You'll be given a commendation in my report."
"Thank you," Troy said. He didn't know what the fuck for.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Hush my Darling, don’t you cry I’m going to sing you a lullaby Though I’m far away it seems I’ll be with you in your dreams. Hush my Darling, go to sleep All around you angels keep In the morn and through the day They will keep your fears at bay. Sleep my Darling, don’t you cry I’m going to sing you a lullaby”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“The food in Silo One came from cans. Their bodies returned to the same.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Here was the love and violence in the hearts of men, all for their women”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Humans have this disease, Donny, this compulsion to move until we bump into something. And then we tunnel through that something, or we sail over the edge of the oceans, or we stagger across mountains—”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“He turned the coin over and over and contemplated the only thing unusual about him holding a trinket from a world fallen to ashes - and that was him being around to marvel at the loss. It was supposed to be people who died and cultures that lasted. Now, it was the other way around;”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“I was beautiful, once, you know.’ Mrs. Crowe withdrew her hands and folded them in her lap. ‘Once that’s gone, once it leaves us for good, no one will ever see it again.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“This was how the shift was supposed to go. Waiting and then doing. Sleeping and then waiting. Make it to dinner and then make it to bed. The end was always in sight. There was nothing to rebel against, just a routine.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Sheltering the women and the children played some part; Troy was sure of that. The women and children of Silo One had been gifted with a long sleep while the men stayed and took shifts. It removed the passion from the plans, forestalled the chance that the men might fight among themselves.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“The ice on the next pane was already disturbed, had been wiped away by someone recently. Beads of condensation stood like tiny lenses warping the light. He rubbed the glass and knew what had happened. He saw the woman inside with the auburn hair that she sometimes kept in a bun. This was not his wife. This was someone who wanted that, wanted him like that. ‘Hello?’ Troy turned toward the voice.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“Donald remembered running for Congress, thinking he was going to do real good for the future. And then he found himself in an office surrounded by a bewildering tempest of rules, memos and messages, and he quickly learned just to pray for the end of each day. He went from thinking he was going to save the world to passing the time until … until time ran out.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“The ice on the next pane was already disturbed, had been wiped away by someone recently. Beads of condensation stood like tiny lenses warping the light. He rubbed the glass and knew what had happened. He saw the woman inside with the auburn hair that she sometimes kept in a bun. This was not his wife. This was someone who wanted that, wanted him like that.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“The ice on the next pane was already disturbed, had been wiped away by someone recently. Beads of condensation stood like tiny lenses warping the light. He rubbed the glass and knew what had happened. He saw the woman inside with the auburn hair that she sometimes kept in a bun. This was not his wife. This was someone who wanted that, wanted him like that. ‘Hello?”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

“They must believe they were heading somewhere. Or did they not care? Was it a case of following the tracks laid down yesterday? A boot in a hole, a boot in a hole, round and round. Did these men see themselves as deck hands on some great ark with a noble purpose? Or were they walking in circles simply because they knew the way? Donald remembered running for Congress, thinking he was going to do real good for the future. And then he found himself in an office surrounded by a bewildering tempest of rules, memos and messages, and he quickly learned just to pray for the end of each day. He went from thinking he was going to save the world to passing the time until … until time ran out.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Shift

About the author

Popular quotes

“I woke up not fifteen minutes ago and the second I saw your message, I hopped in my truck and sped over here." I spread my arms wide. "Look at me. I ran into the fing rain across my apartment parking lot and yours to get to you.”
― Monica Murphy, quote from One Week Girlfriend

“Escape, baby. The lack of control is control. When you’re hanging on each moment, anticipating what comes next, it leaves room for nothing else. That’s what I want to do for you.
…
“And who helps you escape, Liam?”
“We’re going to the same place, Amy. I’m not standing outside, watching.” His lips find my neck and then my ear. “I’m right here with you.”
― Lisa Renee Jones, quote from Escaping Reality

“Some people ask: “Why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?” Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general—but to choose to use the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender. It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been excluded. It would be a way of denying that the problem of gender targets women. That the problem was not about being human, but specifically about being a female human. For centuries, the world divided human beings into two groups and then proceeded to exclude and oppress one group. It is only fair that the solution to the problem acknowledge that.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, quote from We Should All Be Feminists

“It does not matter. You train your soldiers to kill using video games. They blow enough people up on their computer and it becomes easier for them to kill with a real weapon. Why do you think your government funds so many war and terrorism movies? Hollywood does your dirty work for you. Had 9/11 happened twenty years earlier, the country would have been in chaos, but people have seen enough bad things on their television screen to prepare them for just about anything. We do not really need to talk about government conspiracies.”
― Sylvain Neuvel, quote from Sleeping Giants

“It was only a phrase that went from mouth to mouth and was never quite swallowed.”
― Ismail Kadare, quote from Broken April

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.