“But chance runs like a river through all our lives, and being prepared for surprise is the best we can do.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“If my heart were a compass, you'd be North.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“IMBECILE!" the chef shouted. "Next time why don't you just put your whole HAND in the food, hey? Yes, your whole hand, or maybe your FACE! I arrange the food on plates with care, are you understanding what I am telling you? It is part of the art form of cooking, yes? A lovely plate of food is a thing of beauty! And then you, NUMBSKULL, come along and put your fat greasy FINGERS all over my plate, and SHAKE the plate, and move my food all around the plate until it looks like pigs' vomit!"
"Chef Vlad!" I cried out in delight.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“I prefer the word aviatrix. It has more zing to it."
"It's very zingy," I agreed.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“You've no fear of heights," puffed the girl.
"None," I said.
"I've heard that about you.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“You flatter me shamelessly. I like it. Good.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“This way," she said, veering toward the roof's edge. "Can you jump?"
"Oh, I can jump!"
"Then jump!”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“I raised my hands, trying to shush her.
"Don't shush me," she said, eyes blazing. "I hate being shushed.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“Everyone watched, wondering if this could be the same lunatic who'd nearly berthed his ornithopter in the restaurant.
I swallowed, for it seemed he was headed straight for my table.
He pulled off his helmet and a mass of dark auburn hair spilled out. Off came the goggles, and I was looking at the beaming face of Kate de Vries.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“I had no idea there'd be so many Sherpas aboard!" exclaimed Miss Simpkins.
"I'm not a Sherpa," Nadira said. "I'm a gypsy."
"Oh, my goodness!" said the chaperone.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“None of us gets to choose how we're born, it's what we make of ourselves afterwards.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“I stared at Kate in disbelief.
"I know, I know," she said, walking toward me, hands raised as if to calm a dangerous beast.
"She's not coming," I said.
"She's coming."
"She can't."
"She's coming.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“I could not help staring back, for they made quite a contrast: Kate's pale skin and elegant purple suit, Nadira's dusky skin and exotic fiery sari.
"Do we clash?" Nadira said dryly.
"We certainly do," said Kate. "Would you like me to move?"
"Don't trouble yourself.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“I took [Kate's] hand in mine, and felt her fingers squeeze back. And I thought: home. It took me completely by surprise. But I suppose that once you bid farewell to your first home, you're always looking for another—that place where you can feel happy and strong and at your best. For three years I'd called the Aurora home. But now that I lived in Paris, it was not the city itself that was home. It was Kate.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
“It indicates very poor breeding,” Miss Simpkins informed me primly. “We are not dogs or horses,” I insisted hotly. “None of us gets to choose how we’re born, it’s what we make of ourselves afterward.”
― Kenneth Oppel, quote from Skybreaker
Kenneth Oppel
Born place: Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada
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“I was surrounded by silence and Tristan was music.
So much music.
All the time.
Streaming in my eardrums 24-7. Serenading me when I was awake. Lulling me to sleep.
Tristan was the soundtrack of my summer. The beat I walked to. The melody I breathed in and out. The lyrics I lived by.”
― Jessica Brody, quote from A Week of Mondays
“There are no lasting victories in politics, there is only the remorseless grinding forward of events.”
― Robert Harris, quote from Conspirata
“Laila watches Mariam glue strands of yarn onto her doll's head. In a few years, this little girl will be a woman who will make small demands on life, who will never burden others, who will never let on that she too had sorrows, disappointments, dreams that have been ridiculed. A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her. Already Laila sees something behind this young girl's eyes, something deep in her core, that neither Rasheed nor the Taliban will be able to break. something as hard and unyielding as a block of limestone. Something that, in the end, will be her undoing and Laila's salvation.
The little girl looks up. Puts the doll down. Smiles.”
― Khaled Hosseini, quote from Tisuću žarkih sunaca
“all humans are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain, to seek hope and avoid fear, and finally, to seek social acceptance and avoid rejection.”
― Nir Eyal, quote from Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
“When we were leaving London, Dad spent about an hour trying to push his wardrobe through the bedroom door. He turned it on its side. He tried it upside down. He tilted it one way and then the other but it just would not fit. Words like "Mum" and "Affair" and "Dad" and "Drinking" were just like that wardrobe--too big to get out. No matter what I did, I couldn't fit them through the space between my teeth.”
― Annabel Pitcher, quote from Rollercoasters: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Reader
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The River of Doubt:...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.
