“You can only be in a bad mood for so long before you have to face up to the fact that it isn't a bad mood at all; it's just your sucky personality.”
“Girls will get together just to get together. Guys need an activity as an excuse. Otherwise it’s too homo for them to handle.”
“All subjects are the same. I memorize notes for a test, spew it, ace it, then forget it. What makes this scary for the future of our country is that I'm in the tip-top percentile on every standardized test. I'm a model student with a very crappy attitude about learning.”
“Did you know that the average American spends six months of his or her life waiting for red lights to turn green? Six months wasted, waiting for permission to move on. Think of all the other stuff you could do with that time.”
I was totally confused. “In the car?”
“In your life,” he said.”
“My thoughts create my world -Marcus Flutie”
“We
are Adam and Eve
born out of chaos called
creation
Ribbing me gave you life
yet you forget
there will always be
a part of me in you
yes
I taunted and tempted
you
with my forbidden fruit
does that make
me
the serpent too?
Believe what you will
but if I am exiled
alone
I know we will be
together again someday
naked
without shame
in paradise
My thanks to you
for being in on my
sin”
“Right now I feel guilty to be alive. Why? Because I’m wasting it. I’ve been given this life and all I do is mope it away.
What’s worse is, I am totally aware of how ridiculous I am. It would be a lot easier if I believed I was the center of the universe, because then I wouldn’t know any better NOT to make a big deal out of everything. I know how small my problems are, yet that doesn’t stop me from obsessing about them.
I have to stop doing this.
How do other people get happy? I look at people laughing and smiling and enjoying themselves and try to get inside their heads. How do Bridget, Manda, and Sara do it? Or Pepe? Or EVERYONE but me?
Why does everything I see bother me? Why can’t I just get over these daily wrongdoings? Why can’t I just move on and make the best of what I’ve got?
I wish I knew.”
“When you say too much about anything important, it always ends up sounding more trivial than it is. Words trash it.”
“There's only one racing strategy that matters.It's the one I run by:
Get in the lead and don't let anyone pass you.”
“This is my new hobby. I watch my life depart minute by minute. I anticipate the end of everything and anything -- a conversation, a class, track practice, darkness -- only to be left with more clock-watching to take its place. I'm continually waiting for something better that never comes. Maybe it would help if I knew what I wanted.”
“The higher my GPA gets the more I realize high school is useless”
“The minute our correspondence becomes obligatory, there's no point in keeping touch at all.”
“I don't know anything about anything. The only difference between then and now is this: I may know more than I used to but my wisdom pales in comparison to that which I have yet to learn”
“Am I the only creature with a vagina who thinks that weddings are ridiculous? I'm going to elope. Just me, my hubby, and a minister on a beach in Jamaica.”
“It just makes me wonder what subject you blame for talking to me every night.'
I'm still settling on an answer for that one. Probably Chemistry.
Jesus Christ. I can't believe I just wrote that.”
“Then a lightning bolt shot straight through my skivvies. Sha-ZAM!”
“It kind of makes me wish that the worst thing that will ever happen to me would just hurry up and happen already. That way I could live the rest of my life in bliss, if only because I know how much worse things could be.”
“She mailed me a Merry Christmas-I'm-Breaking-Up-with-You card. I'll read it to you," he said. He cleared his throat. "Dear Marcus. Merry Christmas. I'm breaking up with you. Mia.”
“I’ve censored my true feelings more and more, replacing them with lies that I know everyone wants to hear. I’ve felt like I’ve lost my right to have an opinion, just because I know no one will back me up. But we should all have the courage to speak out about what’s bothering us about this school and beyond. Maybe people won’t like what you have to say. Perhaps you’ll find that you’re not alone.”
“What is your definition of skank?' I ask.
'A skank fucks skeezas she barely knows.”
“I read your poem," I croaked. "'Fall.'"
Then something I never thought would happen, happened: Marcus Flutie was shocked by something I said.
"You did?" he said. "I thought you lost it!"
"Well someone found it for me. Where do you get off saying," I lowered my voice, "we'll be naked without shame in paradise?"
He didn't open his mouth.
"I know what that means, you know. Who do you think I am?"
He didn't open his mouth.
"We are never going to be naked without shame in paradise."
He didn't open his mouth.
"We're NEVER going to have sex," I whispered, clearly over-stating my case.
He didn't open his mouth. The mouth that used to bite mine.
"And I'm just going to forget about that biting thing from the other night," I said.
He looked at me right in the eyes. If he'd focused hard enough on my pupils, he could've seen his own reflection, his own face smirking at me.
"You couldn't forget if you tried," he said, before walking away.
He's right. And I don't know if I hate him or love him for that.”
“Perspective basically guarantees that there’s no such thing as a pure emotion. Every emotion is based on how sucky (or not) something is in relation to something else that has already happened. I realized that Hy and Marcus and my ankle wouldn’t be so huge if I had experienced a Hiroshima-size disaster.It kind of makes me wish that the worst thing that will ever happen to me will just hurry up and happen already. That way I could live the rest of my life in bliss, if only because I
know how much worse things could be.”
“No emotion is more squirmy than feeling embarrassed for someone else”
“It’s not my fault that these are the problems I’ve been put on this earth to deal with, right? They’re petty, they piss me off, and they’re all mine”
“I can't sleep at night. Can you?”
“And besides, I'm not a writer. I don't go to coffeehouses and smoke, wear black, and analyze Sylvia Plath to the point of depression.”
“Brandi is mean skinny, that kind that doesn't come naturally and makes her face look all hallow and scary.”
“That's when I realized I had gotten too attached to the TV.”
“Did you know that the average American spends six months of his or her life waiting for red lights to turn green?”
“...and yes even loved him even though logic and reason told me I had no business feeling that way about him but I didn't care, no I loved him, and wanted him to know it not because I expected him to reciprocate )and yes even loved him even though logic and reason told me I had no business feeling that way about him but I didn't care, no I(even though I really really wanted him to) but because if someone ever loved me in that pure way I would want to know about it”
“You see, I’ve read Mr. Grumbine’s treatise on auras, and while it does depend on the shade, a green aura can be a mark of deception or dishonesty.”
I shoot Kiernan a smug glance. While I’m certain this aura stuff is total bunk, he and Prudence both see the light as green. “Does this Mr. Grumbine say anything about blue auras?”
“Again, it depends on the shade. But it’s usually associated with truth.”
“A name is important. It isn't something you drop in the litter basket or on the ground. Your name is now people know you. The very mention of your name makes a picture spring to mind, whether it's a picture of clashing fists or a mighty mountain that can't be knocked down. Your name is who you are and how you're known even when you do something great or something dumb.”
“Out in the living room, the strategists were watching Fox News, and sure enough, there was the video of Andy, saying, “Um . . . yeah. My dad’s the president.” And sure enough, he did sound like an asshole. I burst out laughing and Nancy turned from the news to nod at me. “Thank God we’ve got you and not him,” she said, to resounding agreement from all the gathered staff.”
“The Force will be with you,” Ray said, giving my shoulder one last squeeze. “Always.”
“He allowed a guarded love out, but he never allowed any in. With Tara… everything was wide open. She was the ocean and his heart was a gaping hole at the bottom, sucking her down with a scary ferocity. At that rate it devoured, he’d drain her dry. And the cravings… they seemed to constantly evolve and morph into… what? Only God knew.”
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