“God has to be a sadist to give people life.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“If you were God, what kind of human would you create?" I asked.
"I wouldn't change how they look. But I would make them as dumb as chickens. So dumb they'd never even imagine the existence of a god.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“I collapsed on to the ground and broke down in tears. Screw you. Go to hell, you fuckers. I wish I had a greater vocabulary to fully express the extent of my pain and hatred. But I don't. I'm just pathetic. That's all I am.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“The silence of the room was shattered with a wail of pain coming from deep within me.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“It’s what’s known as the ‘why feed a fish if it’s already in your net’ mentality, but when a fish runs out of food, it has one of two choices: to escape or die”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“In finnish:
"Ajan myötä lohikäärme ja kirin loivat rupensa ja veivät muodonmuutoksensa loppuun asti, ja niin niistä tuli osa ruumistani. Nyt ne olivat oikeasti omaisuuttani - sana, jota käytin mielelläni ajatellessani niitä.
Mutta oli myös mahdollista, että niiden arvo alenisi uutuudenviehätyksen kadottua. Samaan tapaan saattaa omistaa upean mekon, joka saa olon tuntumaan mahtavalta. Mutta eipä aikaakaan, kun se on pelkkä vaatekappale muiden joukossa. Olin kai siinä mielessä ollut aina oikukas ja viskannut vaatteita kaapinperälle käytettyäni niitä vain pari, kolme kertaa. Näkemykseni avioliitosta on paljolti samanlainen. Näen sen tilanteena, jossa kaksi ihmistä yrittää omistaa toisensa. Tai vaikka ei olisikaan naimisissa, pojat yrittävät aina jotain tuonsuuntaista: mitä kauemmin heidän kanssaan on, sitä enemmän he yrittävät asteittain kasvattaa valtaansa toiseen ihmiseen.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“All I wanted was to be part of an underground world where the sun doesn't shine, there are no serenades, and the sound of children's laughter is never, ever heard.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“And somewhere inside me I felt an awful feeling that something in my life was coming quietly to an end.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“He loved me and I would rather have him become one with me than disappear from my life. Then I'd never have to be away from him ever again. He said I was important to him. So why did he leave me? How could he leave me?”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“All I could do was escape from reality, but every time I tried to escape from the pain, that same pain told me that I had probably been falling in love with him.”
― Hitomi Kanehara, quote from Snakes and Earrings
“Sometimes you dream strange dreams, impossible and unnatural; you wake up and remember them clearly, and are surprised at a strange fact: you remember first of all that reason did not abandon you during the whole course of your dream; you even remember that you acted extremely cleverly and logically for that whole long, long time when you were surrounded by murderers, when they were being clever with you, concealed their intentions, treated you in a friendly way, though they already had their weapons ready and were only waiting for some sort of sign; you remember how cleverly you finally deceived them, hid from them; then you realize that they know your whole deception by heart and merely do not show you that they know where you are hiding; but you are clever and deceive them again—all that you remember clearly. But why at the same time could your reason be reconciled with such obvious absurdities and impossibilities, with which, among other things, your dream was filled? Before your eyes, one of your murderers turned into a woman, and from a woman into a clever, nasty little dwarf—and all that you allowed at once, as an accomplished fact, almost without the least perplexity, and precisely at the moment when, on the other hand, your reason was strained to the utmost, displaying extraordinary force, cleverness, keenness, logic? Why, also, on awakening from your dream and entering fully into reality, do you feel almost every time, and occasionally with an extraordinary force of impressions, that along with the dream you are leaving behind something you have failed to fathom? You smile at the absurdity of your dream and feel at the same time that the tissue of those absurdities contains some thought, but a thought that is real, something that belongs to your true life, something that exists and has always existed in your heart; it is as if your dream has told you something new, prophetic, awaited; your impression is strong, it is joyful or tormenting, but what it is and what has been told you—all that you can neither comprehend nor recall.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, quote from The Idiot
“It was strange, I reflected.. that even in the weirdest circumstances, the most troubling episodes of one's life, the greatest divides from home and familiarity, there were these moments of undeniable joy.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, quote from The Historian
“What a refreshing mind you have, young man. There really is nothing quite like total ignorance, is there?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Neverwhere
“When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You'd be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside—walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It's the saddest thing I know.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Speak
“Poor Earthworm,' the Ladybird said, whispering in James's ear. 'He loves to make everything into a disaster. He hates to be happy. He is only happy when he is gloomy.”
― Roald Dahl, quote from James and the Giant Peach
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.