“Simply to endure is to triumph.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“If you look hard enough, chaos turns into order the way letters turn into words.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“This affliction--hope--is so cruel and stubborn, I believe it will kill me”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“Trying to remember, I have learned, is like trying to clutch a handful of fog. Trying to forget, like trying to hold back the monsoon.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“Instead, we linger over a luxury that costs nothing: Imagining what may be.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“In the evening, the brilliant yellow pumpkin blossoms will close, drunk on sunshine, while the milky white jasmine will open their slender throats and sip the chill Himalayan air.
At night, low hearths will send up wispy curls of smoke fragrant with a dozen dinners, and darkness will clothe the land.
Except on nights when the moon is full. On those nights, the hillside and the valley below are bathed in a magical white light, the glow of the perpetual snows that blanket the mountaintops. On those nights I lie restless in the sleeping loft, wondering what the world is like beyond my mountain home.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“Inside my head I carry:
my baby goat,
my baby brother,
my ama's face,
our family's future.
My bundle is light.
My burden is heavy.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“Guard the portals of your mind.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“When I have run out of words to copy, I look out the window at this strange place called India. Inside the train, the people around me are snoring. I don't understand how they can close their eyes when there is so much to see.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“My bundle is light.
My burden is heavy.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“Ama wipes her hands on her apron, looks up at our old roof with new eyes, and lifts the baby from his basket. She twirls him in the air, her skirts flying around her ankles the way the clouds swirl around the mountain cap--her laughter fresh and strange and musical to my ears.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“A KIND OF ILLNESS
This ache in my chest is a relentless thing, worse than any fever.
A fever is gone with a few of Mumtaz's white pills. But this illness has had me in its grip for a week now.
This affliction--hope--is so cruel and stubborn, I believe it will kill me.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“A man who doles out sweets, and slaps, with the same hand.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“i inhale deeply,
drinking the warmth in the scent of mountain sunshine,
a warmth that smells of freshly turned soil and clean laundry baking in the sun.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“I have been beaten here,
locked away,
violated a hundred times,
and a hundred times more.
I have been starved,
and cheated,
tricked
and disgraced.
How odd is it that I am undone by the simple kindness of a small boy with a yellow pencil.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“Auntie says that in the city, people gather and pay money to see beautiful women and handsome men put on a show. The people in the show are called movie stars.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“I have been beaten here,
locked away,
violated a hundred times
and a hundred times more.
I have been starved
and cheated,
tricked
and disgraced.
How odd it is that I am undone by the simple kindness of a small boy with a yellow pencil.”
― Patricia McCormick, quote from Sold
“He even brags about his poops,”
― Judy Blume, quote from Double Fudge
“I feel something vibrating and I really hope it's your phone." Serana told Dan, who blushed.”
― Cecily von Ziegesar, quote from Because I'm Worth It
“I teach girls certain skills. The first and most basic is centering. I recommend that they find a quiet place where they can sit alone daily for 10 to 15 minutes. I encourage them to sit in this place, relax their muscles and breathe deeply. Then they are to focus on their own thoughts and feelings about the day. They are not to judge these thoughts or feelings or even direct them, only to observe them and respect them. They have much to learn from their own internal reactions to their lives.”
― quote from Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
“Be glad you don't have a vagina," my friend, who does have a vagina, told me. "You have to have a special doctor. You have to have these awful exams where you basically get naked and then remove your dignity. And then the various parts down there can get cancer and have to get cut out. I'm telling you, having a vagina is like having a pet. Like a dog that's always chasing cars."
When she described it this way, it did seem a blessing that I was born without a vagina. I mean, I can't even handle having a heart.”
― Augusten Burroughs, quote from Possible Side Effects
“I shall think of you
Whenever I am most happy, whenever I am Most sad, whenever I see a beautiful thing.
You are a burning lamp to me, a flame
The wind cannot blow out, and I shall hold you High in my hand against whatever darkness.”
― Edna St. Vincent Millay, quote from Collected Poems
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.