Quotes from Standing in the Rainbow

Fannie Flagg ·  560 pages

Rating: (13.6K votes)


“Do you think that your worrying can prevent anything from happening? Whatever happens is supposed to happen and whatever doesn’t, isn’t.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“In 1945, when the male soldiers started coming back home from Europe, she and all the other women pilots that had served as WASPs during the war were unceremoniously told to go home and never received a dime or even thanks from the government.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“Now, I’m not saying they can help it, all I am saying is that in order for this world to keep on progressing the women have got to run things. The trick is to do it without them knowing it.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“They gave Saint Patrick his own day and what did he do but run out a bunch of snakes. Why, Thomas Edison lit up the world. If it hadn’t been for him we’d all still be sitting here in the dark, with nothing but a candle,”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“I hate a book that jumps around. Also I can promise”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow



“as they walked home, and she would”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“You never saw people anymore, everything was self-service, everybody behind glass windows. And you could not get a real person on the phone. Everywhere you called, a recorded message connected you to another recorded message and then hung up on you.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“Those Russkies won’t put up with your whining and bellyaching for one second. I believe in freedom and individual rights as well as the next man but nobody has the right to live here and do nothing but run us down.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“It seemed to numerous voters that, thanks to the growing power of the ACLU, criminals were beginning to have more rights than the victims. Preachers across the country were becoming alarmed about the young people’s apathy and lack of morals. Some blamed television. Or as Reverend W. W. Nails put it, “The devil has three initials: ABC, NBC, and CBS. They love Lucy more than they do the Lord and they would rather leave it to Beaver than to Jesus.” The average middle-class Americans who worked hard every day, who were not criminals, not on welfare, and had seldom complained, suddenly and collectively started showing signs of growing disillusionment, worried that with all the new social programs they were now going to have to carry the rich and the poor on their backs. They were tired of having to pay so much income and other taxes to support half the world while they struggled to make ends meet. They began to feel that no matter how hard they worked or how much they paid, it was never appreciated and it was never enough.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“I wish I could describe what it feels like to have thousands of people listening to your every word, how easy it is to please them, to get that applause and to hear them out there screaming for you. It’s like being in control of one big ocean and you can calm it down or make it roar.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow



“it’s not even people anymore, it’s one big thing you want to control and once you’ve had a taste of it, you’re hooked. It’s like if you don’t have it you will die, do you know what I mean? Somebody’s handed you the baton and you can lead this rich, powerful orchestra. Does that make sense to you? I mean after that, leading a five-piece band means nothing, not after you’ve led that orchestra, thousands of people all playing the song just like you want them to.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


“Women are fools; they will marry anything that has a heartbeat just to have a man.”
― Fannie Flagg, quote from Standing in the Rainbow


About the author

Fannie Flagg
Born place: in Birmingham, Alabama, The United States
Born date September 21, 1944
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Now Gentry went to the big display unit, the projection table. “There are worlds within worlds,” he said. “Macrocosm, microcosm. We carried an entire universe across a bridge tonight, and that which is above is like that below.… It was obvious, of course, that such things must exist, but I’d not dared to hope.…”
― William Gibson, quote from Mona Lisa Overdrive


“I don't know," he said softly. "I look into the future and I don't see anything else. It's like it's this big blank space where I should be.”
― Jacqueline Woodson, quote from If You Come Softly


“تؤمن لميس أن تسلط الرجل لا يأتي من فراغ ، وإنما بعد عثوره على امرأة تحب هذا التسلط منه وتساعده على الاستمرار فيه : - أنا أعتقد إنو الرجال ما بيكزبوا لكن همّا لؤما شوية . الواحد يبدأ يتهرب من البنت بعد ما تصير سهلة معاه وبعد ما يحس إنو خلاص ما صارت تمسّل تحدي بالنسبة لو ، لكن ما يقول لها هادا الكلام في وشهّا ، ولا يخليها تحس إنو هوا الغلطان ، لأ! يقنعها إنها هيا اللي عندها مشاكل مش هوا ! بعضهم يدّو البنت إشارات علشان تنهي العلاقة بنفسها ، لكن إحنا البنات الأغبياء عمرنا ما نلقط هادي التلميحات ! نظل نشتغل على العلاقة لطلوع الروح ، حتى لو باين عليها من أولها إنها رايحة في ستين داهية ! عشان كده في النهاية ناكل على روسنا ونتهزأ . احنا اللي ما احترمنا نفسنا من البداية وانسحبنا بكرامتنا . تعطيها مشيل تحليلها المنطقي للموقف : - يا حبيبتي هاذي سياسة تطفيش معروفة عند العيال . تلاقينه فكر وقال وش يخليني آخذ واحدة مطلقة وأنا ما قد تزوجت ؟ إذا الرجال المطلق نفسه يدوّر على بنت ما تكون تزوجت قبله ، تبغين هذا يقتنع بمطلقة ؟ تلاقينه حسبها في مخه وقال بكرة أنا إذا بغيت أصير وزير والا وكيل وزارة يبغى لي واحدة تشرفني اسم وشكل ونسب ومركز اجتماعي وفلوس !ما آخذ واحدة معيوبة (مطلقة) علشان الناس تاكلني بألسنتها ! هذا تفكير شبابنا مع الأسف ! تلاقين الواحد مهما تطور والا ارتقى بفكره ومهما حب وعشق يظل يعتبر الحب مجرد كلام روايات وأفلام وما يثق في كونه دعامة تصلح لبناء أسرة ! تلاقينه مثقف ومتعلم وشايف وعارف ومتأكد بداخله إن الحب غريزة إنسانية طبيعية وما هو عيب إن الواحد يختار شريكة حياته بنفسه ما دام مقتنع فيها ، لكن يظل خايف إنه يسلك طريق غير اللي سلكه أبوه وعمه وجده قبله ، دامهم عايشين مع حريمهم إلى الآن أجل تجربتهم هي الناجحة والمضمونة ، يتبعهم زي الحـ......... ولا يخالفهم علشان ما حد يجي في يوم ويشمت فيه إذا فشل”
― Rajaa Alsanea, quote from Girls of Riyadh


“The Whites always mean well when they take human fish out of the ocean and try to make them dry and warm and happy and comfortable in a chicken coop; but the kindest-hearted white man can always be depended on to prove himself inadequate when he deals with savages. He cannot turn the situation around and imagine how he would like it to have a well-meaning savage transfer him from his house and his church and his clothes and his books and his choice food to a hideous wilderness of sand and rocks and snow, and ice and sleet and storm and blistering sun, with no shelter, no bed, no covering for his and his family's naked bodies, and nothing to eat but snakes and grubs and offal. This would be a hell to him; and if he had any wisdom he would know that his own civilization is a hell to the savage - but he hasn't any, and has never had any; and for lack of it he shut up those poor natives in the unimaginable perdition of his civilization, committing his crime with the very best intentions, and saw those poor creatures waste away under his tortures; and gazed at it, vaguely troubled and sorrowful, and wondered what could be the matter with them.”
― Mark Twain, quote from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World


“get the collection of blankets and rugs from the boat. They arranged them in the corners of the little room, and thought that it would be very exciting to spend the night there. ‘The two girls can sleep together on this pile of rugs,’ said Julian. ‘And we two boys will have this pile.’ George looked as if she didn’t want to be put with Anne, and classed as a girl. But Anne didn’t”
― Enid Blyton, quote from Five on a Treasure Island


Interesting books

Hope for the Flowers
(6.9K)
Hope for the Flowers
by Trina Paulus
Never Cry Wolf
(19K)
Never Cry Wolf
by Farley Mowat
If You Deceive
(10.3K)
If You Deceive
by Kresley Cole
The Viper's Nest
(40.1K)
The Viper's Nest
by Peter Lerangis
The Lowland
(72.7K)
The Lowland
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Stung
(8.6K)
Stung
by Bethany Wiggins

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.