Quotes from Surrender

“I am dying: it's a beautiful word. Like the long slow sigh of the cello: dying. But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“I thought about how stupid it is, that all of us are born destined to desire somebody else, though desire brings with it such disappointment and pain. Humankind's history must be scored bloody with heartbreak. This hankering for affection is a blight upon us.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Life is lived on the inside. What's outside doesn't matter.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“She doesn't understand that doors, walls, fences, ceilings - they're helpless to keep out what determinedly desires to get in.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Affection makes fools. Always, without exception, love digs a channel that's sooner or later flooded by the briny water of despair.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“I suppose that's what happens when you make other people's lives miserable: life gets miserable back at you.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“My life was pouring out my feet and seeping through cracks in the floor; yet still I knelt and did not move, for fear she'd let go my hands. Let me stay, I wanted to beg: Please don't make me go.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“I would always be lonely, but no more alone.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“There's fire in my fingers. I burn everything I touch.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“I looked along the aisle and saw her, and it was as if I saw her for the first time. Everything changed. The ancient featureless interior of me spangled orange, mint, cat-blue. I looked back to the window immediately, my face damp, my breath caught. And worried I would never have the courage to look at her again.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“We walked into the forests which encircled the town. I have never liked them, their dark throat, their sullen height, their slump-shouldered gloom. But Evangeline walked steadily into their maw, and I followed her. She wanted to see the swathes which, years ago, the firebug had burned. The furnaced forest was green again, though here and there stood leafless trunks cindered to the core; on the scruffy dirt lay stiff black limbs tangled in morning-glory. Evangeline touched her palm to the charcoal, murmured, 'Poor things.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Time crawled past on leaden hands and knees.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“I am dying: it's a beautiful word. Like the long slow sigh of a cello: dying. But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Yeah, reflections! The same, but different. Like twins - like blood brothers! And when you need something bad done, like punishment or revenge, you'll just ask me, and I will do it -”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“We both knew that what I said was the truth, as well as being a lie. The pure and honest answer was pinging between us, hovering above the weeds.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Every atom in me feels composed of lead. This is what dying is: a pull to the ground.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Some things about him are the same as ever. He still looks painfully angelic.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“You always underestimated me. You thought you made me harmless when you gave angelhood to me. You forgot that some angels are warriors. Where there's warriors, there's war. I will fight to the death. It's my duty. I am not afraid.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Evangeline's obliviousness was a reason to like her rather than not: I liked least those schoolfellows whose awareness of me invariably caused misery.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“A small town has as many eyes as a fly”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“I am Gabriel, the messenger, the teller of astonishing truths.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“Goodbye, fin,' I say. And I wish I was going with him, to some warm sheltered hideaway in the hills, wish that I, too, could lie down beside the dog, feel his unbroken heartbeat, smell the dust in his fur.
There's only hours. I steel my courage.
Surrender.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“A small town is nothing but eyes and gaping maw; it pecks at its own like a flock of vicious birds.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“He is dirt under fingernails and the stick of sap on skin... I am saintly, poetic; I am demise, otherworld.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“A tethered thing is a dead thing...”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“I felt dry as if someone had skinned me. I was not the bones and meat, but the cast-aside skin. The heat had hollowed me.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“... [it] would seem like a daydream, like touching a tiger's face in the dark.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

“The warmth of outside was shaved from my skin and fell in curls to the floor.”
― Sonya Hartnett, quote from Surrender

About the author

Popular quotes

“Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored -- the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.”
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“When I look back on all the past chapters of my life, I see all the pain I have endured. I see the mistakes and heartbreak, the horror and loss. But when I stand in front of the mirror now, I see all my scars and the strength I’ve found from them. I see the lessons I have learned about life and the wisdom I’ve gained from each of my experiences. I will be fine”
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“I told you what I was when we began. I’m the black iris watered by poison. The wolf that raised its head among sheep and devoured its way, ruthless and bloody, to freedom. I never forgave, never forgot.

I didn’t feel sorry. I felt bad. As in bad girl, not guilty. And feeling bad made me feel so fucking good.”
― Elliot Wake, quote from Black Iris

Interesting books

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.