“People throw the word love around like confetti when they actually mean affection.”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“I don't mean to be insolent. I'm truthful. I tell the truth and the truth sometimes hurts. For instance, you have bad breath, Lieutenant. I can smell it from here. It must offend a lot of people. That's the truth. But how many people have told you that? Instead, they either lie or try to avoid your company.”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“...pain reaches a certain point and does not get worse but remains in all its intensity and you can survive it.”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“Mr. Sinclair once asked the class to make a list of the ten most beautiful words in the English language, and the only word that really seemed beautiful to me was tenderness.”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“Pluck my heart
From my flesh
And eat it.....”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“Eat my heart
Chew it hard
Swallow my soul, too”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“Eric Poole began with cats. Or, to be more exact, kittens.”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“He looks at me fondly. I know that the look doesn’t have love in it. Or even lust. I still wonder about love or sex or lust. I saw lust in his eyes when he looked at that girl on the sidewalk … I love him, anyway. I love him because he’s kind to me and he doesn’t want my body, doesn’t want to feel me or touch me, like all the others … and maybe after a while he might look at me with more than fondness, will kiss me sweetly, tenderly.”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“A smile for all the stupid people out there with bleeding hearts for serial killers.”
― Robert Cormier, quote from Tenderness
“New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, quote from Breakfast of Champions
“Ma's still nodding. "You're the one who matters, though. Just you."
I shake my head till it's wobbling because there's no just me.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Room
“You are aware of only one unrest;
Oh, never learn to know the other!
Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast,
And one is striving to forsake its brother.
Unto the world in grossly loving zest,
With clinging tendrils, one adheres;
The other rises forcibly in quest
Of rarefied ancestral spheres.
If there be spirits in the air
That hold their sway between the earth and sky,
Descend out of the golden vapors there
And sweep me into iridescent life.
Oh, came a magic cloak into my hands
To carry me to distant lands,
I should not trade it for the choicest gown,
Nor for the cloak and garments of the crown.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quote from Faust: First Part
“The house was heavy around him, the pressure of the past filling the rooms like odorless gas.”
― Annie Proulx, quote from The Shipping News
“She was a marvel. She did exactly as she pleased all her life, God bless her.”
― John Berendt, quote from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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.