Quotes from The Abstinence Teacher

Tom Perrotta ·  368 pages

Rating: (15.5K votes)


“Once you'd broken through that invisible barrier that separates one person from another, you were connected forever, whether you liked it or not.”
― Tom Perrotta, quote from The Abstinence Teacher


“Because, really, what was worse than lying wide-awake in the dark, watching your life drip away, one irreplaceable minute after another?”
― Tom Perrotta, quote from The Abstinence Teacher


“I'm halfway through my life, and as far as I can tell, the real lesson of the past isn't that I made some mistakes, it's that I didn't make nearly enough of them. I doubt I'll be lying on my deathbed in forty or fifty years, congratulating myself on the fact that I never had sex in an airplane with a handsome Italian businessman, or patting myself on the back for all those years of involuntary celibacy I endured after my divorce. If recent experience is any guide, I'll probably be lying in that hospital bed with my body full of tubes, sneaking glances at the handsome young doctor, wishing that I hadn't been such a coward. Wishing I'd taken more risks, made more mistakes, and accumulated more regrets. Just wishing I'd lived when I had the chance.”
― Tom Perrotta, quote from The Abstinence Teacher


“Abstinence is perfectly reasonable in theory," Gregory said, "It just doesn't work in practice. It's like dieting. You can go a day or two, maybe even a week. But eventually that pizza just smells too good.”
― Tom Perrotta, quote from The Abstinence Teacher


“On the first day of Human Sexuality, Ruth Ramsey wore a short lime green skirt, a clingy black top, and strappy high-heeled sandals, the kind of attention-getting outfit she normally wouldn't have worn on a date---not that she was going on a lot of dates these days---let alone to work. ”
― Tom Perrotta, quote from The Abstinence Teacher



“They were good listeners, worldly yet easily shocked, hungry for details, curious and nonjudgmental at the same time, always happy to give advice, but only if it was requested.”
― Tom Perrotta, quote from The Abstinence Teacher


“Randall kept his eyes glued to the computer screen as she approached. A stranger might have mistaken him for a dedicated Information Sciences professional getting an early start on some important research, but Ruth knew that he was actually scouring eBay for vintage Hasbro action figures…”
― Tom Perrotta, quote from The Abstinence Teacher


About the author

Tom Perrotta
Born place: in Newark, New Jersey, The United States
Born date August 13, 1961
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“The curious thing about individuals is that their singularity always goes beyond any category or generalization in the book.”
― Haruki Murakami, quote from The Elephant Vanishes


“by humiliation alone can Saints be made,”
― Thérèse de Lisieux, quote from Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux


“The problem in our society and in our schools is to inclulcate, without overdoing it, the notion of education, as in the Latin educere--to lead, to bring out what is in someone rather than merely to indoctrinate him/her from the outside. (89)”
― Joseph Campbell, quote from Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor


“Madeline displayed the bright sadder-but-wiser outlook of an alert first grader who’d discovered the alphabet in a school where Ecclesiastes is the primer—life is futility, a deeply terrible experience, but the really serious thing is reading.”
― Philip Roth, quote from Sabbath's Theater


“Zakath's face grew thoughtful. "You know something, Garion?" he said. "Man thinks he owns the world, but we share it with all sorts of creatures who are indifferent to our overlordship. They have their own societies, and I supposed even their own cultures. They don't even pay attention to us, do you?"
"Only when we inconvenience them...It teaches us humility," Garion agreed.”
― David Eddings, quote from The Seeress of Kell


Interesting books

Beneath the Wheel
(10.9K)
Beneath the Wheel
by Hermann Hesse
The Road to Serfdom
(15K)
The Road to Serfdom
by Friedrich A. Hayek
Winter Rose
(6.4K)
Winter Rose
by Patricia A. McKillip
Battle Cry of Freedom
(22K)
Battle Cry of Freedo...
by James M. McPherson
The Revenge of Seven
(32.8K)
The Revenge of Seven
by Pittacus Lore
One Plus One
(116.9K)
One Plus One
by Jojo Moyes

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.