Quotes from The Arm of the Starfish

Madeleine L'Engle ·  288 pages

Rating: (8.5K votes)


“You cannot see the past that did not happen any more than you can foresee the future.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“If you’re going to care about the fall of the sparrow you can’t pick and choose who’s going to be the sparrow. It’s everybody, and you’re stuck with it.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future’s sakes.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“Rules are made for people, not people for rules,”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“If you accept any position of authority you have to know when to break or circumvent a rule. It’s the knowing when that’s important.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish



“There always have been and there always will be people who have been corrupted into enjoying any excuse for cruelty.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“I can’t do it for love of God, like Tom Tallis, or for heaven’s sake, as Mr. Frost said. But because I love people I have to act according to it—to the fact that I love them.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


“There’s something wrong about trying to heal with a surgeon’s knife.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from The Arm of the Starfish


About the author

Madeleine L'Engle
Born place: in New York City, New York, The United States
Born date November 29, 1918
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“My name is Arianna Morganna Brittany DuLac--you can imagine why I went by the name Ryan.”
― Priya Ardis, quote from My Boyfriend Merlin


“What's the meaning of life?"
"I have been programmed by Hexus to reply 'meatballs,'" it says.”
― Lydia Kang, quote from Control


“Oh, Simon, Simon, Simon,” said Jace. “You may not remember, but that’s kind of our thing.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from The Whitechapel Fiend


“Leslie had learned two valuable things about the fae that day. They were powerful and charming -- and they ate children and puppies.”
― Patricia Briggs, quote from Fair Game


“Standing at the original Victorian counter was a man in a long black leather coat. His hair had been grown to counteract its unequivocal retreat from the top of his head, and was fashioned into a mean, frail ponytail that hung limply down his back. Blooms of acne highlighted his vampire-white skin.”
― Julia Stuart, quote from The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise


Interesting books

The Last Little Blue Envelope
(21.1K)
The Last Little Blue...
by Maureen Johnson
Imagine: How Creativity Works
(25.8K)
Imagine: How Creativ...
by Jonah Lehrer
Goodbye Tsugumi
(6.7K)
Goodbye Tsugumi
by Banana Yoshimoto
The Orphan Queen
(11.7K)
The Orphan Queen
by Jodi Meadows
Thanks for the Trouble
(3.2K)
Thanks for the Troub...
by Tommy Wallach
Judas Unchained
(26K)
Judas Unchained
by Peter F. Hamilton

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.