Quotes from The Arm of the Starfish

“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

Popular quotes

“What the— Oh hell no. Candice! Open the door!” She pounded her hand against the door. “Candice Marie Jenkins! I am in my pajamas and do not have my purse, cell phone, or keys. Open the damn door! I hear you two laughing!” If I hadn’t been so pissed off at Mason for sending Rachel over here and for her agreeing to it, I’d have been laughing too. “I swear, if you do not unlock this door and let me in, I will go Cali bitch on your asses!” Okay, now I was laughing. The door next to ours opened and a middle-aged man looked between Rachel and me. He had his cell in his hand like he couldn’t decide if he was going to call the cops or not. “I will cut you!” Rachel swore and continued beating on the door; my neighbor looked at his phone and I groaned. Pushing away from the wall, I took the few steps over to Rachel, grabbed around her waist, and pulled her back with me. “Let me go, Kash. Candice! Open the door!” “Calm down, you’re freaking the neighbors out.” “I don’t care! I do not want to be locked out of my apartment so I’m forced to spend time with you! You’re rude, did you know that?” I couldn’t help but laugh at her. “I’m rude? If you hate me so much, you should have never agreed to come ‘help’ me.” I nodded and gave a reassuring smile to the now-confused-looking neighbor before walking us into my apartment and releasing her. “Excuse me for trying to be nice! That’s what people do, they help people, especially when they’re new to the— Holy crap, where’s all your stuff?” She looked around at our living room, which was mostly bare save for the two boxes Mason brought. “We—” “Is this what Mason was talking about? He said I’d know it when I saw it.” Wait. What? “What are you talking about?” “Mason said you needed me for something in here. I asked him what that something was, and he said as soon as I walked into the apartment I’d see what you needed help with.” Fuck. Me. “Oh shit, Rachel. Um . . .” “When is all your furniture coming?” She began walking around the place and her eyes got bigger with each empty room she came across. “Did you guys sleep in here last night?” “Uh, yeah. Good news? Floor is actually pretty comfortable. So there’s that.” “Bad news?” “We don’t have anything coming, we need to go buy new stuff.” I took a deep breath and blew it out quickly. “And I’m starting to think that’s what Mason was sending you over here for.” She”
― Molly McAdams, quote from Forgiving Lies

“Sometimes what seems like surrender isn't surrender at all. It's about what's going on in our hearts. About seeing clearly the way life is and accepting it and being true to it, whatever the pain, because the pain of not being true to it is far, far greater." Nicholas Evans, The Horse Whisperer.”
― Nikki Sex, quote from Bound and Freed Boxed Set

“An assassin with serial killer tendencies. I became the best. It wasn’t a matter of conceit. It was fact. An uncontested truth. I was the best because I enjoyed what I did.”
― Francette Phal, quote from Flawed

“Priority target... no way is that a good thing.”
― Josin L. McQuein, quote from Arclight

“The brain simply believes what you tell it most. And what you tell it about you, it will create. It has no choice.”
― quote from What to Say When You Talk to Yourself

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.