Quotes from The Basketball Diaries

“It was a dream, not a nightmare, a beautiful dream I could never imagine in a thousand nods. There was a girl next to me who wasn't beautiful until she smiled and I felt that smile come at me in heat waves following, soaking through my body and out my finger tips in shafts of color and I knew somewhere in the world, somewhere, that there was love for me.”
― Jim Carroll, quote from The Basketball Diaries

“Little kids shoot marbles
where the branches break the sun

into graceful shafts of light…
I just want to be pure.”
― Jim Carroll, quote from The Basketball Diaries

“they're fucking up minds they do not own.”
― Jim Carroll, quote from The Basketball Diaries

“To sit in this awful mess and maybe smoke some dope and watch some innocuous shit on a dumb glass tube and feel fine about it and know there's really nothing you have to do, ever, but feel your warm friend's silent content. You don't feel guilty about not fighting a war or carrying signs to protest it either. We've just mastered the life of doing nothing, which when you think about it, may be the hardest thing of all to do.”
― Jim Carroll, quote from The Basketball Diaries

“It was in Central Park near the lake and I watched a weeping willow turn into a giant rooster and fly off. No tree remained. It glided beautifully into the sky, a big blue barnyard. My mind went with it, something all you bald head generals and wheelchair senators could never imagine.”
― Jim Carroll, quote from The Basketball Diaries

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Popular quotes

“Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.”
― Bruce Lee, quote from Tao of Jeet Kune Do

“Don’t you know? There’s no such thing as the truth.’ Oliver yawned. ‘We all walk around trapped in our own subjective consciousness, experiencing the same events through a totally different lens.”
― Abigail Haas, quote from Dangerous Boys

“I still go to bed sad, and wake up sad, and it still hurts like hell, but there are moments during the day when it hurts less. Sometimes I can think of June and not want to burst into tears or put my fist through a wall. Sometimes I'm close to happy and it doesn't even hurt. Much. I'll never be the way I was before, but maybe that's okay. Life goes on, I'm going on, even without her. Not every day hurts. Not every breath hurts.

Maybe that's all we can really ask for.”
― Hannah Harrington, quote from Saving June

“If there is any one “secret” of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time.”
― Peter F. Drucker, quote from The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

“Well…” Steve contemplated, taking her question seriously. “The blow up dolls could very easily be dressed in normal clothes and called plain ole’ dolls.” Lucian and Tara bent over each other, unable to breathe while Steve continued, oblivious. “For the god-awful gaping hole on its face we could… maybe fill with candy or… each could have a special message saying they’re so happy and excited to finally have a little girl to belong to and call their own. A sister.” Lucian kicked his feet and rocked in fits, his sides hurting now. “Oh my God,” Tara squeaked. “Candy!” She held on to Lucian and peeped, “She’s so happy!”
― Lucian Bane, quote from White Knight Dom Academy

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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.