Quotes from The Big Rock Candy Mountain

“There was somewhere, if you knew where to find it, some place where money could be made like drawing water from a well, some Big Rock Candy Mountain where life was effortless and rich and unrestricted and full of adventure and action, where something could be had for nothing.”
― Wallace Stegner, quote from The Big Rock Candy Mountain

“People, he had said, were always being looked at as points, and they ought to be looked at as lines. There weren't any points, it was false to assume that a person ever was anything. He was always becoming something, always changing, always continuous and moving, like the wiggly line on a machine used to measure earthquake shocks. He was always what he was in the beginning, but never quite exactly what he was; he moved along a line dictated by his heritage and his environment, but he was subject to every sort of variation within the narrow limits of his capabilities.
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She shut her mind on that too. There was danger in looking at people as lines. The past spread backward and you saw things in perspective that you hadn't seen then, and that made the future ominous, more ominous than if you just looked at the point, at the moment. There might be truth in what Bruce said, but there was not much comfort.”
― Wallace Stegner, quote from The Big Rock Candy Mountain

“Where do I belong in this country? Where is home?”
― Wallace Stegner, quote from The Big Rock Candy Mountain

“girl of eighteen named Elsa Norgaard,”
― Wallace Stegner, quote from The Big Rock Candy Mountain

“within yourself, you became a grave for her as you were a grave for Chet, and you carried your dead unquietly within you. —”
― Wallace Stegner, quote from The Big Rock Candy Mountain

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Popular quotes

“fraction of a second, before asking,”
― Barbara Taylor Bradford, quote from Hold the Dream

“Sometimes, the men did more than mock: when Nicholas got his bicycle and started to pedal along a path, a soldier thrust his bayonet between the spokes. The Tsar fell and the soldiers guffawed. Yet Nicholas was unfailingly friendly even to those who insulted him. He always said “Good morning” and held out his hand. “Not for anything in the world,” declared one soldier, turning his back on the outstretched hand. “But, my dear fellow, why? What have you got against me?” asked Nicholas, genuinely astonished.”
― Robert K. Massie, quote from Nicholas and Alexandra

“At first she beckoned and lured one into her world; then, she blurred the passageways, confused all the images, as if to elude detection.”
― Anaïs Nin, quote from A Spy in the House of Love

“إذا كانت الحياة تحتل المركز الأول في سُلم الأكاذيب, فالحب يأتي بعدها مُباشرة.كذبة داخل كذبة هي التعبير عن موقفنا الهجين,الحب محاط بادوات غبطى وتعذيب تعود إلى ما نجده في أحدهم كبديل لأنفسنا . لكن يالها من خدعة تُحول عيوننا بعيداً عن العزلة!, هل هناك أي خيبة أكثر إذلالاً للعقل؟ الحب مُسكن مؤقت للمعرفة;اليقظة والمعرفة تفتل الحب. اللاواقعية لايمكنها أن تنتصر إلى أجل غير مُسمى,حتى بتقنيع المظاهر لأكبر كذبة تمجيداً. علاوة على ذلك من الذي لديه أوهام صلبة بما يكفي ليرى في الأخر ما لم يراه عبثاً في نفسه؟ أيمكن أن نجد في تنور من الأحشاء ما لم نجده في الكون؟”
― Emil M. Cioran, quote from A Short History of Decay

“Tutto a te mi guida - Totul ma duce spre tine - cuvinte mai adevarate ca oricand, in acele zile cand Maria Antoaneta se afla la un pas de moarte. Fersen stia ca inima ei a batut pentru dansul pana in ultima clipa. Cu cele cinci cuvinte - ultim salut de despartire in pragul vesniciei, dar si juramant al dragostei statornice in curgerea vremelniciei pamantene - s-a incheiat aceasta incomparabila tragedie in umbra ghilotinei.”
― Stefan Zweig, quote from Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman

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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.