“I feel like I don't have all the ingredients a person is supposed to have.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“We're only passers-by, and all you can do is love what you have in your life. A person has to fight the meanness that sometimes comes with you when you're born, sometimes grows if you aren't in lucky surroundings. It's our challenge to fend it off, leave it behind us choking and gasping for breath in the mud. It's our task to seek out something with truth for us, no matter if there is a hundred-mile obstacle course in the way, or a ramshackle old farmhouse that binds and binds.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“We all need people to tell us that we were the ones who had been deeply wronged.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“Sometimes I couldn't figure it out, what all the living was for.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“I heard the phrases and I wanted all of me to call out in a song, a song that doesn't have words, a song that almost doesn't have noise. A lot of people take a short cut and call that feeling of song love. They just call it that because there isn't a way to describe it. But the word love doesn't describe the half of it. It doesn't do anything to bring to mind the song we all want so desperately to sing.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“It must be strange to keep your strong mind in a body that grows older and weaker and no longer resembles your own image of yourself.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“In Charles Dickens's books I had to admire the way the meanest enemies spoke to each other, with what seemed to me to be the greatest civility.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“I have given up on speech with the Rev; there is no use explaining that you have to learn where your pain is. You have to burrow down and find the wound, and if the burden of it is too terrible to shoulder you have to shout it out; you have to shout for help. My trust, even down in that dark place I carry, is that some person will come running. And then finally the way through grief is grieving.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“Miss Finch said she meant to listen to new books as well as her old favorites, even the ones that pierced her heart, before she departed this world.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“I knew that we were two humans, that's all, two humans walking around blindly in the night, looking for a warm hand.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“However, Mr. Darcy was the man I truly admired. I see him clearly. He is exceptionally tall, and his head is covered with black curly hair. He looks serious except when he smiles at you; it knocks you right straight across the room. His smile is that brilliant. He doesn't ever do anything to hurt girls. I longed for him to walk out of his book and reach for my hand.”
― Jane Hamilton, quote from The Book of Ruth
“Kas nori prarasti pinigus - tepasilaiko juos sau, kas nori išsaugoti juos amžiams - teatiduoda kitam. be to, jūs neturite teisės pasilikti sau tų pinigų - juk jie nepriklauso jums, pinigai išvis nepriklauso žmonėms. Visi pinigai velnio nuosavybė, ir jis dieną naktį sėdi savo kontoroj ant aukso maišų ir perka už juos žmonių sielas. Pasistenkit greičiau atsikratyti nešvaraus pinigo, kurį jis bruka jums į delną, nelaikykite jo, nes šis prakeiktas metalas nudegins jums pirštus, įsisiurbs į kraują, apakins, užnuodys mintis ir sukietins širdį. Paaukokite jį "vargdienių seselėms", meskit tuos nelemtus pinigus į griovį - ten jų tikroji vieta! Kuriam galui krauti pinigus, jei vis tiek reikės jų netekti? Mirtis turi antrą raktą nuo jūsų pinigų skrynios.
Dievai visas gėrybes parduoda tikrąja kaina, yra pasakęs vienas senovės poetas. Jis būtų galėjęs pridurti, kad pačias verčiausias jie parduoda pigiausiai. Viskas, kas mums tikrai naudinga - nebrangu; tik už tai, be ko galima apsieiti, mokam didelius pinigus. Kas tikrai gražu - išvis neparduodama; visa tai nemirtingieji dievai mums duoda veltui. Nemokamai galima gėrėtis saulėtekiai ir saulėlydžiais, danguje plaukiančiais debesėliais, giriomis ir laukais, nuostabai jūra. Dykai mums čiulba paukščiai, veltui galim prisiskinti pakelėj lauko gėlių ir įeiti į žvaigždėtą Nakties menę. Vargšas miega geriau nei turtuolis. Paprastas maistas ilgainiui pasidaro skanesnis negu įmantrūs patiekalai Rico restorane. Pasitenkinimas ir sielos ramybė geriau mėgsta kaimo pirkelę negu ištaigingus meisto rūmus. Keletas bičiulių, nedaug, labai nedaug knygų ir šuo - štai ir viskas, ko reikia žmogui, kol jis turi pats save.”
― Axel Munthe, quote from The Story of San Michele
“There was nothing normal or typical about our love. We should’ve been one hot mess of madness for all that we’d suffered, but just as a flower grows from the sky’s tears, our love grew from pain. It blossomed in darkness and thrived with time.”
― Keri Lake, quote from Ricochet
“We live by revelation, as Christians, as artists, which means we must be careful never to get set into rigid molds. The minute we begin to think we know all the answers, we forget the questions, and we become smug like the Pharisee who listed all his considerable virtues, and thanked God that he was not like other men.
Unamuno might be describing the artist as well as the Christian as he writes, "Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
“Well,” I said, “glad I could be of service, sir.”
― Jack L. Pyke, quote from Don't...
“The only thing shittier than the way men treated a pretty woman was the way women did.”
― Laurelin Paige, quote from First Touch
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.