Quotes from The Book of the Dun Cow

Walter Wangerin Jr. ·  256 pages

Rating: (3.1K votes)


“Sorrow spoken lends a little courage to the speaker.”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“Her ballad did nothing to make the serpants lovely. Her ballad hid nothing of their dread. But the music itself spoke of faith and certainty; the melody announced the presence of God.”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“A grudge may be strong. But a grudge isn't strength!”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“How many battles make a war?”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“He went wordless, and wordless he sat beside her. He knew the size of her sorrow.”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow



“Aye. He wills that I work his work in this place. Indeed. I am left behind to labor. Right
'And one day he may show his face beneath his damnable clouds to tell me what that work might be; what's worth so many tears; what's so important in his sight that is needs to be done this way...
'O my sons!'Chauntecleer suddenly wailed at the top of his lungs, a light flaring before it goes out: 'How much I want you with me!”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“But a good novel is first of all an event; as distinguished from the continuous rush of many sensations and the messy overlapping experiences of our daily lives, it is a composed experience in which all sensations are tightly related, for which there is a beginning and an ending, within which the reader’s perceivings and interpretations are shaped for a while by the internal integrity of all the elements of the narrative.”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“WELL, THEN SHAG IT, YOU SUITCASE! GET OVER HERE!”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“: “Behold the Rooster who suffers much more than he must. Ah, Chauntecleer, Chauntecleer. Why do you suffer today and tomorrow?” oozed the compassionate voice. “Curse God. Curse him, and all will be done. Or, lest you forget the truth of things, remember: I am Wyrm. And I am here.”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“How can the meek of the earth save themselves against the damnable evil which feeds on them?”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow



“Almost as evil as the stench was the silence. Senex, however poorly he had ended his rule, had always remembered the canonical crows. He sang them, to be sure, in a disoriented manner; but he did sing them, keeping his animals that way, banding them, unifying them.

But Cockatrice never crowed the canon. So under him the day lost its meaning and its direction, and the animals lost any sense of time or purpose. Their land became strange to them. A terrible feeling of danger entered their souls, of things undone, of treasures unprotected. They were tired all the day long, and at night they did not sleep. And it was a most pitiful sight to see, how they all went about with hunched shoulders, heads tucked in, limping here and there as if they were forever walking into an ill wind, and flinching at every sound as if the wind carried arrows.”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


“Her eyes were liquid with compassion—deep, deep, as the earth is deep. Her brow knew his suffering and knew, besides that, worlds more. But the goodness was that, though this wide brow knew so much, yet it bent over his pain alone and creased with it.”
― Walter Wangerin Jr., quote from The Book of the Dun Cow


About the author

Walter Wangerin Jr.
Born place: in Portland, Oregon, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Everybody likes the ice cream man.”
― Stephen King, quote from Mr. Mercedes


“People don't want other people to be people.”
― Gene Wolfe, quote from Shadow & Claw


“Stop thinking," he said.
I have to think," said val. "You said I was supposed to concentrate."
Thinking makes you slow. You need to move as I move. Right now, you're merely following my lead."
How can I know where you're going to go before you've gone there? That's stupid."
It's no different from knowing where an opponent might move. How do you know where a ball is likely to go on the lacrosse field?"
The only things you know about lacrosse are the things I told you," Val said.
I might say the same about you and sword fighting." He stopped. "There. You did it. You were so busy snapping at me that you didn't notice you were doing it."
Val frowned, too annoyed to be pleased, but too pleased to say anything more.”
― Holly Black, quote from Valiant


“One of these days, I would love to exit a world without being pursued by an angry mob.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Hammer of Thor


“a royal bride could come to enjoy considerable power and influence, as did both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Yet such status and power emanated solely from her husband. She enjoyed no freedoms but those he permitted her. Without him, she was nothing. Queens”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Six Wives of Henry VIII


Interesting books

Divine Misdemeanors
(22.1K)
Divine Misdemeanors
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Warlord
(5.5K)
Warlord
by Elizabeth Vaughan
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
(20.5K)
The Game: Penetratin...
by Neil Strauss
Gods in Alabama
(17.5K)
Gods in Alabama
by Joshilyn Jackson
My Feudal Lord
(3.1K)
My Feudal Lord
by Tehmina Durrani
Gone, Baby, Gone
(28.8K)
Gone, Baby, Gone
by Dennis Lehane

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.