Quotes from The Books of the South

Glen Cook ·  671 pages

Rating: (9.1K votes)


“I guess each of us, at some time, finds one person with whom we are compelled toward absolute honesty, one person whose good opinion of us becomes a substitute for the broader opinion of the world. And that opinion becomes more important than all our sneaky, sleazy schemes of greed, lust, self-aggrandizement, whatever we are up to while lying the world into believing we are just plain nice folks. I was her truth object, and she was mine.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


“I guess each of us, at some time, finds one person with whom we are compelled toward absolute honesty, one person whose good opinion of us becomes a substitute for the broader opinion of the world.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


“About you and me, Croaker and his gang, the Lady, Silent, Darling. About all the things we had in common but still couldn’t get along.” “I didn’t see all that much you had in common. Not once you got past having the same enemies.” “Neither did I for a long time. And none of them saw it, either. Else we all might have tried a little harder.” I tried to look like I gave a shit at three in the morning. “Basically we’re all lonely, unhappy people looking for our place, Case. Loners who’d really rather not be but don’t know how. When we get to the door that would let us in—or out—we can’t figure out how to work the latch string.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


“Something he had heard some wise man say. About the three stages of empire, the three generations. First came the conquerers, unstoppable in war. Then came the administrators, who bound it all together into one apparently unshakable, immortal edifice. Then came the wasters, who knew no responsibility and squandered the capital of their inheritance upon whims and vices. And fell to other conquerers.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


“My name is Case. Philodendron Case. Thanks to my Ma. I’ve never even told Raven about that. That’s why I joined the army. To get away from the kind of potato diggers that would stick a name like that on a kid. I had seven sisters and four brothers last time I got a head count. Every one is named after some damned flower. A girl named Iris or Rose, what the hell, hey? But I got a brother named Violet and another brother named Petunia. What kind of people do that do their kids? Where the hell are the Butches and Spikes? Potato diggers.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South



“One-Eye scowled at Goblin. “Keep it up, Barf Bag. You’ll be grocery shopping with the turtles.” What the hell did that mean? Some kind of obscure shop talk? But Goblin was as croggled as the rest of us. Grinning, One-Eye resumed gabbling with his relatives.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


“There is nothing so unreasonable and irrational and blind—and just plain silly-looking—as a man who works himself into an obsessive passion.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


“I admitted, “This might not have been one of my brighter ideas.” “On the contrary. It confirms our suspicions that there’s a greater interest in us than should be for simple travellers. They mean to use us.” She was disturbed. “Welcome to life in the Black Company, sweetheart,” I said. “Now you know why I’m cynical about lords and such. Now you know one of the feelings I’ve been trying to get across.” “Maybe I get it. A little. I feel demeaned. Like I’m not human at all but an object that might be useful.” “Like I said, welcome to the Black Company.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


“He’d described himself as looking like a child molester waiting for a chance to strike. He wasn’t comfortable with his appearance.”
― Glen Cook, quote from The Books of the South


About the author

Glen Cook
Born place: in The United States
Born date July 9, 1944
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Casey glanced at her plate again, recalling the posters of her elementary school lunchroom: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. So, how much you ate indicated the quantity of your desire. Walter was also implying that how quickly you got your food revealed the likelihood of achieving your goals. She was in fact terribly hungry, but she'd pretended to be otherwise to be ladylike and had moved away from the table to be agreeable, and now she'd continue to be hungry" (Free Food For Millionaires, p.92.)”
― Min Jin Lee, quote from Free Food for Millionaires


“His OFELLUS in the Art of Living in London, I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practiced his own precepts of economy for several years in the British capital. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expence, 'that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for cloaths and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, "Sir, I am to be found at such a place." By spending three-pence in a coffee-house, he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine for six-pence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper. On clean-shirt day he went abroad, and paid visits.”
― James Boswell, quote from The Life of Samuel Johnson


“Already there was black rain inside me.”
― Jacquelyn Mitchard, quote from Cage of Stars


“Sophia looked down her long nose at the girl. “Who are you?”

“I’m Abigail, ma’am,” she said, curtsying. “This is my brother, Jamie. I apologize for him.”

Sophia arched an eyebrow. “I’ll wager you do that quite a lot.”

Abigail sighed, sounding world-weary. “Yes, I do.”

“Good girl.” Sophia almost smiled. “Younger brothers can be a chore sometimes, but one must persevere.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Abigail said solemnly.

“Come on, Jamie,” Alistair said. “Let’s go into dinner before they form a Society for Bossy Older Sisters.”
― Elizabeth Hoyt, quote from To Beguile a Beast


“Vivir es traicionar a tu Dios; cada acto de la vida, cada acto que nos afirma como seres vivos, exige que se violen los mandamientos de tu Dios”
― Carlos Fuentes, quote from The Death of Artemio Cruz


Interesting books

Seer of Sevenwaters
(8.7K)
Seer of Sevenwaters
by Juliet Marillier
The Holiness of God
(12.7K)
The Holiness of God
by R.C. Sproul
If You Dare
(11.1K)
If You Dare
by Kresley Cole
Pompeii
(28.7K)
Pompeii
by Robert Harris
A Woman Of Thirty
(2.5K)
A Woman Of Thirty
by Honoré de Balzac
Twisted
(27.3K)
Twisted
by Emma Chase

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.