John Boyne · 224 pages
Rating: (361.4K votes)
“Sitting around miserable all day won't make you any happier.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“What exactly was the difference? He wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“The thing about exploring is that you have to know whether the thing you've found is worth finding. Some things are just sitting there, minding their own business, waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone. Like a dead mouse at the back of the cupboard.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Don't make it worse by thinking it's more painful than it actually is.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“He looked down and did something quite out of character for him: he took hold of Shmuel's tiny hand in his and squeezed it tightly.
"You're my best friend, Shmuel," he said. "My best friend for life.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Bruno: We're not supposed to be friends, you and me. We're meant to be enemies. Did you know that? ”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“. . .only the victims and survivors can truly comprehend the awfulness of that time and place; the rest of us live on the other side of the fence, staring through from our own comfortable place, trying in our own clumsy ways to make sense of it all.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Their lost voices Must continue to be heard.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“In his heart, he knew that there was no reason to be impolite to someone, even if they did work for you. There was such a thing as manners after all.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Heil Hitler," he said, which, he presumed, was another way of saying, "Well, goodbye for now, have a pleasant afternoon.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Well you've been brought here against your will, just like I have. If you ask me, we're all in the same boat. And it's leaking.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Very slowly he turned his head back to look at Shmuel, who wasn't crying anymore, merely staring at the floor and looking as if he was trying to convince his soul not to live inside his tiny body anymore, but to slip away and sail to the door and rise up into the sky, gliding through the clouds until it was very far away.'' -The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Bruno: Why do you wear pajamas all day?
Shmuel: The soldiers. They took all our clothes away.
Bruno: My dad's a soldier, but not the sort that takes people's clothes away. ”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Just because a man glances up at the sky at night does not make him an astronomer, you know.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“But still there are moments when a brother and sister can lay down their instruments of torture for a moment and speak as civilized human beings and Bruno decided to make this one of those moments.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“The people I see from my window. In the huts, in the distance. They're all dressed the same.' 'Ah, those people,' said Father, nodding his head and smiling slightly. 'Those people...well, they're not people at all, Bruno.' Bruno frowned. 'They're not?' he asked, unsure what Father meant by that.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“He looked the boy up and down as if he had never seen a child before and wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do with one: eat it, ignore it or kick it down the stairs.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“You’re my best friend, Shmuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“It reminds me of how grandmother always had the right costume for me to wear. You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you're pretending to be.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“And then the room went very dark and somehow, despite the chaos that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel's hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“He suddenly became convinced that if he didn’t do something sensible, something to put his mind to some use, then before he knew it he would be wondering round the streets having fights with himself and inviting domestic animals to social occasions too.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Bruno opened his eyes in wonder at the things he saw. In his imagination he had tough that all the huts were full of happy families, some of whom sat outside on rocking chairs in the evening and told stories about how things were so much better when they were children and they'd had nowadays. He thought that all the boys and girls who lived there would be in different groups, playing tennis or football, skipping and drawing out squares for hopscotch on the ground.
As it turned out, all the things he thought might be there-wern't.'' -The boy in the striped Pajamas”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Those people... well, they're not people at all, Bruno”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“In his imagination he had thought that all the huts were full of happy families, some of whom sat outside on rocking chairs in the evening and told stories about how things were so much better when they were children and they'd had respect for their elders, not like the children nowadays. He thought that all the boys and girls who lived here would be in different groups, playing tennis or football, skipping and drawing out squares for hopscotch on the ground. He had thought that there would be a shop in the centre, and maybe a small café like the ones he had known in Berlin; he had wondered whether there would be a fruit and vegetable stalls. As it turned out, all the things that he thought might be there - weren't.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“—Tú eres mi mejor amigo —dijo—. Mi mejor amigo para toda la vida.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“He decided to talk to the Hopeless Case”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“It's so unfair, I don't see whij I have to be stuck over here on this side of the fence where there's no one to talk to and no one to play with and you get to have dozens of friends are probably playing for hours every day, I'll have to speak to Father about it.”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“Can I ask you something? He added after a moment.
'yes,' said Shmuel.
Bruno thought about it. He wanted to phrase the question just right.
'why are there so many people on that side of the fence?' He asked. 'And what are you all doing there?”
― John Boyne, quote from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“You will see the world. You will have love affairs with boys who see past a pretty face. You will be strong. You will call and tell me about it.”
― Laura Ruby, quote from Bone Gap
“Sexual debut. Sometimes it seemed to Deenie that high school was like a long game of And Then There Were None. Every Monday, another girl’s debut.”
― Megan Abbott, quote from The Fever
“In what world is Armani here seventeen?” Cristiano shrugged unapologetically. “They feed us better in Italy.”
― A.E. Kirk, quote from Demons in Disguise
“But the simple fact of bearing a responsibility can be something that gives meaning to life.”
― John Ajvide Lindqvist, quote from Little Star
“A sudden yowl from up ahead had them all starting. A small tree smoked on one side, the faint glow of fire darting from a burning patch of dead foliage. The yowl came again. Matt hurried over and peered up the tree to see a calico cat, its green eyes staring down, as if in accusation.
"No," Reyna said, stopping beside him. "We are not rescuing the cat."
"But the tree -"
"- is on fire. I see that. Have you ever owned a cat? If they can go up, they can come down. Guaranteed."
Matt eyed the feline. It eyed him back, then yowled, as if to say Well, hurry it up.
"It might be too scared to come down," he said.
"It's a cat," Reyna said. "They don't get scared - just annoyed, which I'm going to get if you insist on playing hero and rescuing that faker." She scowled at the cat. "Yes, I mean you. Faker."
The cat sniffed, then turned to Matt, clearly sensing the softer touch.
Owen stepped forward. "If you'll feel better rescuing the cat, Matt, then go ahead. We aren't on a tight schedule."
Reyna waved her arms around the smoking street. "Um, Ragnarök?"
"And the longer you two bicker ..."
"Fine," Reyna said. "I've got this." Before Matt could protest, she walked to the base of the tree, grabbed the lowest branch, and swung up. "Rodeo girl, remember? Also, five years of gymnastics, which my mother thought would make me more graceful and feminine. Her mistake."
She shimmied along a branch. "Come on, faker. I'm your designated hero for today." She looked down at Matt. "And if you ever tell anyone I rescued a cat from a tree ..."
Before Matt could answer, the cat sprang to the ground.
"Arggh!" Reyna said.
"You scared him out," Matt said. "He just needed the extra motivation. No, wait. It's a she. Calicos are almost always female."
"Are they? Huh." Reyna swung out. The cat sat on the ground below, watching.
"See?" Matt said. "She's grateful."
"She's gloating. Let's go.”
― K.L. Armstrong, quote from Thor's Serpents
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.