“Men då sa Jonatan att det fanns saker som man måste göra, även om det var farligt. ’Varför då’, undrade jag. ’Annars är man ingen människa utan bara en liten lort’, sa Jonatan.”
― Astrid Lindgren, quote from The Brothers Lionheart
“But I can't kill anyone,' said Jonathan, 'you know that Orvar!' 'Not even if it means your life?' asked Orvar. 'No, not even then,' said Jonathan. Orvar couldn't understand this and Mattias hardly could, either. 'If everyone were like you,' said Orvar, 'then evil would rule for all eternity!' But then I said that if everyone were like Jonathan, then there would be no evil.”
― Astrid Lindgren, quote from The Brothers Lionheart
“Why did you save Park's life, was that so good?'
'I don't know if it was such a good thing to do,' said Jonathan. 'But there are things you have to do, otherwise you're not a human being, just a piece of dirt. I've said this to you before.'
'But what if he'd realized who you were?' I said. 'And they had caught you!'
'Well, then they would've caught Lionheart and not a piece of dirt,' said Jonathan.”
― Astrid Lindgren, quote from The Brothers Lionheart
“Men jag kan inte döda någon’, sa Jonatan, ’det vet du, Orvar!’ […]
’Om alla vore som du’, sa Orvar, ’då skulle ju ondskan få regera i all evinnerlighet!’
Men då sa jag att om alla vore som Jonatan, så skulle det inte finnas någon ondska.”
― Astrid Lindgren, quote from The Brothers Lionheart
“But I can’t kill anyone,” said Jonathan. “You know that, Orvar.”
“Not even if it’s a question of your own life?” said Orvar.
“No, not even then,” said Jonathan.
Orvar couldn’t understand that, and neither could Mathias.
“If everyone were like you,” said Orvar, “then evil would reign forever.”
But then I said that if everyone were like Jonathan, there wouldn’t be any evil.”
― Astrid Lindgren, quote from The Brothers Lionheart
“It made me uncomfortable. I guess I've always been afraid of people who can be agile without grace.”
― Budd Schulberg, quote from What Makes Sammy Run?
“Life is but a day and expresses mainly a single note.”
― Colm Tóibín, quote from The Master
“She felt their envy and this broke her. The story ended, she couldn’t tell the rest, they’d hate her, she had to stop, she wasn’t any good, shut up you bad, bad, bad ugly girl and you don’t deserve any of this and so the spell was broken and she ran home through a tangle of words where the letters jumbled and made no sense and meant nothing, and the words were ugly and she was not to be heard or seen, she was blemished and too fat, too thin, not smart, too smart, not good, not a storyteller, not a creator, not a woman, not, not, not. All the things that girls feel they are not when they fear that if they become, if they are, they will no longer be loved by the sisters whose hearts have not meant to break. And besides, if the sisters are gone and only the beloved remains with his dense curls and his lips, how safe are you then? You have to have him or you will die if the sisters are gone with their listening ears and their feet to rub and their bodies to dress and their shared loneliness.”
― Francesca Lia Block, quote from The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold
“We sit in the silence of the dead world and take a few precious moments that might be better used running. But in order to run fast you have to want to live, and we need this moment in order to go on, I know we do.”
― Sarah Lyons Fleming, quote from And After
“When two people form an unbreakable bond, it’s like a reactor, feeding them power and heat and a sense of belonging. It makes them strong. They’re the true superheroes.”
― Kresley Cole, quote from Sweet Ruin
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.