Quotes from The Cabinet of Curiosities

Douglas Preston ·  629 pages

Rating: (34.3K votes)


“The wise and good are outnumbered a thousand to one by the brutal and stupid.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Cabinet of Curiosities


“One can reach the gates of hell just as easily by short steps as by large.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Cabinet of Curiosities


“I’m afraid I don’t suffer petty bureaucrats gladly. A very bad habit, but one I find hard to break. Nevertheless, you will find, Dr. Kelly, that humiliation and blackmail, when used judiciously, can be marvelously effective”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Cabinet of Curiosities


“PEE-WEE BOXER SURVEYED THE JOBSITE WITH DISGUST. THE FOREMAN was a scumbag. The crew were a bunch of losers. Worst of all, the guy handling the Cat didn't know jack about hydraulic excavators. Maybe it was a union thing; maybe he was friends with somebody; either way, he was jerking the machine around like it was his first day at Queens Vo-Tech”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Cabinet of Curiosities


“Boxer altered his course subtly, as if that was the way he'd already been going, not looking up to acknowledge he had heard, letting his attitude convey the contempt he felt for the scrawny foreman. He stopped in front of the guy, staring at the man's dusty little workboots. Small feet, small dick. Slowly, he glanced up. "Welcome to the world, Pee-Wee. Take a look at this.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Cabinet of Curiosities



“If you’re honest with yourself, you can still feel the terrible weight of time pressing on you; that awful, relentless, bodily corruption that is happening constantly to us all.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Cabinet of Curiosities


“There is an old French curse: may your fondest wish come true. If this treatment is cheap and available to everyone, it will destroy the earth through overpopulation. If it is dear and available only to the very rich, it will cause riots, wars, a breakdown of the social contract. Either way, it will lead directly to human misery. What is the value of a long life, when it is lived in squalor and unhappiness?”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Cabinet of Curiosities


About the author

Douglas Preston
Born place: in Cambridge, Massachusetts, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Stay hungry. It worked for Michelangelo, it worked for Picasso, and it works for a hundred thousand artists who do it not for love (although that might play a part) but in order to put food on the table. If you want to translate the world, you need to use your appetites. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. There’s no creation without talent, I give you that, but talent is cheap. Talent goes begging. Hunger is the piston of art.”
― Stephen King, quote from Duma Key


“Words pale and lose their savor while pain is always new.”
― Cormac McCarthy, quote from The Crossing


“They are sparkly,” Nawat said. “The griffins shed them. I thought if I brought you a present that was made of discarded things, no one would punish you for having them.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Trickster's Choice


“Is he having a party?" "Dorian is a sociable king. He likes keeping people around him, mostly so he can mock them.”
― Richelle Mead, quote from Storm Born


“I've had ups in my life, and I've had downs, but I've learned not to cry over spilled milk.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, quote from The Sign of Four


Interesting books

Jesus' Son
(24.6K)
Jesus' Son
by Denis Johnson
Five Children and It
(19.4K)
Five Children and It
by E. Nesbit
Nobody's Fool
(21.6K)
Nobody's Fool
by Richard Russo
The Prophet of Yonwood
(25K)
The Prophet of Yonwo...
by Jeanne DuPrau
Dragon Spear
(12.6K)
Dragon Spear
by Jessica Day George
The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
(5K)
The Star Diaries: Fu...
by Stanisław Lem

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.