“Some men spend their lives looking for ways to punish themselves for having been born.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“Pour alcohol on a bundle of nerves and it generally turns into a can of worms.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“In wine was truth, perhaps, but in whisky, the way Hoffman sluiced it down, was an army of imaginary rats climbing your legs.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“He was half a politician, and like most of his kind he was an insecure man.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“The sea was surging among the pilings like the blithe mindless forces of dissolution.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“A moon like a fallen fruit reversing gravity was hoisting itself above the rooftops.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder. I learned that at my mother’s knee and other low joints,”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“his manner had the heavy ease of a politician, poised between bullying and flattery.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“A young man with an untrimmed beard and rebellious eyes looked like a conscientious objector to everything.”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“I could smell fog even at this level now. It was rolling down from the mountains, flooding out the moon, as well as rising from the sea. The”
― Ross Macdonald, quote from The Chill
“His Lady sad to see his sore constraint,
Cried out, "Now now Sir knight, shew what ye bee,
Add faith unto your force, and be not faint:
Strangle her, else she sure will strangle thee."
That when he heard, in great perplexitie,
His gall did grate for griefe and high distaine,
And knitting all his force got one hand free,
Wherewith he grypt her gorge with so great paine,
That soone to loose her wicked bands did her constraine.”
― Edmund Spenser, quote from The Faerie Queene
“She carried her head high enough - even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness”
― William Faulkner, quote from A Rose for Emily and Other Stories
“Live life by the abc's...adventure, bravery and creativity.”
― James Thurber, quote from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
“To be a warrior a man has to be, first of all, and rightfully so, keenly aware of his own death. But to be concerned with death would force any one of us to focus on the self and that would be debilitating. So the next thing one needs to be a warrior is detachment. The idea of imminent death, instead of becoming an obsession, becomes an indifference.
Now you must detach yourself; detach yourself from everything. Only the idea of death makes a man sufficiently detached so he is incapable of abandoning himself to anything. Only the idea of death makes a man sufficiently detached so he can't deny himself anything. A man of that sort, however, does not crave, for he has acquired a silent lust for life and for all things of life. He knows his death is stalking him and won't give him time to cling to anything, so he tries, without craving, all of everything.”
― Carlos Castaneda, quote from A Separate Reality
“Wasn’t it wonderful of Angus and Emma to spring for first class tickets?”
“Yes.”
“It’s an incredibly long flight, you know.”
“Yes.”
“They’ll show us a movie or two.”
“Yes.”
She leaned close to him, smiling. “I love traveling with you. You’re so agreeable.”
He gave her an annoyed look. “Are you going to talk the whole time?”
She smiled sweetly. “Yes.”
― Kerrelyn Sparks, quote from Eat Prey Love
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.