“We affect one another quite enough merely by existing. Whenever the stars cross, or is it comets? fragments pass briefly from one orbit to another. On rare occasions there is total collision, but most often the two simply continue without incident, neither losing more than a particle to the other, in passing.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from The City and the Pillar
“Ideally, of course, a relationship is best, but then how many people are capable of deep feeling? Practically none.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from The City and the Pillar
“Americans tend to play different roles, hoping that somehow they’ll stumble on the right one.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from The City and the Pillar
“Nothing that ever was changes. Yet nothing that is can ever be the same as what went before.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from The City and the Pillar
“عاد وحيداً و سعيداً ، مع ثلاثة كؤوسٍ موضوعةٍ أمامه على الطاوله : اثنان فارغان ، وواحد نصف مملوء و عليه آثار أحمر شفاه . رتَّبَ الكؤوس لتُشكِّلَ مثلثاً ، لكنه حين حاولَ ان يرتِّبها على شكلِ مربِّعٍ فشل . لماذا ؟ لأنَّ ثلاثة كؤوس يجب أن تكون قادرةً على تشكيلِ مربَّع . و شعر بالحزن .”
― Gore Vidal, quote from The City and the Pillar
“يبدو أن كثيرين من الجنوبيين يكتبون . ربما بسبب الحرب الأهلية . يجب الحصول على مأساة لكي نحصل على أدب .”
― Gore Vidal, quote from The City and the Pillar
“As the late afternoon sun shone in Shaw's face and a soft flower-scented wind cooled him, his unhappiness turned to a detachment that was not at all unpleasant. He was utterly alone in the world. This knowledge thrilled him.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from The City and the Pillar
“He did look like an Italian of the worse type, though Vic didn't think he was, and it was an insult to the Italian race to assume that he was. He resembled no particular race, only an amalgamation of the worst elements of various Latin peoples. He looked as if he had spent all his life dodging blows that were probably aimed at him for good reason.”
― Patricia Highsmith, quote from Deep Water
“homini lupus’, said Plautus. ‘Man is a wolf to man.”
― Matt Ridley, quote from The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves
“The Cayce Readings spoke of God as a universal loving intelligence that does not discriminate against anyone—nor should we: “More wars, more bloodshed have been shed over the racial and religious differences than over any other problem. These, too, must go the way of all others; and man must learn . . . whether they be called of this or that sect or schism or ism or cult, the Lord is ONE.”20”
― David Wilcock, quote from The Source Field Investigations: The Hidden Science and Lost Civilizations Behind the 2012 Prophecies
“I felt worse than blind—I felt cursed with an inability to perceive even the void.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Half Way Home
“One of the reasons teenagers rebel is to test the limits to make sure they are still there. But for you it was particularly difficult. And something you never really got over.”
― quote from Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder
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.