“On ne découvre pas de terre nouvelle sans consentir à perdre de vue, d'abord et longtemps, tout rivage.
(One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.)”
“I prefer granting with a good grace what I know I shan't be able to prevent.”
“There's no better cure for the fear of taking after one's father, than not to know who he is.”
“Je ne me sens jamais vivre plus intensément que quand je m'échappe à moi-même pour devenir n'importe qui.”
“...Gradation; gradation; and then a sudden leap...”
“When I was younger, I used to make resolutions which imagined were virtuous. I was less anxious to be what I was, than to become what I wished to be. Now, I am not far from thinking that in irresolution lies the secret of not growing old.”
“C'est dans l'extraordinaire que je me sens le plus naturel.”
“In a world in which everyone cheats, it's the honest man who passes for a charlatan.”
“For what use is it to forbid what we can't prevent? If books are forbidden, children read them on the sly.”
“Each one of a pair of lovers fashions himself to meet the other's requirements—endeavors by a continual effort to resemble that idol of himself which he beholds in the other's heart.... Whoever really loves abandons all sincerity.”
“When I was younger, I used to make resolutions, which I imagined were virtuous. I was less anxious to be what I was, than to become what I wished to be. Now, I am not far from thinking that in irresolution lies the secret of not going old.”
“One can always find hands for a work of destruction.”
“Characters in a novel or a play who act all the way through exactly as one expects them to... This consistency of theirs, which is held up to our admiration, is on the contrary the very thing which makes us recognise that they are artificially composed.”
“Those [who] assiduously fabricate for themselves a self-conscious originality, and after having made a choice of certain practices, their principal preoccupation is never to depart from them, to remain for ever on their guard and allow themselves not a moment's relaxation.”
“Le style des Faux-Monnayeurs ne doit présenter aucun intérêt de surface, aucune saillie. Tout doit être dit de la manière la plus plate, celle qui fera dire à certains jongleurs : que trouvez-vous à admirer là-dedans ?”
“Dès que Séraphine l'a laissé seul, Gontran se jette à genoux au pied du lit ; il enfonce son front dans les draps, mais ne parvient pas à pleurer ; aucun élan ne soulève son cœur. Ses yeux désespérément restent secs. Alors il se relève. Il regarde ce visage impassible. Il voudrait, en ce moment solennel, éprouver je ne sais quoi de sublime et de rare, écouter une communication de l'au-delà, lancer sa pensée dans des régions éthérées,suprasensibles - mais elle reste accrochée, sa pensée, au ras du sol. Il regarde les mains exsangues du mort, et se demande combien de temps encore les ongles continueront de pousser.”
“- Am rămas multă vreme cu pistolul la tâmplă. Eram cu degetul pe trăgaci. Chiar apăsam puţin ; dar nu destul de puternic. Îmi spuneam : "Peste o clipă voi apăsa mai tare şi glonţul va porni." Simţeam răceala metalului şi îmi spuneam "Peste o clipă n-o să mai simt nimic. Dar înainte o să aud un zgomot îngrozitor..." Dă-ţi seama, atât de aproape de ureche !... Şi asta mai cu seamă m-a reţinut : frica de zgomot...
Ceea ce e absurd ; căci din moment ce mori... Da! dar după mine moartea e un fel de somn ; iar o detunăturą nu te adoarme, dimpotrivă, te trezeşte... Da, fără îndoială că de asta-mi era frică. Mi-era teamă că în loc să adorm o să mă trezesc brusc.”
“Je sens en moi, confusément, des aspirations extraordinaires, des sortes de lames de fond, des mouvements, des agitations incompréhensibles, et que je ne veux pas chercher à comprendre, que je ne veux même pas observer, par crainte de les empêcher de se produire.”
“Culture Clash
Dylan says
when I meet his mother today
I shouldn't mention
that I'm Jewish.
I say
okay, but can I
tell her about
the HIV postive thing?
He gives me a look.
I give him one back”
“Imagine un peu ce qui arriverait si, au lieu de baser nos croyances concernant le sexe hétéro sur l’idée que l’homme “pénètre” la femme, nous disions que c’est plutôt le vagin de la femme qui “consomme” le pénis de l’homme. Cette construction créerait un tout autre ensemble de connotations, en ce que la femme deviendrait l’initiatrice active, tandis que l’homme serait le participant passif et réceptif. On voit très facilement comment les hommes et la masculinité pourraient finir par être vus comme dépendants et existant au bénéfice des femmes et de la féminité. De la même manière, si on pensait à certain traits typiquement "féminins", comme d’être émotif et expansif, non pas comme des signes d’insécurité ou de dépendance mais comme des actes audacieux d’auto-expression, alors l’idéal masculin du “beau ténébreux” pourrait sembler timide et insécure en comparaison.”
“Laten we ons nergens wat van aantrekken en op de gewone tijd gaan eten.”
“But how can one be warm alone?”
“He talking Louisiana, you speaking Tennessee. The music so different, the sound coming from a different part of the body. It must of been like hearing lyrics set to scores by two different composers. But when you made love he must of have said I love you and you understood that and it was true, too, because I have seen the desperation in his eyes ever since—no matter what business venture he thinks up.”
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.