“A man can see a hundred women, lust for a thousand more, but it is one scent that will open his eyes and turn him to love.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“When his father asked why A wasn't apple or B wasn't bird or C wasn't cat, young Ambrose explained that things didn't always have to be the way you'd expect. Everybody does apples and birds and cats, he said, and it's boring to do what everybody else does.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“In the face of all reason she was interested in him as he was. Not as he wished he was.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“He believed women to be quantifiably wiser than men. He was neither a breast nor a leg nor an ass man; hair could be any length, any colour. Ambrose preferred the complete puzzle to a bit here, a piece there.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“Le aveva detto che era stato lui a insegnare a un nipote fastidiosamente curioso a leggere i sottotitoli della vita.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“Migliaia di parole le svolazzavano in testa, ma non riusciva a farne atterrare sulla pagina nemmeno una.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“This was not her Ambrose, she thought at first. But then, apparently, it was.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“But times, as are their custom, had changed.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“With the proper amount of squint.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“This is now, Zipper said, as she picked up a small stone and slid it in her pocket.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“...painted by a troubled young man, Mrs. Zephyr was saying... cut off part of his own ear...
Ambrose went back to looking. What he saw didn't need his mother going on about symbols and meanings and madness and genius, he thought. She knew a lot, but she didn't know when to stop complicating things. The sunflowers were like none he had ever seen, ear or no ear, troubles or not.
Ambrose Zephyr liked what he liked and didn't like what he didn't like.
It was as simple as that.”
― C.S. Richardson, quote from The End of the Alphabet
“Faith is a footbridge that you don't know will hold you up over the chasm until you're forced to walk out onto it.”
― Nicholas Wolterstorff, quote from Lament for a Son
“Stories are like snapshots, pictures snatched out of time, with clean hard edges. But this was life, and life always begins and ends in a bloody muddle, womb to tomb, just one big mess, a can of worms left to rot in the sun.”
― James Crumley, quote from The Last Good Kiss
“Die christliche Sitte, träge aufrecht dazusitzen wie bei einer Unterhaltungsveranstaltung, deutet darauf hin, dass Gott als Unterhaltungskünstler gilt, der von der Bühne entfernt und durch eine andere Nummer ersetzt werden kann, wenn er nicht mehr unterhält.”
― John Updike, quote from Terrorist
“What makes a man a man are his deeds, his responsibilities, and his reactions... These things are also what makes a man a monster.”
― Shannon Delany, quote from 13 to Life
“Though small, the shrine has a long history. In 1333—the Third Year of the Genko era—Lord Takeshigé Kikuchi ascended to it in order to implore the divine favor before going into battle. Victory was his, and in gratitude he had the shrine rebuilt. According to tradition, he himself carved the Worship Image, reciting a triple prayer after each stroke. This represented the god as standing on the mountain peak with one hand raised, gazing at the armed host he had blessed. It was an image of victory.
Now, however, the morning after the rising, early on the auspicious Ninth Day of the Ninth Month, the time of the Chrysanthemum Festival, there were gathered around the shrine forty-six hunted survivors of a defeated force. Some standing, some sitting, they stared blankly about them, though the penetrating autumn chill made their wounds sting. The clear light of the rising sun cast a striped pattern as it shone down through the branches of the few old cedars that surrounded the shrine. Birds were singing. The air was fresh and clear. As for signs of last night’s sanguinary combat, these were visible in the soiled and bloodstained garments, the haggard visages, and the eyes that burned like live embers.
Among the forty-six were Unshiro Ishihara, Kageki Abé, Kisou Onimaru, Juro Furuta, Tsunetaro Kobayashi, the brothers Gitaro and Gigoro Tashiro, Tateki Ura, Mitsuo Noguchi, Mikao Kashima, and Kango Hayami. Every man was silent, sunk deep in thought, looking off at the sea, or at the mountains, or at the smoke still rising from Kumamoto.
Such were the men of the League at rest on the slope of Kimpo, some with fingers yellowed from brushing the petals of wild chrysanthemums that they had plucked while staring across the water at Shimabara Peninsula.”
― Yukio Mishima, quote from Runaway Horses
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.