Quotes from The Floating Island

Elizabeth Haydon ·  368 pages

Rating: (1.9K votes)


“Tell people the hammered truth, and it will ring like steel against an anvil.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island


“We each have our belssings and our curses. In the end it makes us equals.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island


“So now you know that, as dark as the depths of the sea may be, as dark as the night gets without a moon, it is not really true darkness. It's just waiting for light to return. There are places that are truly dark in this world, Ven, but this place here, this open stretch of sea where you are floating, is not one of them. It's not really dark here - it's just night. If you hang on and stay awake, in a short while the edges of the sky will start to turn gray, then pink, and the sun will rise, and there will be blue above and all around you again.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island


“...as dark as the night gets without a moon, it is really not true darkness. It's just waiting for light to return.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island


“Ven' is the Nain word for 'and.' It was my first word, and so was added to my name at the age of three, when I first spoke it. That is the Nain tradition; each child's first word becomes an official part of his or her name. As a result, three of my brothers are Petar Da-da Polypheme, Osgod No! Polypheme, and Linus Poo-poo Polypheme.

Personally, I think the Nain should rethink this tradition.

As for my name, I think perhaps there should be a question mark after it - 'and?' - as if life is always posing the question of what I am to do next. I was born with more than my share of curiosity, and it gets me into a frightful amount of trouble. I want to know what comes next from the time I wake up in the morning, wondering what the day will hold, till the moment I fall asleep, imagining where my dreams will take me at night. It's like an itch; my skin or scalp hums with excitement whenever my curiosity starts to take over. And? And? And? Scratching it does nothing to help; the itch doesn't go away, and I just look like I have dandruff or fleas.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island



“When you're of a different race people distrust you because they are afraid. If you don't give them reason to dislike you, it becomes their problem, not yours.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island


“I had always thought of home not as a house, or even a place, but a feeling of safety and acceptance, a warm light when the rest of the world was a dark, forbidding place.
Whenever my family was around, wherever we were, I felt like I was home.”
― Elizabeth Haydon, quote from The Floating Island


About the author

Elizabeth Haydon
Born place: in The United States
Born date January 1, 1965
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Pain was uniquely one's own, and undiminished by a democracy of suffering.”
― Rhidian Brook, quote from The Aftermath


“- It's a bit late to say something now... I'll just live with it!
- If all you do is «live with it»... then that's not much of a life." (p.50)”
― quote from Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 1


“Hello,” she said. “Have you heard the good word of Wadjet, Protector of Egypt and great snake of the Milky Way?”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Pocket Apocalypse


“He would do worse than his worst if he had to.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Fim da Eternidade


“I was static, standing on the platform, watching train after train go by, wishing I knew which one to be on.”
― Renee Carlino, quote from Before We Were Strangers


Interesting books

Dante's Divine Comedy Set: Three-Volume Set
(93.8K)
Dante's Divine Comed...
by Dante Alighieri
No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court
(696)
No Matter How Loud I...
by Edward Humes
Did I Mention I Need You? (Did I Mention I Love You
(7.1K)
Did I Mention I Need...
by Estelle Maskame
The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories
(5.6K)
The Street of Crocod...
by Bruno Schulz
The First Bad Man
(19K)
The First Bad Man
by Miranda July
Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them
(1.6K)
Moral Tribes: Emotio...
by Joshua D. Greene

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.