Quotes from The Land of Laughs

Jonathan Carroll ·  256 pages

Rating: (4.8K votes)


“Reading a book, for me at least, is like traveling in someone else's world. If it's a good book, then you feel comfortable and yet anxious to see what's going to happen to you there, what'll be around the next corner. But if it's a lousy book, then it's like going through Secaucus, New Jersey -- it smells and you wish you weren't there, but since you've started the trip, you roll up the windows and breathe through your mouth until you're done.”
― Jonathan Carroll, quote from The Land of Laughs


“The questions are the danger.
Leave them alone and they sleep.
Ask them, awake them, and more than you
know will begin to rise.”
― Jonathan Carroll, quote from The Land of Laughs


“Пару лет я коллекционировал авторучки. Однажды на блошином рынке во Франции я увидел, как какой-то человек передо мной взял с лотка одну ручку и стал рассматривать. По шестиугольной звезде на колпачке я сразу понял, что это “монблан”. Старый “монблан”. Я замер как вкопанный и начал повторять про себя: “ПОЛОЖИ ЕЕ, НЕ ПОКУПАЙ!” Но тщетно – человек приглядывался к ней все внимательней. Тогда мне захотелось, чтобы он умер тут же на месте, и я смог бы вынуть ручку из его окоченевших пальцев и купить сам. Он все стоял спиной ко мне, но моя ненависть была так сильна, что, должно быть, его проняло: он положил ручку, бросил испуганный взгляд через плечо и поспешно удалился.”
― Jonathan Carroll, quote from The Land of Laughs


“Самое худшее, что может случиться с человеком в сказке, – это превратиться в зверя. Но высочайшая награда для зверя – превратиться в человека.”
― Jonathan Carroll, quote from The Land of Laughs


“– Думаю, нужно быть писателем, когда в голове столько безумных идей и историй. А то лопнешь, если их не запишешь.”
― Jonathan Carroll, quote from The Land of Laughs



About the author

Jonathan Carroll
Born place: in New York City, The United States
Born date January 26, 1949
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“It is not everyday that one learns an entire militia has sworn unbeknownest to obey you”
― Jacqueline Carey, quote from Kushiel's Chosen


“Those who boggle at strong language are cowards, because it is real life which is shocking them, and weaklings like that are the very people who cause most harm to culture and character. They would like to see the nation grow up into a group of over-sensitive little people--masturbators of false culture...”
― Jaroslav Hašek, quote from The Good Soldier Švejk


“Why?" I figured they would do what they had done before and lay low.
"Because of you."
"Me? You've got to be joking."
"You're right. I am. It's really because of Sheepy. How he risked his life for them, and how he showed them that scrubs are real human beings who care and want the same things in life. Opened their eyes to the fact the Travas are our mutual enemy."

"Sheepy's a great guy...sheep.”
― Maria V. Snyder, quote from Inside Out


“What’s Ephebe like?” said Ptraci.

“I’ve never been there. Apparently it’s ruled by a Tyrant.”

“I hope we don’t meet him, then”

Teppic shook his head. “It’s not like that,” he said. “They have a new Tyrant every five years and they do something to him first.” He hesitated. “I think they ee-lect him.”

“Is that something like they do to tomcats and bulls and things?”

“Er.”

“You know. To make them stop fighting and be more peaceful.”

Teppic winced. “To be honest, I’m not sure,” he said. “But I don’t think so. They’ve got something they do it with, I think it’s called a mocracy, and it means everyone in the whole country can say who the new Tyrant is. One man, one—” He paused. The political history lesson seemed a very long while ago, and had introduced concepts never heard of in Djelibeybi or in Ankh-Morpork, for that matter. He had a stab at it anyway. “One man, one vet.”

“That’s for the eelecting, then?”

He shrugged. It might be, for all he knew. “The point is, though, that everyone can do it. They’re very proud of it. Everyone has—” he hesitated again, certain now that things were amiss—“the vet. Except for women, of course. And children. And criminals. And slaves. And stupid people. And people of foreign extractions. And people disapproved of for, er, various reasons. And lost of other people. But everyone apart from them. It’s a very enlightened civilization.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from Pyramids


“...who tolerates, which is intolerable; who is kind, which is cruel; who understands, which is beyond comprehension...”
― Edward Albee, quote from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


Interesting books

The Girl of Ink and Stars
(4.2K)
The Girl of Ink and...
by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Meadowland: the private life of an English field
(692)
Meadowland: the priv...
by John Lewis-Stempel
Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe
(3.6K)
Just Six Numbers: Th...
by Martin J. Rees
The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death, and Happiness
(1.8K)
The Philosopher and...
by Mark Rowlands
The Passenger
(20.4K)
The Passenger
by Lisa Lutz
Dead by Morning
(170)
Dead by Morning
by Kayla Krantz

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.