“And I came to understand, in a way I never had before, that books are truly the stuff of miracles. I even dared to dream that someday, somehow, I might surround myself with books from many times and many tongues...”
― T.A. Barron, quote from The Lost Years
“As the wind swelled, my tree started to sway. Almost like a human body it swung back and around, gently at first, then more and more wildly. While the swaying intensified, so did my fears that the trunk might snap and hurl me to the ground. But in time my confidence returned. Amazed at how the tree could be at once so flexible and so sturdy, I held on tight as it bent and waved, twisted and swirled, slicing curves and arcs through the air. With each graceful swing, I felt less a creature of the land and more a part of the wind itself.
"The rain began falling, it's sound merging with the splashing river and the singing trees. Branches streamed like waterfalls of green. Tiny rivers cascaded down every trunk, twisting through moss meadows and bark canyons. All the while, I rode out the gale. I could not have felt wetter. I could not have felt freer.
"When, at last, the storm subsided, the entire world seemed newly born. Sunbeams danced on rain-washed leaves. Curling columns of mist rose from every glade. The forest's colors shown more vivid, its smells struck more fresh. And I understood, for the first time in my life, that the Earth was always being remade, that life was always being renewed. That it may have been the afternoon of this particular day, but it was still the very morning of Creation.”
― T.A. Barron, quote from The Lost Years
“My constellations are not made from the stars, but from the spaces between the stars. The dark places. The open places, where your mind can travel forever and ever.”
― T.A. Barron, quote from The Lost Years
“Comme si une douce brise s’était levée, les cheveux de Shim ont commencé à remuer. Son nez s’est mis à grossir. Puis ses oreilles. Puis le reste de sa tête, son cou, ses épaules… Ses bras ont gonflé, ainsi que sa poitrine, ses hanches, ses jambes et ses pieds. Ses vêtements s’élargissaient, grandissaient en même temps que lui, à toute vitesse… Et le miracle est arrivé : Shim a ouvert les yeux ! Plus émerveillé que nous tous, il se tâtait partout avec ses mains de plus en plus grandes. — Je grandis ! Je grandis ! s’est-il exclamé.”
― T.A. Barron, quote from The Lost Years
“In chess, as in life, your choice will make all the difference.”
― T.A. Barron, quote from The Lost Years
“Hier war es wohl die Müdigkeit inmitten glücklicher Arbeit; etwas, was nach außen hin wie Müdigkeit aussah und eigentlich unzerstörbare Ruhe, unzerstörbarer Frieden war.”
― Franz Kafka, quote from Slottet
“Suurin osa maasta jalkojemme alla kasvoi ja hengitti kerran, ja kerran sillä oli elävien muoto, kauan sitten. Jonain päivänä joku, joka ei muista meitä, kävelee ihomme ja lihamme ja luidemme yli, yli tomun joka meistä jää.”
― Emmi Itäranta, quote from Memory of Water
“It is ironic how the years change you and yet you remain the same.”
― Preeti Shenoy, quote from The Secret Wish List
“Three; - and this would be sufficient reason by itself - what are we supposed to be about, Sma? What is the Culture? What do we believe in, even if it hardly ever is expressed, even if we are embarrassed about talking about it? Surely in freedom, more than anything else. A relativistic, changing sort of freedom, unbounded by laws or laid-down moral codes, but - in the end - just because it is so hard to pin down and express, a freedom of a far higher quality than anything to be found on any relevant scale on the planet beneath us at the moment.”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from The State of the Art
“The Doctor gave a modest shrug. "Well, I must admit that I made heads turn wherever I go. It's a burden that I just have to live with.”
― Jacqueline Rayner, quote from Doctor Who: The Stone Rose
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.