“Her heart was broken perhaps, but it was a small inexpensive organ of local manufacture. In a wider and grander way she felt things had been simplified.”
― Evelyn Waugh, quote from The Loved One
“Once you start changing a name, you see, there's no reason ever to stop. One always hears one that sounds better.”
― Evelyn Waugh, quote from The Loved One
“Outside the windows the cars swept past continuously, out of town, into town, lights ablaze, radios at full throttle. “I wither slowly in thine arms,” he read. “Here at the quiet limit of the world,” and repeated to himself: “Here at the quiet limit of the world. Here at the quiet limit of the world”… as a monk will repeat a simple pregnant text, over and over again in prayer.”
― Evelyn Waugh, quote from The Loved One
“What is a "canty day", Dennis?'
'I've never troubled to ask. Something like hogmanay, I expect.'
'What is that?'
'People being sick on the pavement in Glasgow.'
'Oh.”
― Evelyn Waugh, quote from The Loved One
“They are a very decent, generous lot of people out here and they don't expect you to listen. Always remember that, dear boy. It's the secret of social ease in this country. They talk entirely for their own pleasure. Nothing they say is designed to be heard.”
― Evelyn Waugh, quote from The Loved One
“Mr. Schultz, you're jealous of whispering Glades."
"And why wouldn't I be seeing all that dough going on relations they've hated all their lives, while the pets who've loved them and stood by them , never asked no questions, never complained, rich or poor, sickness or health, get buried anyhow like animals?”
― Evelyn Waugh, quote from The Loved One
“I realized I had let my own incapacity to recover from my past shrink my world so that it was big enough for only me. It was hitting me now, really for the first time, how being fucked up can turn into a form of narcissism. So that I barely acknowledged that others might need something from me.”
― Koethi Zan, quote from The Never List
“Who needs a blue sky when he's unhappy? Robert was right. The sky whether grey or blue, is cold and unemotional, and ultimately even the sun is only a fireball that, unaffected by everything going on here below on Earth, simply spews in masses of magma into space.”
― Nicolas Barreau, quote from One Evening in Paris
“Человек же, напротив, должен всячески упираться против громадной, все увеличивающейся тяжести прошлого; последняя или пригибает его вниз, или отклоняет его в сторону, она затрудняет его движение, как невидимая и темная ноша, от которой он для виду готов иногда отречься, как это он слишком охотно и делает в обществе равных себе, чтобы возбудить в них зависть. Поэтому-то”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, quote from On the Use and Abuse of History for Life
“Do you even know what pain feels like, Hemy?” Her jaw clenches as I stare at her. “Well, do you? Do you even feel pain?” “Oh, I feel it alright. That burning sensation deep down inside that feels as if my heart is dying, being crushed.” I look up from the ground and right into her eyes. “I felt it the minute you walked out my damn door.”
― Victoria Ashley, quote from Hemy
“The German citizen is a soldier, and the policeman is his officer. The policeman directs him where in the street to walk, and how fast to walk. At the end of each bridge stands a policeman to tell the German how to cross it. Were there no policeman there, he would probably sit down and wait till the river had passed by. At the railway station the policeman locks him up in the waiting-room, where he can do no harm to himself. When the proper time arrives, he fetches him out and hands him over to the guard of the train, who is only a policeman in another uniform. The guard tells him where to sit in the train, and when to get out, and sees that he does get out. In Germany you take no responsibility upon yourself whatever. Everything is done for you, and done well.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, quote from Three Men on the Bummel
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.