Quotes from The Monsters of Templeton

Lauren Groff ·  364 pages

Rating: (16.6K votes)


“When I was small and easily wounded books were my carapace. If I were recalled to my hurts in the middle of a book they somehow mattered less. My corporeal life was slight the dazzling one in my head was what really mattered. Returning to books was coming home.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“Amor animi arbitrio sumitu, non ponitur; we choose to love; we do not choose to cease loving.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“Even still, we run. We have not reached our average of 57.92 years without knowing that you run through it, and it hurts and you run through it some more, and if it hurts worse, you run through it even more, and when you finish, you will have broken through. In the end, when you are done, and stretching, and your heartbeat slows, and your sweat dries, if you've run through the hard part, you will remember no pain.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“...no genius, I am a girl who knows too much to know anything at all...”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“we need a mass of ancestors at our backs as ballast. Sometimes, we feel it's impossible to push into the future without such a weight behind us, without such heaviness to keep us steady, even if it is imaginary. And the more frightening the future is, the more complicated it seems to be, the more we steady ourselves with the past.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton



“...right now, right now, I am strange. It is strange. This life is strange. For now, only for now, I am happy.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“It was somehow clear, even then, that the monster had been lonely. The folds above its eye made the old face look wistful, and it emanated such a strong sense of solitude that each human standing in the park that day felt miles from the others, though we were shoulder-to-shoulder, touching.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“Then, when we had done so, we put our hands upon the freezing cold monster, our monster. And this is what we felt: vertigo, an icicle through our strong hearts, our long-lost childhoods. Sunshine in a field and crickets and the sweet tealeaf stink of a new ball mitt and a rock glinting with mica and a chaw of bubblegum wrapping in sweet sweet tendrils down our throats and the warm breeze up our shorts and the low vibrato of lake loons and the sun and the sun and the warm sun and this is what we felt; the sun.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“A man living in a place that doesn't change doesn't expect it ever will.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“...all I'm saying is that worrying about it isn't going to fix anything. The only thing we can do is keep on with our own small thing and try hard to be good and to make life better, and know that if it all ends tomorrow that we were at least happy.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton



“The writing seemed like the books that held it; crumbly and antique and bearing the stink of centuries. Still, it was compelling. His voice was smooth and kind, and once in a while an observation that would ring so true it vibrated like flicked crystal.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“And this was what we felt: vertigo, an icicle through our strong hearts, our long-lost childhoods. Sunshine in a field and crickets and the sweet tealeaf stink of a new ball mitt and a rock glinting with mica and a chaw of bubblegum wrapping its sweet tendrils down our throats and the warm breeze up our shorts and the low vibrato of lake loons and the sun and the sun and the warm sun and this is what we felt; the sun.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“In the far reaches of the county, cottages were found with skeletons enlaced in the beds, the bones of the baby in the kettle.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“And as I walked, I believed myself to be an Adam setting foot in a new Eden, sinless and wild-eyed, my sinews still stiff with creation.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“Publilius Syrus come to me: Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur; we choose to love; we do not choose to cease loving.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton



“...sick, my brothers are sending me home. This place infects me. Templeton my smooth little pill... such images I have. Such voices, that high voice, the little girl's so naughty, talking to me, all the time now. How I hate her... the train is empty, Albany a small, spangled fish... this train is all brown velvet... the train slows, I am in Templeton, oh. Templeton, Templeton, the train says, slowing down. The lake, the blue, is an embrace.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“Little Sally is beheading daisies on the drive... couldn't be more eloquent if she could speak...”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“As I touched the beast I remembered how, even on that long-ago night, I could feel a tremendous thing moving in the depths below me, something vast and white and singing.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“When I was small and easily wounded, books were my carapace. If I were recalled to my hurts in the middle of a book, they somehow mattered less. My corporeal life was slight; the dazzling one in my head was what really mattered. Returning to books was coming home. So,”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“My Templeton is to Cooperstown as a shadow is to the tree that spawned it; an outline that takes texture from the ground it falls on.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton



“But it’s not just me, you know. The whole world’s sad,” I said. “It’s like a virus. It’s going to end badly. Glaciers melting, ozone depleted. Terrorists blowing up buildings, nuclear rods infecting the aqueducts. Influenza hopping from the pigeons to the humans, killing millions. Billions. People rotting in the street. The sun bursting open, shattering us eight minutes later. If not that, starvation. Cannibalism. Freakish mutated babies with eyeballs in their navels. It’s a terrible place to bring a child into,” I said. “This world. It is terrible. Just terrible.” I”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“Now, don't sigh for envy at my week-end; I am sure it is to be dull, my dear, and you know my horrible shyness and how I loathe such things. If only I had your vivacity and beauty! Alas, what we love in others does not always suit ourselves. I shall get through the weekend by wishing you in my place.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“That's how it went, the gentle ones died quiet while the mean ones thrived. Sickened me unto death all my life.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“Even still, we run. We have not reached our average of 57.92 years without knowing that you run through it, and it hurts worse, you run through it even more, and when you finish, you will have broken through. In the end, when you are done, and stretching, and your heartbeat slows, and your sweat dries, if you've run through the hard part, you will remember no pain.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


“When I was small and easily wounded, books were my carapace. If I were recalled to my hurts in the middle of a book, they somehow mattered less. My corporeal life was slight; the dazzling one in my head was what really mattered. Returning to books was coming home.”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton



“Until I talked to Primus Dwyer, I wouldn’t decide anything on the Lump,”
― Lauren Groff, quote from The Monsters of Templeton


About the author

Lauren Groff
Born place: in Cooperstown, New York, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“He couldn't live without being a draki, and I couldn't live without him.”
― Sophie Jordan, quote from Firelight


“It was life, often unsatisfying, frequently cruel, usually boring, sometimes beautiful, once in a while exhilarating.”
― Stephen King, quote from Insomnia


“The atmosphere in the admin department also seemed very false. My suspicions were aroused when two employees spontaneously started singing the Panther Corporation song. I didn't even know there was a Panther Corporation song.”
― Sophie Kinsella, quote from Can You Keep a Secret?


“I only have two kinds of dreams: the bad and the terrible. Bad dreams I can cope with. They're just nightmares, and the end eventually. I wake up. The terrible dreams are the good dreams. In my terrible dreams, everything is fine. I am still with the company. I still look like me. None of the last five years ever happened. Sometimes I'm married. Once I even had kids. I even knew their names. Everything's wonderful and normal and fine. And then I wake up, and I'm still me. And I'm still here. And that is truly terrible.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Preludes & Nocturnes


“Cuz how do you know yer alive if you don't hurt?”
― Patrick Ness, quote from The Ask and the Answer


Interesting books

The Westing Game
(132.5K)
The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
(518.2K)
The Memory Keeper's...
by Kim Edwards
No Country for Old Men
(116.6K)
No Country for Old M...
by Cormac McCarthy
Gone
(161K)
Gone
by Michael Grant
We Need to Talk About Kevin
(124.3K)
We Need to Talk Abou...
by Lionel Shriver
Poison Study
(115.2K)
Poison Study
by Maria V. Snyder

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.