“You had to invent something. It's not possible to leave it blank. The mind
won't let you.”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“Once a man begins to recognize himself in another, he can no longer look on that person as a stranger.”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“It's just another word for the same thing. You want to believe in some hidden purpose. You're trying to persuade yourself there's a reason for what happens in the world. I don't care what you call it--God or luck or harmony-- it all comes down to the same bullshit. It's a way of avoiding the facts, of refusing to look at how things really work.”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“It was a dizzying prospect—to imagine all that freedom, to understand how little it mattered what choice he made.”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“I know you don't love me but that doesn't mean I'm the wrong girl for you.”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“Due artisti nella stessa casa potrebbero essere troppi. Qualcuno deve occuparsi dell’aspetto pratico delle cose, eh, Willie? Ci vuole gente di tutti i tipi per fare il mondo.”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“کافیست زندگی دیگری برای خود تجسم کنید تا قلب تان هم چنان بتپد”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“بعضی ها یکشنبه ها می رن کلیسا، اما برای ما پوکر جمعه شب ها مهم بود. نمی دونین اون وقتا چه قدر آخر هفته هامونو دوست داشتیم! بذارین بهتون بگم برای از بین بردن دغدغه های کار هیچ دوایی بهتر از یک دست قمار دوستانه نیس.”
― Paul Auster, quote from The Music of Chance
“Tell me, storyteller, what is the greatest mistake a parent can make? -To believe that your children will be just like you”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“In my parents' day and age, it used to be the person who fell short. Now it's the discipline. Reading the classics is too difficult, therefore it's the classics that are to blame. Today the student asserts his incapacity as a privilege. I can't learn it, so there is something wrong with it. And there is something especially wrong with the bad teacher who wants to teach it. There are no more criteria, Mr. Zuckerman, only opinions.”
― Philip Roth, quote from The Human Stain
“I wouldn't say hate, exactly. You're kind of like fungus, Gwen. After a while, you just start growing on people.”
― Jennifer Estep, quote from Touch of Frost
“Suddenly, Coach Spinks’s face mellowed. There was a dissociation of form and substance. His eyes glistened; his gaze became beatific. “Let us pray,” he said and all the heads on the team dropped floorward as though they were puppets strung to the same wire. “O sweet Jesus, we come again to ask your blessings and your forgiveness for our many trespasses against you and our fellow neighbor. We are playin’ West Charleston High School tonight, Lord, but there’s no need to tell you that since you knew about it two or three million years before I did. We ask, good Jesus, not that we beat West Charleston High but that we do our best before our God, our family, and our country. We do ask, Lord, if you see it befitting, that we score a point or two more than West Charleston even though I know that Coach Warners is a God-fearin’ man and a deacon in the Baptist Church besides. But you know as well as I, Lord, he’s one of the mouthiest so-and-so’s that ever wore socks. I’m also aware, dear Jesus, that their players are all clean cut boys and also pleasant to your sight. We don’t want to ask for anything special, Lord, but help my rebounders get off their feet. Help Pinkie and Jim Don control their tempers. Give Philip and Art a little more temper. And get Ben to quit throwin’ those big city behind-the-back passes. And, Lord, please help this high school if I got to make any substitutions. My scrubs is good boys but they’ve been havin’ a devil of a time puttin’ that ball into the hole. The real thing I want to ask, Lord, is that all these boys make the first team in that great game of life. If they make mistakes, Lord, blow the whistle because you’re the great referee. Call time out and bring them to center court for another jump ball. Don’t let them go out of bounds, Lord. If they bust a play, make ’em run wind-sprints and figure eights but stay with ’em, Lord. Coach ’em all the way to the championship of life. A-men.” “A-men,” the team echoed in relief.”
― Pat Conroy, quote from The Great Santini
“Kmart special over here--one bad man with a stocking over his head, holding up a night crawler with a wallet. Give me your gun, buster.”
― Ted Dekker, quote from Thr3e
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.