Quotes from The Natural

Bernard Malamud ·  231 pages

Rating: (8.8K votes)


“We have two lives... the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering is what brings us towards happiness.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


“We have two lives; the life we learn with and the life we live after that.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


“He remembered how satisfied he had been as a youngster, and that with the little he had had - a dog, a stick, an aloneness he loved (which did not bleed him like his later loneliness), and he wished he could have lived longer in his boyhood. This was an old thought with him.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


“His blood changed to falling snow.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


“Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere where it was biggest. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few drops of rain spattered to the ground. The ball screamed toward the pitcher and seemed suddenly to dive down at his feet. He grabbed it to throw to first and realized to his horror that he held only the cover. The rest of it, unraveling cotton thread as it rode, was headed into the outfield.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural



“Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere it was biggest. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few drops of rain spattered to the ground somebody then shouted it was raining cats and dogs. By the time of Roy got in from second he was wading in water ankle deep.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


“Of course I was embarrassed but I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


“We have two lives, Roy, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


“Experience makes good people better." She was staring at the lake. "How does it do that?" "Through their suffering." "I had enough of that," he said in disgust. "We have two lives, Roy, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness All it taught me was to stay away from it. I am sick of all I have suffered." She shrank away a little.”
― Bernard Malamud, quote from The Natural


About the author

Bernard Malamud
Born place: in Brooklyn, New York, The United States
Born date April 28, 1914
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Look at yourself! You're a priest. You know damn well that if I were setting out to make a girl at this moment instead of young Paolo, you'd take an entirely different view. You'd disapprove, sure! You'd read me a lecture on fornication and all the rest. But you wouldn't be too unhappy. I'd be normal... according to nature! But I am not made like that. God didn't make me like that. But do I need love the less? Do I need satisfaction less? Have I less right to live in contentment because somewhere along the line the Almighty slipped a cog in creation?... What's your answer to that Meredith? What's your answer for me? Tie a knot in myself and take up badminton and wait till they make me an angel in heaven, where they don't need this sort of thing any more? I'm lonely! I need love like the next man! My sort of love!”
― Morris West, quote from The Devil's Advocate


“You can fight without hope if the heart finds strength in something stronger." --Zafar”
― Indra Sinha, quote from Animal's People


“When grief for fiction’s idle words
More real than human life appears,
Reflect that life itself’s a dream
And do not mock the reader’s tears.”
― Cao Xueqin, quote from The Dreamer Wakes


“Living all alone! The freedom! Rather than being known as the Human Calculator, I’d be That Really Cool Chick Who Lives by Herself and Plays the Guitar Just Like Jewel!
Or I’m sure they’d say that if I actually played the guitar”
― Piper Banks, quote from Geek High


“THE FIRST GIVEN of life is that changes and endings are inevitable for any person, relationship, enthusiasm, or thing. Nothing is perfect, permanently satisfying, or permanently anything. Everything falls apart in time. Every beginning leads to a finale. Built into all experiences, persons, places, and things is a life span. Our relationships pass through phases, from romance through struggle to commitment. Then they end with death or separation.”
― David Richo, quote from The Five Things We Cannot Change: And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them


Interesting books

Slapstick, or Lonesome No More!
(30.9K)
Slapstick, or Loneso...
by Kurt Vonnegut
The Hummingbird's Daughter
(8.8K)
The Hummingbird's Da...
by Luis Alberto Urrea
Out of the Dark
(14K)
Out of the Dark
by Quinn Loftis
House of Chains
(30K)
House of Chains
by Steven Erikson
Perfection
(56.7K)
Perfection
by R.L. Mathewson
The Dying Animal
(6.9K)
The Dying Animal
by Philip Roth

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.