Quotes from The Oracle of Stamboul

“She hadn't lied. She hadn't betrayed anyone's trust; still, she felt she had done something wrong. Or rather, she had not yet done the right thing. Was there a difference between these two sins?”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul

“With every choice, even the choice of inactivity, we must shut the door to a host of alternate futures. Each step we take along the path of fate represents a narrowing of potential, the death of a parallel world. The path of fate was more like a tunnel, and it was constricting about her with ever step she took.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul

“You are a very special child," the old handmaid said, stroking Eleonora's hair. "You know that don't you?"

Eleonora mumbled a yes.

"You know you are special, but I think that you aren't sure how."

She nodded. That was, indeed, the crux of it.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul

“A slippery fish, flashing scales in the water and a noble fighter on the line, but dull as lead at the bottom of the boat.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul

“This divergence of experience was not a stumbling block to conversation; indeed, it was what made the conversation interesting.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul

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Popular quotes

“Thank you for your news, Princess. It is none of it happy, but only a fool desires cheerful ignorance and I try not to be a fool. That is my heaviest burden.”
― Tad Williams, quote from To Green Angel Tower

“- Dažbrīd cilvēks pavisam aizmirst, ka viņš dzīvo.
- Es gan to arvien apzinos. Tikai nezinu lāgā, ko ar to iesākt.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, quote from A Time to Love and a Time to Die

“The tight, throbbing feeling in my throat made me want to start sobbing, to break down, right there on an unfamiliar corner in front of a house just like my own. Everything seemed so out of control, as if even running the streets wouldn’t save me. I wondered if this was how she felt running wild at night, this lost, loose feeling that no consequence could be so harmful as the sense of staying where you were, or of being who you are. I wanted to be somewhere else, out of the range of my mother’s voice and ears, of Ashley’s pouty looks, of the News Channel 5 viewing area. A place where the sight of my sobbing would tie me to no one and no one to me.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from That Summer

“I felt like a man who wakes alone on a deserted island to find that the rest of the world has stolen away in boats in the night. I felt like I was standing on a shore, watching small receding shapes on the horizon. I felt like I had been speaking English, and now I realized everyone else had been speaking a different language entirely. The world was changing. And I didn’t want it to.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Enemy

“لا الأشياء ولا الوقائع الحقيقية هي التي تفصل بين سعادتنا وتعاستنا، إنما هي التصورات التي يقدمها لنا وعينا المتأرجح وحسب. وكل يوم تتبين إلى أي حد تلك التصوارت خاعة وكاذبة، إن سعادتنا لا ترتكز على شيء راسخ. وكم لنا من شكاوى لا مبرر لها غالباً، وأين الغرابة في ألا يكترث الحكيم بالسعادة أو بالشكوى ... وأن يكون الأجلاف الحمقى وحدهم من يمكنهم التمتع بالسعادة ص 323”
― Vladimir Bartol, quote from Alamut

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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.