“After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people. This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who writes dirty words in a public toilet to the Buddha who etches his image in the race mind. Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
“It's almost impossible to read a fine thing without wanting to do a fine thing.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
“He is one of those whom God has not quite finished.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
“He did not often think of people as individuals, but rather as antidotes for the poison of his loneliness, as escapes from the imprisoned ghosts.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
“After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
“Everyone has to be an orphan some time.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
“Yaşamak ve üretmek için gerekli olanları elde etmekten başka insanoğlunun en en çok istediği şey geriye kendisinden bir iz bırakmaktır; belki de kendisinin gerçekten var olduğunu ispatlayacak bir kanıt bırakma peşindedir, bu kanıtı bir tahta üzerine, taş üzerine ya da diğer insanların yaşantıları üzerine bırakır. Bu derin istek herkes de vardır; tuvalet duvarlarına ayıp ifadeler yazan çocuktan kendi imajını insan soyunun zihnine kazıyan Budda’ya kadar Yaşam öylesine gerçek dışı ki… Var olduğumuz konusunda ciddi kuşkularımız olduğunu ve bunu kanıtlamaya çalıştığımızı düşünüyorum.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
“За други това би било просто грешка — рече Кейси, — но щом ти мислиш, че е грях, значи, е грях. Човек сам си създава греховете.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Pastures of Heaven
John Steinbeck
Born place: in Salinas Valley, California, The United States
Born date February 27, 1902
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“I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceased to be a man.”
― Frederick Douglass, quote from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
“Three cheers for Sheriff Wilson.
- Bucky Dideron”
― Annette Curtis Klause, quote from Blood and Chocolate
“During his life, the witcher had met thieves who looked like town councilors, councilors who looked like beggars, harlots who looked like princesses, princesses who looked like calving cows and kings who looked like thieves. But Stregobor always looked as, according to every rule and notion, a wizard should look. He was tall, thin and stooping, with enormous bushy gray eyebrows and a long, crooked nose. To top it off, he wore a black, trailing robe with improbably wide sleeves, and wielded a long staff capped with a crystal knob.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, quote from The Last Wish
“He was completely detached from every thing except the story he was writing and he was living in it as he built it. The difficult parts he had dreaded he now faced one after another and as he did the people, the country, the days and the nights, and the weather were all there as he wrote. He went on working and he felt as tired as if he had spent the night crossing the broken volcanic desert and the sun had caught him and the others with the dry gray lakes still ahead. He could feel the weight of the heavy double-barreled rifle carried over his shoulder, his hand on the muzzle, and he tasted the pebble in his mouth. Across the shimmer of the dry lakes he could see the distant blue of the escarpment. Ahead of him there was no one, and behind was the long line of porters who knew that they had reached this point three hours too late.
It was not him, of course, who had stood there that morning, nor had he even worn the patched corduroy jacket faded almost white now, the armpits rotted through by sweat, that he took off then and handed to his Kamba servant and brother who shared with him the guilt and knowledge of the delay, watching him smell the sour, vinegary smell and shake his head in disgust and then grin as he swung the jacket over his black shoulder holding it by the sleeves as they started off across the dry-baked gray, the gun muzzles in their right hands, the barrels balanced on their shoulders, the heavy stocks pointing back toward the line of porters.
It was not him, but as he wrote it was and when someone read it, finally, it would be whoever read it and what they found when they should reach the escarpment, if they reached it, and he would make them reach its base by noon of that day; then whoever read it would find what there was there and have it always.”
― Ernest Hemingway, quote from The Garden of Eden
“Willow's eyes flew to his, startled. They stared at each other. Her foot felt small under his hand; he rubbed it lightly with his thumb, feeling the silky heat of her skin, his pulse hammering through his veins. He felt like he was falling. All he could see was her.
She looked closed to tears. "Alex--"
Leaning across the corner of the table, he cradled her face in his hands and kissed her.
Her lips were soft and warm. With a sob, Willow returned the kiss, throwing her arms around his neck. He opened his mouth, tasting her; felt her hair tumble down around his hands. Happiness burst through him, exploding through his chest. Willow. Oh, God. Willow.”
― L.A. Weatherly, quote from Angel
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The AbductionBookQuoters 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.
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