“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
“Pensé que cualquier alegría de mi vida tenía que compensarla algo desagradable. Que quizás esto era una ley fatal.”
― Carmen Laforet, quote from Nada
“The law of chaos is the law of ideas,
Of improvisations and seasons of belief.
Ideas are men. The mass of meaning and
The mass of men are one. Chaos is not
The mass of meaning. It is three or four
Ideas, or, say, five men or, possibly, six.
In the end, these philosophic assassins pull
Revolvers and shoot each other. One remains.
The mass of meaning becomes composed again.”
― Wallace Stevens, quote from The Collected Poems
“What are you doing to stop the next attack?” I asked. People nervously”
― George W. Bush, quote from Decision Points
“It would require a singularly stupid man to go hang around in narrow tunnels and cramped spaces alongside a threat like that.
"And I, Harry Dresden, am that man," I stated.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Ghost Story
“That's the whole problem, isn't it?" He turned his face toward the night sky and let out a horrible laugh, like a gasp of pain. "Why are you the only person who's allowed to be strong?”
― Katie Alender, quote from From Bad to Cursed
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.