“The only time you truly become an adult is when you finally forgive your parents for being just as flawed as everyone else.”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“...hate is a hard thing to sustain. Grief isn't. Grief is something that can stay with you for a very long time”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“I could hear him swallowing hard, trying not to cry. Why is it that we always try to be brave at moments when bravery is futile?”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“죽음의 순간이 찾아오면 우리가 삶이라고 부르는 시간의 무상함으 깨달을 수 있을 뿐이다. 그럼에도 우리는 살아가는 동안 언쟁을 벌이고, 원한을 품고, 분노하고, 질투하고, 싸우고 후회한다. 세상에서 분출되는 온갖 갈등이 인간 존재에 어두운 그림자를 드리운다. 결국 모든 게 죽음으로 막을 내리게 될줄 알면서도 사람들은 포기할 줄 모른다. 우리는 전혀 대수롭지 않은 일에 분노한다. 분노는 근본적으로 중요하지 않은 일에 중요한 의미를 부여한다. 분노는 우리가 언젠가 죽으리라는 걸 잊게 한다.”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“When it comes to women, men only hear what they want to hear. It’s one of the many failures of their sex.”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“...човек става наистина възрастен, когато съумее да прости на родителите си това, че те имат точно толкова недостатъци, колкото който и да е друг човек ... и после да признае, че въпреки ограничеността на собствените си разбирания, те са направили за него най-доброто, на което са способни.”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“At dawn, nothing seems certain... yet everything appears possible.”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“There are moments when you think you will cry forever. You never do. Eventually, sheer physical exhaustion forces you to stop, to settle, to becalm yourself amidst all the mad turbulence of bereavement.”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“Parisian arrogance meant that nobody was important, nobody counted.”
― Douglas Kennedy, quote from The Pursuit of Happiness
“He has always had a favourable attitude to popular religiosity,”
― quote from Pope Francis: Untying the Knots
“Why is a woman always described as bossy, when if a man did the same thing he’d be thought of as decisive, commanding, and displaying qualities of leadership?”
― Jeffrey Archer, quote from Be Careful What You Wish For
“Mais les signes de ce qui m'attendait réellement, je les ai tous négligés. Je travaille mon diplôme sur le surréalisme à la bibliothèque de Rouen, je sors, je traverse le square Verdrel, il fait doux, les cygnes du bassin ont reparu, et d'un seul coup j'ai conscience que je suis en train de vivre peut-être mes dernières semaines de fille seule, libre d'aller où je veux, de ne pas manger ce midi, de travailler dans ma chambre sans être dérangée. Je vais perdre définitivement la solitude. Peut-on s'isoler facilement dans un petit meublé, à deux. Et il voudra manger ses deux repas par jour. Toutes sortes d'images me traversent. Une vie pas drôle finalement. Mais je refoule, j'ai honte, ce sont des idées de fille unique, égocentrique, soucieuse de sa petite personne, mal élevée au fond. Un jour, il a du travail, il est fatigué, si on mangeait dans la chambre au lieu d'aller au restau. Six heures du soir cours Victor-Hugo, des femmes se précipitent aux Docks, en face du Montaigne, prennent ci et ça sans hésitation, comme si elles avaient dans la tête toute la programmation du repas de ce soir, de demain peut-être, pour quatre personnes ou plus aux goûts différents. Comment font-elles ? [...] Je n'y arriverai jamais. Je n'en veux pas de cette vie rythmée par les achats, la cuisine. Pourquoi n'est-il pas venu avec moi au supermarché. J'ai fini par acheter des quiches lorraines, du fromage, des poires. Il était en train d'écouter de la musique. Il a tout déballé avec un plaisir de gamin. Les poires étaient blettes au coeur, "tu t'es fait entuber". Je le hais. Je ne me marierai pas. Le lendemain, nous sommes retournés au restau universitaire, j'ai oublié. Toutes les craintes, les pressentiments, je les ai étouffés. Sublimés. D'accord, quand on vivra ensemble, je n'aurai plus autant de liberté, de loisirs, il y aura des courses, de la cuisine, du ménage, un peu. Et alors, tu renâcles petit cheval tu n'es pas courageuse, des tas de filles réussissent à tout "concilier", sourire aux lèvres, n'en font pas un drame comme toi. Au contraire, elles existent vraiment. Je me persuade qu'en me mariant je serai libérée de ce moi qui tourne en rond, se pose des questions, un moi inutile. Que j'atteindrai l'équilibre. L'homme, l'épaule solide, anti-métaphysique, dissipateur d'idées tourmentantes, qu'elle se marie donc ça la calmera, tes boutons même disparaîtront, je ris forcément, obscurément j'y crois. Mariage, "accomplissement", je marche. Quelquefois je songe qu'il est égoïste et qu'il ne s'intéresse guère à ce que je fais, moi je lis ses livres de sociologie, jamais il n'ouvre les miens, Breton ou Aragon. Alors la sagesse des femmes vient à mon secours : "Tous les hommes sont égoïstes." Mais aussi les principes moraux : "Accepter l'autre dans son altérité", tous les langages peuvent se rejoindre quand on veut.”
― Annie Ernaux, quote from A Frozen Woman
“You won't know how lucky you are to be able to spend your life with the other half of your soul until you have to spend your life without them.”
― Anna Todd, quote from After Ever Happy
“As minhas primeiras emoções tinham sido a melancolia mais pura e a compaixão mais sincera, mas na mesma proporção em que o desamparo de Bartleby crescia na minha fantasia, aquela melancolia se transformava em medo, e a compaixão, em repulsa. É tão verdadeiro e ao mesmo tempo tão terrivel o fato de que, ao vermos ou presenciarmos a miséria, os nossos melhores sentimentos são despertados até um cer
to ponto; mas, em certos casos especiais, não passam disso. Erram os que afirmam que é devido apenas ao egoísmo inerente ao coração humano. Na verdade, provém de uma certa impotência em remediar um mal excessivo e orgânico. Para uma pessoa sensivel, a piedade é quase sempre uma dor. Quando afinal percebe que tal piedade não significa um socorro eficaz, o bom senso compele a alma a desvencilhar-se dela. O que vi naquela manhã convenceu-me de que o escrivão era vítima de um mal inato e incurável. Eu podia dar esmolas ao seu corpo, mas o seu corpo não lhe doía; era a sua alma que sofria, e ela estava fora do meu alcance.”
― Herman Melville, quote from Bartleby el escribiente
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.