“What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,
Would with the sceptre straight be strucken down?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
“What win I if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
“Those that much covet are with gain so fond,
For what they have not, that which they possess
They scatter and unloose it from their bond,
And so, by hoping more, they have but less;
Or, gaining more, the profit of excess
Is but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain,
That they prove bankrupt in this poor-rich gain.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
“But no perfection is so absolute
That some inpurity doth not pollute.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
“Beauty itself doth of itself persuade
The eyes of men without orator.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
“This forced league doth force a further strife.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
“Why should the private pleasure of some one
Become the public plague of many moe?
Let sin, alone committed, light alone
Upon his head that hath transgressed so;
Let guiltless souls be freed from guilty woe:
For one's offence why should so many fall,
To plague a private sin in general?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
“The deep vexation of is inward soul
Hath served a dumb arrest upon his tongue;
Who, mad that sorrow should his use control,
Or keep him from heart-easing words so long,
Begins to talk; but through his lips do throng
Weak words, so thick come in his poor heart's aid,
That no man could distinguish what he said.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece
William Shakespeare
Born place: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, The United Kingdom
See more on GoodReads
“She ate from my plates and wore my clothes and slept in my bed like Goldilocks while the benevolent, lumbering bear went south for the holidays.”
― Ann Patchett, quote from Truth and Beauty
“[…] I have a date this afternoon."
"Oh, Lord." Jake closed his eyes. "Who are you going to destroy now?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"The hotel would appreciate it if you'd just throw back the men you don't like without maiming them."
"I haven't maimed anyone."
"You almost drowned Lance, you scared Peter into heart palpitations, you stabbed Donald with a fork, and you hit Brad over the head with a bottle." Jake shook his head. "And they still ask you out.”
― Jennifer Crusie, quote from Manhunting
“I will love you as a cufflink loves to drop from its shirt and explore the party for itself.”
― Lemony Snicket, quote from The Beatrice Letters
“Limbaji grinned widely and reached for a stone. "But this is what different religions mean," he said, placing the stone on the ground. "God is for all men, he is always the same. There is only one. And all men finally go to the same God." He drew lines toward the stone in the dust. "But there are different roads.”
― Eric Blehm, quote from The Last Season
“Why must there be war?" "Oh Lavinia, what a woman's question that is! Because men are men.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, quote from Lavinia
From Russia With Lov...
Possess
The Parallax View
The Codex
Death in Venice and...
My ButterflyBookQuoters 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.
