Quotes from The Secret River

Kate Grenville ·  334 pages

Rating: (14.4K votes)


“How short a time a person had to be alive, he thought. How long to be dead.”
― Kate Grenville, quote from The Secret River


“it crossed Farren's mind that although death seemed big, life was even bigger”
― Kate Grenville, quote from The Secret River


“This place had been here long before him. It would go on sighing and breathing and being itself after he had gone, the land lapping on and on, watching, waiting, getting on with its own life.”
― Kate Grenville, quote from The Secret River


“Ain't nothing in this world just for the taking...A man got to pay a fair price for taking...Matter of give a little, take a little.”
― Kate Grenville, quote from The Secret River


About the author

Kate Grenville
Born place: in Sydney, Australia
Born date October 14, 1950
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Do we even know what we really think until we post our thoughts online and let others tell us if they are worthy?”
― Kasie West, quote from The Fill-In Boyfriend


“And it was respect he needed, infinitely more than love. Just not to have to worry about whether people respect you. Not ever to have to feel that people are being nice to you because they are sorry for you, or afraid of you.”
― James Agee, quote from A Death in the Family


“Hey, what are you doing, little one? You want more? You are just too much . . . you . . . oh, no . . . not the quivering lip . . . oh, no.” Nalla let out a giggle.
“Outrageous! You want more, and you know you’re going to get what you want because of The Lip. Jeez, you’ve got your father wrapped around your little finger, don’t you.”
― J.R. Ward, quote from Father Mine


“Of a certainty Madame has died," Leonie said wickedly. "Tiens, c'est bien drole!”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades


“Hello, Badger,’ said Nick, still self-conscious at teasing a virtual stranger about the yellow-grey stripe in his dark hair, at having to enrol in the family cult of Badger as a character, but finding it easier after all than the sober, the critical, the almost hostile-sounding ‘Derek’. Badger in turn was clearly puzzled by Nick’s presence in his old friend’s house and made facetious attempts at understanding him. It was a part of his general mischief – he lurched about all day, asked leading questions, rubbed up old scandals and scratched beadily for new ones.”
― Alan Hollinghurst, quote from The Line of Beauty


Interesting books

The Way I Used to Be
(10.7K)
The Way I Used to Be
by Amber Smith
An Untamed State
(13.6K)
An Untamed State
by Roxane Gay
Never Smile at Strangers
(6.5K)
Never Smile at Stran...
by Jennifer Jaynes
Blood for Blood
(4.6K)
Blood for Blood
by Ryan Graudin
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!  Adventures of a Curious Character
(110.3K)
Surely You're Joking...
by Richard Feynman
The Parafaith War
(1.3K)
The Parafaith War
by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

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.