“It was more than a spider. It was every unknown terror in the world fused into wriggling, poison-jawed horror. It was every anxiety, insecurity, and fear in his life given a hideous, night-black form.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man
“To look at the entire journey all at once was stupidity. You thought of it in segments; that was the only way.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man
“Memory was such a worthless thing, really. Nothing it dealt with was attainable. It was concerned with phantom acts and feelings, with all that was uncapturable except in thought. It was without satisfaction. Mostly, it hurt…”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man
“Perhaps jungle life, despite physical danger, was a relaxing one. Surely it was free of the petty grievances, the disparate values of society. It was simple, devoid of artifice and ulcer-burning pressures.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man
“But now, in the final hours, even hope had vanished. Yet he could smile. At a point without hope he had found contentment. He knew he had tried and there was nothing to be sorry for. And this was complete victory, because it was a victory over himself.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man
“This, he knew, was courage, the truest, ultimate courage, because there was no one here to sympathize or praise him for it. What he felt was felt without the hope of commendation.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man
“Why were so few voices raised in the ancient world in protest against the ruthlessness of man? Why are human beings so obsequious, ready to kill and ready to die at the call of kings and chieftains? Perhaps it is because they worship might, venerate those who command might, and are convinced that it is by force that man prevails. The splendor and the pride of kings blind the people. The Mesopotamian, for example, felt convinced that authorities were always right: "The command of the palace, like the command of Anu, cannot be altered. The king's word is right; his utterance, like that of a god, cannot be changed!" The prophets repudiated the work as well as the power of man as an object of supreme adoration. They denounced "arrogant boasting" and "haughty pride" (Isa. 10:12), the kings who ruled the nations in anger, the oppressors (Isa. 14:4-6), the destroyers of nations, who went forth to inflict waste, ruin, and death (Jer. 4:7), the "guilty men, whose own might is their god" (Hab. 1: 11).
Their course is evil,
Their might is not right.
Jeremiah 23:10
The end of public authority is to realize the moral law, a task for which both knowledge and understanding as well as the possession of power are indispensable means. Yet inherent in power is the tendency to breed conceit. " . . . one of the most striking and one of the most pervasive features of the prophetic polemic [is] the denunciation and distrust of power in all its forms and guises. The hunger of the powerfit! knows no satiety; the appetite grows on what it feeds. Power exalts itself and is incapable of yielding to any transcendent judgment; it 'listens to no voice' (Zeph. 3:2) ." It is the bitter irony of history that the common people, who are devoid of power and are the prospective victims of its abuse, are the first to become the ally of him who accumulates power. Power is spectacular, while its end, the moral law, is inconspicuous.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, quote from The Prophets
“What all the stories and romances don’t say is that happily ever after doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it. You have to keep working at it.”
― Carrie Vaughn, quote from Kitty Raises Hell
“I am so not into poetry. I thoroughly dislike the stuff. You read a poem, and it speaks to you. You write a stupid essay on it, and the teacher tells you your interpretation is wrong, and the author is really saying something else entirely. Oh, really? Did you talk to the author yourself? No, I didn’t think so!”
― Jenny B. Jones, quote from In Between
“Why does Papaji tell Jeevan this story? Roop wonders. Whenever Gujri tells Roop a story, se reminds Roop that stories are not told for th telling, but for the teaching.”
― quote from What the Body Remembers
“I expected something a little more castle-shaped," said Jamie.
Nothing lasts forever," Nick said. "Except demons, of course."
Has anyone ever told you that you're a charming conversationalist?" Jamie asked.
No," Nick replied honestly.
I cannot tell you how much that surprises me," Jamie told him, and Nick gave him a half smile.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, quote from The Demon's Lexicon
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.
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