“You're not going to get any true confessions out of me," she said. "I'm a Leo, and our thing is changing the subject.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“That’s what she was, Joanna felt suddenly. That’s what they all were, all the Stepford wives: actresses in commercials, pleased with detergents and floor wax, with cleansers, shampoos, and deodorants. Pretty actresses, big in the bosom but small in the talent, playing housewives unconvincingly, too nicey-nice to be real.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“I want you to know I won't always be here,' Fertility says, 'but I'll always find you.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“What’s the going price for a stay-in-the-kitchen wife with big boobs and no demands?”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“They never stop, these Stepford wives. They something something all their lives. Work like robots. Yes, that would fit. They work like robots all their lives.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“That green stuff outside is grass, and the yellow stuff coming down on it is sunshine.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“No, thanks, we’re not keen on cat pix.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“And you’ll put a deposit on the house tomorrow?”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“What’s wrong with Bill McCormick? Can’t he run a washer? I thought he was one of our aerospace brains.” “He’s taking care of Marge,” Kit said, folding the T-shirt. “These things came out nice and white, didn’t they?” She put the folded T-shirt into the laundry basket, smiling. Like an actress in a commercial. That’s what she was, Joanna felt suddenly. That’s what they all were, all the Stepford wives: actresses in commercials, pleased with detergents and floor wax, with cleansers, shampoos, and deodorants. Pretty actresses, big in the bosom but small in the talent, playing suburban housewives unconvincingly, too nicey-nice to be real.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“One great difference between good writing, that readers overlook, and bad writing, that they fail to notice, has to do with the number of rewrites and revisions usually required by the former. It isn’t at all easy to write clear, declarative prose—transparency evolves from ruthless cutting and trimming and is hard work—while lumpy, tangle-footed writing flows from the pen as if inspired by the Muse.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“Today the combat takes a different shape; instead of wishing to put man in a prison, woman endeavors to escape from one; she no longer seeks to drag him into the realms of immanence but to emerge, herself, into the light of transcendence. Now the attitude of the males creates a new conflict: it is with a bad grace that the man lets her go.”
― Ira Levin, quote from The Stepford Wives
“The mature response to the problem of existence is love.”
― Erich Fromm, quote from The Art of Loving
“There's one detail I've always remembered: He told me how long it takes the light from the stars to reach through space to us.
How most of the points of light we see actually no longer exist. We're just seeing the remnants of what was-- ghosts of what use to be.”
― Carrie Ryan, quote from The Dark and Hollow Places
“...sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself...”
― Donald Miller, quote from Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
“I miss good old-fashioned honorable people just trying to make something of life. Simply, without hurting anyone else. I know that makes me a sap.”
― Paula McLain, quote from The Paris Wife
“It was in 1982 that Milton Friedman wrote the highly influential passage that best summarizes the shock doctrine. " Only a crisis-actual or percieved-produces real change. When the crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.”
― Naomi Klein, quote from The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
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.