“Herein lies the heart and soul of the nations.
Their right to be free men,
Their desire to live in peace,
Their courage to seek out truth,
Herein lies the Sword of Shannara.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“Central governments have always been the greatest danger to mankind.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“They became sleepwalkers in a world of half-dreams and rambling thoughts with no break in the wearing march or the never-ending, silent black trunks that came and passed in countless thousands.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“Either you believed in something or you didn’t—you couldn’t have it both ways and be honest with yourself.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“Truisms, my young friend, are the useless children of hindsight.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“Shea, particularly, had passed the point where his chief emotion was fear; now he felt only a sense of numbness that dulled his mind into self-imposed surrender, a robot-like acceptance of the fact that he was being led to the proverbial slaughter.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“We build too many walls to be honest with ourselves. -Allanon”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“He laughed in maddened frenzy, knowing somehow that he was no longer in a world of living creatures, but a world of death where soulless beings wandered in hopeless search of escape from their eternal prison. He stumbled on amidst them, laughing, talking, even singing gaily, his mind no longer a part of his mortal being. All about him, the creatures of the dark world followed in cringing companionship, knowing that the maddened mortal was almost one of them.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“It’s more habit than stupidity when I laugh at these things. I laugh at them to stay a sane man.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“... even a friendly smile shows the teeth behind!”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“Central governments have always been the greatest danger to mankind. Now there are none—small communities are the new rule of life. Some things are better left alone by everyone.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“that the wars of the past were slowly being forgotten. Shea believed that one could turn his back on the past and build a new world with the future, never understanding that the future was inextricably tied to the past, an interwoven tapestry of events and ideas that would never be entirely severed.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“The highlander seemed to float through life very much the same as a cloud in an empty sky, touching nothing, leaving no trace of his passing.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“Il sole tramontava già fra le profondità verdi delle colline a ovest della vallata, e le sue ombre rosse e rosate sfioravano gli angoli più remoti della campagna, quando Flick Ohmsford cominciò la sua discesa. Il sentiero calava giù irregolarmente per il pendio settentrionale, serpeggiando attraverso i massi imponenti che costeggiavano il terreno, sparendo nelle folte foreste delle pianure per ricomparire a tratti nelle piccole radure e negli spazi liberi della zona dei boschi.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“All those men had died for some senseless reason, died perhaps without ever knowing exactly what they had fought to accomplish.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“—¿Qué hay de tu secuestro? —preguntó Menion mientras se vestía, mirando la esbelta silueta de la muchacha al otro lado de la habitación—. ¿Tienes idea de por qué querrían secuestrarte los norteños, prescindiendo de tu belleza?
Sonrió con picardía. Aunque no podía ver su rostro, estaba seguro de que se habría ruborizado. Ella permaneció en silencio durante un rato antes de hablar.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“En cierto sentido Shea parecía no ver que las cosas cambiaban ni incluso cuando el sol se movía desde el este al oeste en el cielo. No parecía darse cuenta de que los países y las gentes crecían y se expandían otra vez, que las guerras del pasado se olvidaban lentamente. Shea creía que uno podía volver la espalda al pasado y construir un nuevo mundo con el futuro, sin entender que el futuro estaba intrincadamente enlazado con el pasado, formando un tapiz de acontecimientos e ideas entretejidos que nunca podrían separarse del todo. Por su carácter, el pequeño valense era parte del pasado; sus creencias, un recuerdo del ayer más que una promesa de futuro.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“For a moment the highlander lay quietly and studied the room in silent leisure, allowing the sleep to disperse and his rested mind to awaken fully.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“I ricordi non sono tesori di vetro da tenere conservati dentro una cassa. Sono nastri colorati da appendere al vento.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“The wind began to rush violently as he moved on, and he became aware of other creatures in the darkness. They came first as a vague awareness in his mind, then as soft cries that seemed to seep through the haze and cling inquisitively about him. At last they appeared as living bodies, touching softly with cringing fingers the flesh of his person. He laughed in maddened frenzy, knowing somehow that he was no longer in a world of living creatures, but a world of death where soulless beings wandered in hopeless search of escape from their eternal prison. He stumbled on amidst them, laughing, talking, even singing gaily, his mind no longer a part of his mortal being. All about him, the creatures of the dark world followed in cringing companionship, knowing that the maddened mortal was almost one of them. It was all a matter of time. When the mortal life was gone, he would be as they were – lost forever. Orl Fane would be with his own kind at last. Almost”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“While they sorted us out for transportation I had a chance to look around. In the light of the dying sun the image glimpsed earlier through the crack in the box car seemed to have changed, grown more eery and menacing. One object immediately caught my eye: an immense square chimney, built of red bricks, tapering towards the summit. It towered above a two-story building and looked like a strange factory chimney. I was especially struck by the enormous tongues of flame rising between the lightning rods, which were set at angles on the square tops of the chimney. I tried to imagine what hellish cooking would require such a tremendous fire. Suddenly I realized that we were in Germany, the land of the crematory ovens. I had spent ten years in this country, first as a student, later as a doctor, and knew that even the smallest city had its crematorium.”
― Miklós Nyiszli, quote from Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account
“Like every other guide or wildlife lover who is eventually eaten or trampled, I felt that I had a bond with this herd that would make me safe with them. I wanted to try my luck again.”
― Peter Allison, quote from Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales Of A Botswana Safari Guide
“Oh my God!” Sam said again, his voice shaking. I’ve given birth to something inhuman, Phoebe thought. A lamprey with row after row of teeth.”
― Jennifer McMahon, quote from Don't Breathe a Word
“[...] I look in the mirror every day, when I brush my teeth or wash my face or comb my hair. It's just I tend to look at myself in pieces and avoid joining them up all together. I don't know why; it just feels safer that way.
But tonight I force myself to look at the whole thing. And suddenly I see how the bits and pieces add up to someone I'm not familiar with, someone I never intended to be.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, quote from Elegance
“Before I met No I thought that violence meant shouting and hitting and war and blood. Now I know that there can also be violence in silence and that it’s sometimes invisible to the naked eye. There’s violence in the time that conceals wounds, the relentless succession of days, the impossibility of turning back the clock. Violence is what escapes us. It’s silent and hidden. Violence is what remains inexplicable, what stays forever opaque...
My mother stands there at the living room door with her arms by her sides. And I think that there's violence in that too - in her inability to reach out to me, to make the gesture which is impossible and so forever suspended.”
― Delphine de Vigan, quote from No and Me
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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