“Clearly the secret of happiness...is a variation on the general principle of banging your head against a wall, and then stopping.”
― Stef Penney, quote from The Tenderness of Wolves
“...it just goes to show you can't leave anything behind. You bring it all with you, whether you want to or not.”
― Stef Penney, quote from The Tenderness of Wolves
“I despise this weakness in myself--this endless one-sided conversation that takes the place of action...”
― Stef Penney, quote from The Tenderness of Wolves
“He thought of the next Saturday. [...] He thought of the picnic by the dipping pool on the river, where oaks and willows dappled the sun on water the color of tea; and girls in light summer dresses would sit in pools of pale cotton.
And he knew he would not go.”
― Stef Penney, quote from The Tenderness of Wolves
“He smiled to show he meant no offense, but Scott takes offense like it is going out of style, and bristled.”
― Stef Penney, quote from The Tenderness of Wolves
“Le resulta agotador estar en compañía de personas para las que una sonrisa espontánia es señal de infantil debilidad.”
― Stef Penney, quote from The Tenderness of Wolves
“Judy went back to Paulie’s place, but either he wasn’t home or he wasn’t answering his door. After banging on the door for four minutes, then waiting another ten, she decided she’d probably have to find someplace else to crash today She wished she’d taken the time to actually have a few friends.”
― quote from Monster
“Surely we all dealt with and reconciled ourselves to a life many of whose features were out of our control. It was part of living in a world full of other people with other interests.”
― David Foster Wallace, quote from The Broom of the System
“And then I saw Niko. He had sunk down to his knees and had his face in his hands.
I went over to him.
"You did it," I said. "You saved us."
"Yeah," he moaned, "but I lost her.”
― Emmy Laybourne, quote from Sky on Fire
“We all make mistakes, Carol. Sometimes they're more expensive than others. But I don't deserve to lose you,' he said, spreading his hands in appeal.”
― Val McDermid, quote from Cross and Burn
“I wonder sometimes if I'm not, after all, a piece in some other player's game, following blindly his grand designs without ever knowing that my path along the board is only a feint, while the important matters are played out elsewhere by other men.
But whether there's some grand design really matters little to me. My only hope was this: To see what might be, to believe that it should be, and then to do all I could to bring it to pass, whatever the cost. When a life spins out as joyfully as mine has done, then the price, one paid so painfully, is now recalled in gladness. I have received full value. Here among the shepherds, my cup is filled with the water of life; it overflows.”
― Orson Scott Card, quote from Treason
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.