Quotes from The Testing

“Things don't always work out the way we hope. You just have to pick yourself up and find a new direction to go in.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“The best leaders make mistakes and then learn from them. The best leaders never make the same mistakes again. The only way you can learn is if you understand the mistakes that were made.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Leaders are forced to kill all the time. Then they have to learn to live with the decisions they make. Just like I'm going to learn to live with mine.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“[...] the biggest failures typically come before the biggest breakthroughs. That no matter what, I should never get discouraged. Learn from my mistakes and all will be well.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Maybe that’s the mark of a real leader. Admitting a mistake has been made and finding a way to stop it at all costs.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“All leaders have to live with disappointment at some point or another. If I have to learn that lesson early, I won’t enjoy it, but I will do my best not to let you down.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Boys and dating haven’t been on my priority list. And they certainly can’t be now.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“The earth is resilient, but it’s hard to imagine a time when this place will be anything but a terrible reminder of what we as a people can do.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“don’t always work out the way we hope. You just have to pick yourself up and find a new direction to go in.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“At five feet, two inches, I am the shortest girl in my class.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“the biggest failures typically come before the biggest breakthroughs. That no matter what, I should never get discouraged. Learn from my mistakes and all will be well.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Things don’t always work out the way we hope. You just have to pick yourself up and find a new direction to go in.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Tell a girl you love her and she automatically gets bossy. Well, I guess I can’t complain since you’re asking me to take off my pants.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“The Testing is no longer filled with excitement for the opportunity to help the Commonwealth rebuild. The Testing is now about staying alive.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Leaders are forced to kill all the time. Then they have to learn to live with the decisions they make. Just like I’m going to learn to live with mine.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“All the living want to do is care for the dead. And now they, too, are among the fallen.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“You’re lucky both you and your boyfriend were chosen,” she says with quiet sincerity. “Tomas isn’t my boyfriend.” I feel the blush on my cheeks. “You could have fooled me.” She gives me a wide smile. “I think he’s in love with you.” “He’s just watching out for me. You know, since we’re from the same colony,” I say, but I can’t help the thrill I feel at her words.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“You're going to get up and face whatever comes. I'll be proud of you no matter what today brings.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“I think it's a good idea to be prepared for whatever might be coming. If they aren't real, then we won't be any worse off for keeping alert. If they are . . .”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Forgetting that it happened doesn't change anything. Nothing can change the past.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Well, maybe that's what the whole test is really about. Leaders are forced to kill all the time. Then they have to learn to live with the decisions they make. Just like I'm going to learn to live with mine.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“All leaders have to live with disappointment at some point or another. If I have to learn that lesson early, I won't enjoy it, but I will do my best not to let you down.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“I wish I could go back to who I was, but I'm different.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Perhaps that’s the first rule I will learn as an adult—that you can’t always get what you want. Zeen”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“Knowing I may never see the room again makes me look at it with fresh eyes. A fire glows in the hearth nestled into the back wall. A square, worn brown rug sits in the middle of the room. Two sets of bunk beds are arranged on either side of the rug. Only mine, the bottom bed closest to the fireplace, has the sheets tucked in and the quilt smoothed. As soon as the boys graduated from school, Mom declared them old enough to tidy up their own beds. And they decided they were old enough not to care whether they slept in tightly tucked sheets. We each have a wooden chest for our everyday clothes and shoes. The special clothes are hung in the large wooden armoire in the corner. Mother always talks about first impressions. I gnaw on my bottom lip and weigh the merits of all my clothes. Feeling confident is always easier when dressed in something special, but I hear my father’s voice replay in my head. I imagine the abandoned city street he walked in his dream. The two dresses I own won’t help me there. And even if the dreams aren’t real, I know in my heart pretty clothes won’t help once The Testing begins.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

“turn to say as much to Tomas when his lips find mine in a gentle kiss. My heartbeat quickens. I can’t see his face in the darkness, but I know Tomas is giving me the chance to pull away. But I don’t. I lean in and feel Tomas’s mouth smile against mine before the kiss deepens. I snake a hand around his neck and hold tight as a thrilling shiver travels through me. Despite our tenuous situation, nothing has ever felt this perfect.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing

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Popular quotes

“You really don't understand the first thing about writing...for one thing, early in the morning is the worst possible time. the brain is like a wet sponge at that hour. And for another, real writing is a question of staring into space and waiting for the right ideas.”
― Cornelia Funke, quote from Inkdeath

“Yet at least he had believed in the cars, maybe to excess: how could he not, seeing people poorer than him come in, Negro, Mexican, cracker, a parade seven days a week, bring with them the most godawful of trade-ins: motorized, metal extensions of themselves, of their families and what their whole lives must be like, out there so naked for anybody, a stranger like himself, to look at, frame cockeyed, rusty underneath, fender repainted in a shade just off enough to depress the value, if not Mucho himself, inside smelling hopeless of children, of supermarket booze, or two, sometimes three generations of cigarette smokers, or only of dust--and when the cars were swept out you had to look at the actual residue of these lives, and there was no way of telling what things had been truly refused (when so little he supposed came by that out of fear most of it had to be taken and kept) and what had simply (perhaps tragically) been lost: clipped coupons promising savings of 5 or 10¢, trading stamps, pink flyers advertising specials at the market, butts, tooth-shy combs, help-wanted ads, Yellow Pages torn from the phone book, rags of old underwear or dresses that already were period costumes, for wiping your own breath off the inside of a windshield with so you could see whatever it was, a movie, a woman or car you coveted, a cop who might pull you over just for drill, all the bits and pieces coated uniformly, like a salad of despair, in a grey dressing of ash, condensed exhaust, dust, body wastes--it nauseated him to look, but he had to look.”
― Thomas Pynchon, quote from The Crying of Lot 49

“We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.”
― Jules Verne, quote from Journey to the Center of the Earth

“She sat there all afternoon in her hot maiden’s bedroom, thinking and dreaming in the dark circle which the splinter spread around her, a darkness which was like the hood of a cobra.”
― Stephen King, quote from Needful Things

“People I didn't know formed a circle around me, sheltering me from view. They escorted me safely back to our jurta, undetected. They didn't ask for anything. They were happy to help someone, to succeed at something, even if they weren't to benefit. We'd been trying to touch the sky from the bottom of the ocean. I realized that if we boosted one another, maybe we'd get a little closer.”
― Ruta Sepetys, quote from Between Shades of Gray

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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.