“If I never meet you
In this life
Let me feel the lack
A glance from your eyes
Then my life
Will be yours”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
“War don't ennoble men, it turns 'em into dogs. It poisons the soul.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
“All Welsh knew was that he was scared shitless, and at the same time was afflicted with a choking gorge of anger that any social coercion existed in the world which could force him to be here.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
“This book is cheerfully dedicated to those greatest and most heroic of all human endeavors, WAR and WARFARE; may they never cease to give us the pleasure, excitement and adrenal stimulation that we need, or provide us with the heroes, the presidents and leaders, the monuments and museums which we erect to them in the name of PEACE.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
“When compared to the fact that he might very well be dead by this time tomorrow, whether he was courageous or not today was pointless, empty. When compared to the fact that he might be dead tomorrow, everything was pointless. Life was pointless. Whether he looked at a tree or not was pointless. It just didn't make any difference. It was pointless to the tree, it was pointless to every man in his outfit, pointless to everybody in the whole world. Who cared? It was not pointless only to him; and when he was dead, when he ceased to exist, it would be pointless to him too. More important: Not only would it be pointless, it would have been pointless, all along.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
“So a new element darkled in their already darkling mood: a somber, deep-rooted bitterness which would grow and grow until it would make of them—those who survived—the tough, mean, totally cynical infantry fighters which their leaders fondly on sentimental grounds already believed they were, and which all of them, everybody, hated the Japanese for being.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
“He had studied, and worked, and slaved, and eaten untold buckets of shit, to have this opportunity.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
“It was strange how closely we returnees clung together. We were like a family of orphaned children, split by an epidemic and sent to different care centers. That feeling of an epidemic disease persisted. The people treated us nicely, and cared for us tenderly, and then hurried to wash their hands after touching us. We were somehow unclean. We were tainted. And we ourselves accepted this. We felt it too ourselves. We understood why the civilian people preferred not to look at our injuries.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line
James Jones
Born place: in Robinson, The United States
Born date November 6, 1921
See more on GoodReads
“If I could, I'd deliver you from old age and death, from aches and pains, from the blandishments of ghosts, from the torment of your familiar, Goblin. I'd deliver you from heat and cold and from the arid dullness of the noonday sub. I'd deliver you into the placid light of the moon and into the domain of the Milky Way forever.”
― Anne Rice, quote from Blackwood Farm
“أنا أفكر, إذن أنا موجود, ذلك قولُ مثقفٍ يُسيء تقدير قيمة ألم الإنسان. أنا أحس, إذن أنا موجود, تلك حقيقة لها قوة أكثر عمومية بكثير و تخص كل كــائن حي. لا تتميز أنـاي عن أناكم بالفكر بشكل أساسي. هنـاك بشر كثيرون و أفكار قليلة. إننا إذ ننقل أفكارنا أو نقتبسها أو يسرقها أحدنا من الآخر, نفكر جميعنا بالشيء نفسه تقريبا. أما حين يدوس شخص ما فوق قدمي, فأنا وحدي من يحس بالألم. ليس الفكر هو أساس الأنا, بل الألم, أكثر الأحاسيس أولويةً.
في الألم لا يمكن للقطة أن تشك بأناها الفريدة و غير القابلة للتبديل. عندما يصبح الألم حادا, يتلاشى العالمُ و يبقى كل منّا وحيداً مع نفسه. الألم هــو المدرسة الكبرى للأنانية”
― Milan Kundera, quote from Immortality
“I’ve never felt like this for anyone. And I’m not really sure what falling in love feels like, but I think—I know I have. With you.”
― Aimee Carter, quote from The Goddess Test
“Since then I've always thought that under rape in the dictionary it should tell the truth. It is not just forcible intercourse; rape means to inhabit and destroy everything.”
― Alice Sebold, quote from Lucky
“He then bespattered the youth with abundance of that language which passes between country gentleman who embrace opposite sides of the question; with frequent applications to him to salute that part which is generally introduced into all controversies that arise among the lower orders of the English gentry at horse-races, cock-matches, and other public places. Allusions to this part are likewise often made for the sake of jest. And here, I believe, the wit is generally misunderstood. In reality, it lies in desiring another to kiss you a-- for having just before threatened ti kick his; for I have observed very accurately, that no one ever desires you to kick that which belongs to himself, nor offers to kiss this part in another.
It may likewise seem surprizing that in the many thousand kind invitations of this sort, which every one who hath conversed with country gentlemen must have heard, no one, I believe, hath ever seen a single instance where the desire hath been complied with; - a great instance of their want of politeness; for in town nothing can be more common than for the finest gentlemen to perform this ceremony every day to their superiors, without having that favour once requested of them.”
― Henry Fielding, quote from The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Rabbletown: Life in...
Hector and the Searc...
After Midnight
Science and Sanity:...
Goat MountainBookQuoters 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.
