“Lists are a form of power.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden
“...it is not possible to create the opposite of what one has always known, simply because the opposite is believed to be desired. Human beings need what they already know, even horrors.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden
“There was a moment during this time, when his face was on hers, cheek on cheek, brow on brow, heavy skull on skull, through soft skin and softer flesh. He thought: skulls separate people. In this one sense, I could say, they would say, I lose myself in her. But in that bone box, she thinks and thinks, as I think in mine, things the other won't hear, can't hear, though we go on like this for sixty years. What does she think I am? He had no idea. He had no idea what she was.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden
“A metamorphosis... The shining butterfly of the soul from the pupa of the body. Larva, pupa, imago. An image of art.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden
“Those words . . . national and portrait. They were both to do with identity: the identity of a culture (place, language and history), the identity of an individual human being as an object for mimetic representation.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden
“Contemporary' was in those days [1953] synonymous with 'modern' as it had not been before and is not now [1977].”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden
“Böyle olağanüstü, dahice bir oyunun ister istemez göreceli ustalar yaratacağı gerçeğini uzun zaman önce anlamıştım; ama dünyayı yalnızca siyah ile beyaz arasındaki dar yola indirgeyen, otuz iki taşı bir oraya bir buraya, bir ileri bir geri oynatarak hayatının zaferini kazanmaya çalışan kıvrak zekalı bir insanın yaşamını kafada canlandırmak ne kadar güç, ne kadar olanaksızdı; bu insanın yeni bir oyuna başlarken piyon yerine atı yeğlemesi olay yaratır ve bir satranç kitabının ufacık bir köşesinde adının geçmesiyle ölümsüzlüğe ulaşmasını sağlar; bu insan, bu akıl insanı, aklını kaçırmadan on, yirmi, otuz, kırk yıl boyunca bütün düşünme gücünü tekrar tekrar aynı gülünç amaca yöneltir: bir tahtanın üzerinde tahta bir şahı köşeye sıkıştırmak!
Sayfa :23”
― Stefan Zweig, quote from Schachnovelle
“This is absurd. This is awful. This isn’t how people show loyalty. This is epic, epic bullshit.”
― Holly Black, quote from The Cruel Prince
“Please take your time
and take it slowly;
as all you do
will run its course.
And nothing else
can take what only—
was always meant
as solely yours.”
― Lang Leav, quote from Sea of Strangers
“Family is family. Even if you hate them, it’s hard to let go.”
― Lisa Gardner, quote from Right Behind You
“If you can't see your chains, what use is a key?”
― Jay Kristoff, quote from Godsgrave
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.