“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
A.S. Byatt
Born place: in Sheffield, Yorkshire, The United Kingdom
Born date August 24, 1936
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“What is leadership, after all, but the blind choice of one route over another and the confident pretense that the decision was based on reason”
― Robert Harris, quote from Pompeii
“(...) Qual sera o destino de Helène? O meu, certamente. Que meios têm as mães de assegurar às suas filhas que o homem ao qual elas serão entregues será o esposo de seus corações? As pobres criaturas que se vendem por alguns trocados a um homem qualquer são humilhadas, mas a fome e a necessidade absolvem essas uniões efêmeras; enquanto a sociedade tolera e encoraja a união imediata, da mesma maneira horrível, de uma jovem menina ingênua e de um homem que ela mal conhecia há três meses; ela é vendida por toda sua vida. É verdade que o preço é alto! Se, não permitindo nenhum compensação a suas dores, ele será honrado; mas, não, o mundo calunia as mais virtuosas dentre nós! Este é nosso destino, visto sob duas faces: uma prostituição pública e a vergonha, e uma prostituição secreta e a tristeza. Quanto às pobres meninas sem dote, elas se tornam loucas, elas morrem; para elas, não há piedade! A beleza, as virtudes não são valores no bazar humano, e esse antro de egoísmo é chamado de Sociedade. Mas que as mulheres sejam deserdadas! Ao menos assim, uma lei da natureza será cumprida ao escolher as companhias, casando-as segundo a vontade de seus corações.”
― Honoré de Balzac, quote from A Woman Of Thirty
“...The important thing is, if you can make it
through the rough, unexpected times? That light at the end of the tunnel is worth all the shit you had to wade through to get there.
That’s something I’ll never forget. I’m reminded of it every time I look at Kate. Every time I look at our son.
When it’s all said and done? The payoff is way more than fucking worth it.”
― Emma Chase, quote from Twisted
“We all attach things to our hearts, the things we value, the things we need, the things that make us who we are. But maybe. . . maybe its only when our hearts are broken, that those things can fall inside.”
― Mia Sheridan, quote from Finding Eden
“Is that not what a commander must do, earn respect, give them discipline and . . . love them?”
― Jeff Shaara, quote from Gods and Generals
Hold Still
Some Girls Are
At Peace
Jacob Have I Loved
Fables & Reflections
The Vast Fields of O...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.
