“Up to a point a person’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and changes in the world about them. Then there comes a time when it lies within their grasp to shape the clay of their life into the sort of thing they wish it to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune or the quirks of fate. Everyone has the power to say, "This I am today. That I shall be tomorrow.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Reading without thinking is nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“A ship does not sail with yesterday's wind.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“The mind is a basket . . . if you put nothing in, you get nothing out.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow. The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“There are many ways of fighting. Many a man or woman has waged a good war for truth, honor, and freedom, who did not shed blood in the process. Beware of those who would use violence, too often it is the violence they want and neither truth nor freedom.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Reading without thinking is as nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Yol Bolsun" (May there be a road) [Louis L'Amour}”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Evil comes often to a man with money; tyranny comes surely to him without it. I say this, who am Mathurin Kerbouchard, a homeless wanderer upon the earth's far roads. I speak as one who has known hunger and feast, poverty and riches, the glory of the sword and the humility of the defenseless. Hunger inspires no talent, and carried too far, it deadens the faculties and destroys initiative...”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“A knife is sharpened on stone, steel is tempered by fire, but men must be sharpened by men.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“The best of all things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Can you see the future, Kerbouchard?"
"Who would wish to? Our lives hold a veil between anticipation and horror. Anticipation is the carrot suspended before the jackass to keep him moving forward. Horror is what he would see if he took his eyes off the carrot.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Lie to a liar, for lies are his coin; steal from a thief, for that is easy; lay a trap for the trickster and catch him at the first attempt, but beware of an honest man. (said by the author to be a Somali saying)”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“He is a fool who will descend into a well on another man's rope.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Victory is not won in miles but in inches.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“I learned then that many a victory is easier won with words than a sword—and the results are better.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Such are the amenities of social life, which oft makes a liar of the best of men.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“The mind gathers its grain in all fields, storing it against a time of need, then suddenly it bursts into awareness, which men call inspiration or second sight or a gift.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“If at any time your Prince should pretend your position with him is sure, begin from that moment to feel unsure.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“He had gathered about him what was considered by many to be the intellectual and artistic elite . . . actually, a group of bored men and libertines who were glib-tongued, talking much of art, literature, and music but without any deep-seated convictions upon any subject aside from their own prejudices. Mainly concerned with their own posturing, they were creatures of fad and whim, seizing upon this writer or that composer and exalting him to the skies until he bored them, then shifting to some other. Occasionally, the artist upon whom they lavished attention were of genuine ability, but more often they possessed some obscurity that gave the dilettantes an illusion of depth and quality. In the majority of cases what was fancied to be profound was simply bad writing, bad painting, or deliberately affected obscurity.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Many a small man is considered good while he remains small, but let power come to him, and he becomes a raging fury.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
“Must one seek something? I seek to be seeking, as I learn to be learning. Each book is an adventure as is each day’s horizon.”
― Louis L'Amour, quote from The Walking Drum
Louis L'Amour
Born place: in Jamestown, North Dakota, The United States
Born date March 22, 1908
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“His uniform sleeve was burned away and his arm seemed to be glowing from the inside, like a piece of kindling in a fire.
Fire wants to burn, Call thought.”
― Holly Black, quote from The Iron Trial
“چو منصور از مراد آنان که بردارند بردارند
بدین درگاه حافظ را چو میخوانند می رانند
در این حضرت چو مشتاقان نیاز آرند ناز آرند
که با این درد اگر در بند درمانند درمانند”
― Hafez, quote from The Divan
“Toliko ga je voljela. Ta ljubav ne samo da joj je bila u krvi — bila je to sama krv. Nije znala imaju li svi drugi pravo kad kažu da će ta ljubav jednoga dana izblijedjeti poput stare fotografije. Odakle da zna? Znala je samo da je ljubav prema njemu ono najbolje u njoj i da bi joj bez nje srce bilo prazno.”
― Kristin Hannah, quote from Night Road
“Righty ho, biker boss,” I muttered quickly and Shy’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t be fuckin’ cute and, honest to God, if you lick your lip, I’ll lose my mind. Next time you lick your lip you do it when we are nowhere near a public place and I can let loose the reaction I’ve had half a million fuckin’ times over four fuckin’ years every time I’ve seen you do it.”
― Kristen Ashley, quote from Own the Wind
“Nobody ever complained? Girls were kind. No one ever told him, I could barely stay awake. If only you'd come faster, I could have ignored it altogether. Girls were born knowing how destructive the truth could be. They learned to hold it in, tamp it down, like gunpowder in an old fashioned gun. Then it exploded in your face, on a November day in the rain.”
― Janet Fitch, quote from Paint it Black
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A Year in the MerdeBookQuoters 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.
