“Trying to fulfill earthly desires was like carrying water to the sea; a never- ending task, and an ultimately useless one.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Wheel of Darkness
“The mandalas were meant to be objects of contemplation, aids to meditation, their proportions magically balanced to purify and calm the mind. To stare at a mandala was to experience, if only briefly, the nothingness that is at the heart of enlightenment.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Wheel of Darkness
“Lead me into all misfortune. Only by that path can I transform the negative into the positive.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Wheel of Darkness
“He had done the right thing and that was what counted. That was the best you could do in life. How others took it was beyond his control.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Wheel of Darkness
“people were like icebergs--most of what really went on, especially the ugliness, was submerged”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Wheel of Darkness
“a walther ppk. you're a james bond fan, i imagine....”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Wheel of Darkness
“The point of a cruise ship is the cruise itself. But an ocean liner’s job is to transport people on a schedule. The”
― Douglas Preston, quote from The Wheel of Darkness
“They were galloping...Bare level plain had taken the place of the scrub and they'd been cantering briskly, the foals prancing delightedly ahead, when suddenly the dog was a shoulder-shrugging streaking fleece, and as their mares almost imperceptibly fell into the long untrammelled undulating strides, Hugh felt the sense of change, the keen elemental pleasure one experienced too on board a ship which, leaving the choppy waters of the estuary, gives way to the pitch and swing of the open sea. A faint carillon of bells sounded in the distance, rising and falling, sinking back as if into the very substance of the day. Judas had forgotten; nay, Judas had been, somehow, redeemed.”
― Malcolm Lowry, quote from Under the Volcano
“... for home is a magnet that lures back even its most abstracted children.”
― Kate Morton, quote from The House at Riverton
“You must learn what to fear and what not to fear.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali, quote from Infidel
“... when I saw any of those kinds of beauty I knew I was alive, and not just in the sense that when I hit my thumb with a hammer I knew I was alive, but rather in the sense that I was partaking of something--something was passing through me that it was in my nature to be a part of.”
― Neal Stephenson, quote from Anathem
“Is that the basis of friendship? Is it as reactive as that? Do we respond only to people who seem to find us interesting?... Do we all buzz or ring or light up when people press our vanity buttons, and only then? Can I think of anyone in my whole life whom I have liked without his first showing signs of liking me?”
― Wallace Stegner, quote from Crossing to Safety
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.