“Childhood is the one story that stands by itself in every soul.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“My books already threatened to take over my part of the room and keep on going . . . whatever cargoes of words I could lay my hands on I gave safe harbor.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“What scrunched under our overshoes as we trudged through the stubble of the grainfield was the nasty mix of moistureless snow and windblown dirt that we called “snirt.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“Nightly awaits that sweet address
Principality of Sleep
Happy Land of Forgetfullness”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“that whole fussy room still carried an atmosphere of having been crocheted into existence rather than carpentered.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“Provider of moonbeams when I wanted full illumination.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“If I have learned anything in a lifetime spent overseeing schools, it is that childhood is the one story that stands by itself in every soul.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“As I mounted the stairs, my lips silently tried out the two words “contrary warrior” together.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season
“Is it all right for me to stay alive?
Mom, is it really all right for an ugly person like me to be living in this world? Mom, I'm sure you can find something shining brightly in me. Teach me. Guide me!”
― quote from 1 Litre of Tears
“Be merciful and leave this place. Leave this country to rest in forgetfulness.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, quote from The Buried Giant
“I have now scoured your Internet, and have identified several ersatz concierges that were created by your own society, and are in current and active use throughout it. I strongly suggest that you allow me to import and implement one of them.” I caught Manda’s eye. She shrugged. “Sure,” I said. “Earth’s most popular ersatz concierge has had hundreds of millions of users—although its usage has declined rather dramatically in recent years. Shall we try that one?” I really, really, really should have asked why the thing was shedding users. Instead I shrugged and said, “Why not?” The dazzling, octodimensional projection instantly transformed into a flat rendering of a paperclip with googly eyes. “That’s an ersatz concierge?” Manda whispered after a shocked silence. “Dear God …” As she said this, the paperclip’s eyes darted cunningly from side to side. Then a cartoon bubble appeared above its head reading, “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?” It was Clippy—the despised emcee of Microsoft Office. I knew him well. Because while he had allegedly retired long ago, my firm—like so many others—had clung to the Clippy-infested Windows XP operating system for years beyond its expiration date, staving off the expense and trauma of a Windows upgrade. That process had finally started eighteen months back. But copyright associates are low in the priority queue—and I had been slated to get upgraded “next month” for as long as I could remember. “Okay, go back,” I said. Clippy stared at me impassively. “Stop it. Cut it out. Go back. Use the other interface. Use the gem thing.” As I said this, Clippy’s eyes started darting again as he scribbled on a notepad with an animated pencil. Another cartoon bubble appeared. “It looks like you’re making a list. Should I format it?” I fell into an appalled silence. Then Manda gave it a shot. “We do not want to use this ersatz concierge,” she enunciated clearly. “Please return us to the previous one.” Clippy gazed back with bovine incomprehension. We went on to try every command, plea, and threat that we could think of. But we couldn’t get back to the prior concierge. Luckily, the stereopticon’s projector mode was still working fine (“If you download Windows Media Player, I’m throwing you under a bus,” Manda warned it).”
― Rob Reid, quote from Year Zero
“hear that same thing from the psychic, it’d make her feel much better. “I see a man in your future…” the psychic began in a raspy voice. His—her—Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as she closed her eyes and laid her palms on the cards. Sabrina blinked and tried hard to focus on what she was saying and not on the hair of Madame’s knuckles.”
― Jennifer Shirk, quote from Fiance by Fate
“Because you are just a pawn. And a pawn can’t help but get played.”
― Laura Thalassa, quote from The Vanishing Girl
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.